Sovico

Sovico lies in the lower Brianza, where the last hills give out into the plain north of Milan, and the Lambro marks the eastern boundary with Triuggio. The name seems to come from the raised position of the settlement, from the Latin summus vicus, passing through the forms Suigum and Suycum before reaching its present shape. The earliest charter to name the place is a testamentary provision by Ansperto da Biassono, archbishop of Milan, in favour of his nephew the deacon Ariprando, dated 11 November 879.

The fief belonged to the pieve of Agliate and in the fifteenth century passed to the Balbiani, from Isola Comacina: with it came the title of count, civil and criminal jurisdiction over villas, farmsteads and mills, and the rights to tolls and duties. The lords themselves owed a yearly tax of 635 imperial lire, and Girolamo Balbiani objected to Duke Massimiliano Sforza that his family had been invested at a price, having given up half the fief of Chiavenna: he won his exemption. In 1611 the subjects dug in, refusing the toll; the revenue magistrate of Milan found for the counts.