Pessano and Bornago were separate villages until 1870, when a royal decree joined them into one comune; the idea was Napoleon's, who had already tried it in 1809 on a wider scale, taking in Bussero too. The two names come from different languages: Pessano is most likely Gallo-Roman, perhaps from a landowner called Pettius, while Bornago looks older and Celtic, either from an Insubrian village head named Bornos, «the furious one», or more probably from the root bor-, «spring», for the springs of this part of the Martesana.
Little is known of the castle of Pessano, and almost all of it hangs on one episode: in the thirteenth century, when the village was a Torriani fief, Filippo della Torre held Simone da Locarno prisoner there in a wooden cage with two of his kin; they escaped and were recaptured. The castle was pulled down in the eighteenth century and Villa Castiglioni rose in its place, partly from the rubble; after the war don Carlo Gnocchi opened there the first of his homes for children maimed by the war.
Risotto alla Milanese
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Next up: Saint Apollonia, a communal celebration uniting the patrons of the two hamlets, Tuesday 9 February
Nearest airport: Milano Linate, 14 km away
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📅 Every year, on 9 February, a communal celebration uniting the patrons of the two hamlets
Pessano con Bornago celebrates on 9 February, the feast of Saint Apollonia, a communal celebration uniting the patrons of its two hamlets: Saints Vitalis and Valeria for Pessano and Saints Cornelius and Cyprian for Bornago.
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Outside Pessano con Bornago, but an easy day trip away.
