Old documents give the name as Cavanacum or Cavenagum, and it seems to come either from Cà venationis, for the game in the woods, or from Cà vinationis, for the vineyards the Milanese poet Carlo Porta also mentions. Some papers call the place Castrum or Castellum, though no trace of a castle survives. In 1863 the suffix di Brianza was added, to avoid confusion with Cavenago d'Adda. The oldest document naming it is an istrumentum of 3 December 873: Ansperto, archbishop of Milan, bought houses and land here.
In the twentieth century Cavenago wove silk: the fabric that lined the boxes and walls of the Teatro alla Scala, replacing what wartime bombing had ruined, was made here, as was the cloth for the mantle of Queen Elena of Montenegro, who passed through on her way to the sanatorium at Ornago. The largest firm was Schmid, opened by a young man from the Grisons. The town hall sits in Palazzo Rasini, the villa of the Rasini counts: bought by the comune in the twenties, by then run down, it held classrooms and staff flats before restoration recovered its frescoes.
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📅 Every year, on 31 January
Cavenago di Brianza celebrates Saint Julius of Orta on 31 January; the other patron, Our Lady of the Rosary, is celebrated on the first Sunday of October.
📅 Every year, on the first Sunday of October
Cavenago di Brianza celebrates Our Lady of the Rosary on the first Sunday of October; the other patron, Saint Julius of Orta, is celebrated on 31 January.
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 Cavenago di Brianza, but an easy day trip away.
