The place name does not come from Latin, as was long supposed: olca, in Gaulish, means ploughed land, and the ending -ate, shared with more than a hundred other Lombard comuni, is Celtic too, or older. From the ninth to the thirteenth century the place is recorded as a settlement of Lombard arimanni, who left the name Olgeate, qui dicitur Longobardorum; the form Olgiate Lombardone lasted into the sixteenth century. In 1093 a large group of arimanni gave the church to the abbey of Cluny, and the Cluniacs built a monastery round it.
The fourteenth-century statutes of Como made Olgiate the salt depot and the treasury, the caneva, of the whole pieve of Uggiate, with the Umiliati as public treasurers in a house still standing. In 1652 the Spanish government auctioned these lands to pay for Philip IV's wars: Olgiate bought its way out of feudal tenure and was still paying instalments a century later. Comasco was added in 1862 to keep it apart from Olgiate Olona and Olgiate Molgora; on the arms two bees flank the three castles, for the industry of the people.
Risotto alla Milanese
Compare hotels, B&Bs and holiday homes on Booking.com for your dates.
Next up: Saints Hippolytus and Cassian, patrons with the pilgrimage to Saint Gerard, Friday 13 August
Nearest airport: Milano Malpensa, 26 km away
No events match these filters.
📅 Every year, on 13 August; the pilgrimage to Saint Gerard in Monza is instead held every 25 April
Olgiate Comasco celebrates its patrons, Saints Hippolytus and Cassian, on 13 August, in the church dedicated to them. Devotion to Saint Gerard of the Dyers, begun with a vow in 1207, still continues today with a pilgrimage to his tomb in Monza every 25 April.
Straight-line distances from the town centre. Tap a point to open its page.
The closest destinations covered by our editors, with straight-line distance.
Outside Olgiate Comasco, but an easy day trip away.
