Cabiate

The name Cabiate goes back to the vulgar Latin caveatum: the cavea is the natural hollow in which the village took shape, like that of a Roman theatre, while the ending in -ate points to a Celtic origin. A Latin description calls it a hamlet halfway between the walled towns of Mariano and Meda, on ground that dips a little. The earliest record is a deed of sale in which the place is called Vico Capiate.

The church of San Giorgio is known from two parchments of 1298 and 1311, and nothing else is known of it. In 1570 Carlo Borromeo found it in ruins and ordered its stones carried down the hill to build the sanctuary of the Annunciata. The parish priest described what was left as a heap of stones on which people went on praying, and in 1670 a small church was rebuilt on the spot. The saint stayed on the town's arms, on horseback, driving his sword into the dragon's flaming jaws.