Paderno Dugnano

The name of this town is the result of twenty years of quarrelling. In 1869 Paderno annexed Dugnano, Incirano, Cassina Amata and Palazzolo, and nobody could agree on what to call the new comune: a suggestion even arrived from Alessandro Manzoni, who proposed Padergnano — and nobody liked it. In 1880 the council resolved on Borgosole, but the citizens had it abolished with a petition signed by the majority of them. Only on the first of February 1886 did a royal decree settle the matter: Paderno Dugnano.

Six places in a single comune, then, each with its own bell tower. Paderno Dugnano is the Milan North that has learned to breathe: between the sheds of the old industry and the Comasina road, the Grugnotorto park stitches together hectares of metropolitan green, and Tilane — the square-library designed by Gae Aulenti — is the town's civic drawing room. The Seveso crosses it from north to south, and in Roman times the road from Milan to Bellagio passed through. The Milan-Meda road connects it to the centre in twenty minutes; the Villoresi canal carries the cycle path that cuts across Brianza. It is no postcard destination, but it tells better than many postcards how the Milanese hinterland really lives.