The patron saint of Legnano is Saint Magnus, celebrated on 5 November in the basilica dedicated to him, the town's main place of worship; Leone da Perego, bishop of Milan from 1241 to 1257, also once stayed in Legnano.
On 29 May 1176, between the localities of Legnano and Borsano, the imperial army of Frederick Barbarossa and the troops of the Lombard League, a military alliance of northern Italian communes symbolically led by Pope Alexander III, clashed in a battle decisive for the long war waged by the Holy Roman Empire against communal autonomy: the defeat ended the emperor's fifth and last campaign into Italy. Every year, on the last Sunday of May, the town re-enacts this historic clash with the Palio di Legnano, called the Sagra del Carroccio until 2005: the town's eight historic districts, established in 1932, compete in a horse race that closes the event, officially listed since 1954 among Italy's historical re-enactments. It is precisely in memory of the battle that 29 May was chosen as Lombardy's regional holiday.
