Arconate

Arconate is first named in 1027, in a document of the Monastero Maggiore in Milan, which owned property there; in 1164 Frederick Barbarossa granted it in fief to his chancellor Rainald von Dassel. Soon after, a family of marquises took its name from the place, the Arconati: the town's arms still carry their blazon, five gold points interchanged with four of blue, and beside it the serpent swallowing a child, badge of the Visconti, to whom they were related.

In the nineteenth century the Kingdom of Italy planned to abolish Arconate and Dairago and merge them into Busto Garolfo; an appeal by the local authorities shelved much of it, and in 1869 Arconate annexed Dairago instead, which stood on its own again only on Christmas Eve of 1957. The Villoresi canal, opened in 1886, meanwhile cured the water shortage holding back farming on the heath. In 2011 it was among the first to receive the commemorative medal for moral valour, given for families that lost three or more relatives in the First World War: Pasquale Monolo and Angela Martignoni lived here and lost their sons Carlo, Luigi and Ernesto.