Garlasco

The etymology of Garlasco is unsettled. The Latin derivation from Garlascum rests on nothing convincing; a Celtic-Germanic origin from carl, land let to smallholders, looks likelier; more pertinent still would be the Celtic Ker-leski, village of cremation, which the discovery of a large Gallic necropolis nearby would seem to support. The rest came from popular invention, with tales of unhappy love. In 981 emperor Otto II gave the place to the Pavian monastery of San Salvatore; under Pavia it was the seat of a podesteria and stayed long without feudal lords, until Guarnerio Castiglioni was invested with it in 1436.

Outside the built-up area stands the sanctuary of the Madonna della Bozzola, named after the dialect buslà, the hawthorn hedge. Tradition has it that in 1465 a deaf-mute girl from Garlasco called Maria was out with her father's animals when a storm broke; she sheltered under a small chapel where one Agostino da Pavia had had the Virgin painted in thanks for escaping drowning in the Ticino. There, the story goes, the Virgin appeared and charged her with asking the people of Garlasco for a sanctuary to protect the whole Lomellina; the girl came back speaking, and was believed.