Busto Arsizio is a city in the region of Lombardy, in northern Italy, 25 km north of Milan in the province of Varese (longitude: 08 50'51", latitude: 36'48").

Population

In 2001 Busto Arsizio had 77,094 inhabitants (a.k.a. Bustocchi) (source: ISTAT).

Economy

The economy of Busto Arsizio is mainly based on industry and commerce. Some famous Busto Arsizio-based firms are: XXX

History

All Busto Arsizio’s historians tried to find descendants of noble origin, above all among the Romans. But recent studies have shown instead that the descendants were of humble origin in the Ligurians, who were called ‘wild’ by Plinio, ‘marauders and robbers’ by Livio and ‘unshaven and hairy’ by Pompeo Trago.

They were good at working iron and they were much sought after as mercenary soldiers who traditionally used to set fires to woods full of old and young oaks and black hornbeams, which at that time, covered the whole Padana Plain. This practice, known as debbio, was aimed at creating fields where they used to grow grapevines or cereals such as foxtail, millet and rye or just to create places where they could build stone huts with thatched roofs. By doing this they created a bustum, that is a new settlement which, in order to be distinguished from the other nearby settlements, was assigned a name: arsicium (Busto Arsizio), carulf (Busto Garolfo), cava (Buscate).

The consistent increase in population was helped without doubt by the Gauls from the Insubri tribe, Celtic populations who arrived in successive stages by crossing the Alps at about the middle of the first millennium before Christ. They did nor settle here casually: in fact, the settlement was created on an area on the route from Milan to Lake Maggiore (called ‘Milan’s road’, an alternative route to the existent Sempione), part of which, before the creation of the Naviglio, made use of the navigational water of the river Ticino.

Culture

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