Gropello is one of the few villages in Europe to have grown along a single street, what the Germans call a strassendorf: the main road is closed at either end by a church, San Rocco at one and San Giorgio at the other. The Cairoli in the name arrived in 1888: in 1845 the surgeon Carlo Cairoli had bought the village's castle and estate, and his five sons were to become as many leading figures of the Risorgimento.
From here came also the philosopher Carlo Cantoni, who studied Kant so closely that the university of Königsberg, the philosopher's own city, granted him a degree after his death. He was a senator of the Kingdom, and the village owes him its railway. On the table there remains the biscuit that bears the Cairoli name, made by four local bakeries with rice, wheat and maize flour and a few drops of lemon, put there to recall the expedition of the Thousand to Sicily.
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📅 Every year, on the Sunday nearest to 23 April, with the equestrian statue fighting the dragon
Gropello Cairoli celebrates Saint George the Martyr on the Sunday nearest to 23 April: his equestrian statue fighting the dragon overlooks the mother church. For over 70 years, the Festa dei Ragazzi has also been held, with the town's four districts competing.
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 Gropello Cairoli, but an easy day trip away.
