Street View Gorgonzola Gorgonzola, Metropolitan City of Milan, Lombardy Italy

Gorgonzola

Gorgonzola (Lombard: Gorgonzoeula [ɡurɡũˈzøːla]) is a town in the Metropolitan City of Milan, Lombardy. It is part of the territory of the Martesana, north-east of Milan. The cheese gorgonzola is named after the town.

The first written records mentioning the village of Gorgonzola back to the tenth century: the notary clerk of the convent of Saint Ambrose in Milan was the caretaker of the church of Saints Gervasio and Protasio in "Gorgontiola".[citation needed] In 453 the church, located in the current suburb of Gorgonzola, was attacked by the Huns who destroyed the nearby Roman town of Argentia, making the small village, formed earlier by one "mutatio" (station for changing horses) become the most densely populated of the surrounding territories.

In 1176 it joined the Lombard League and, in 1245, during clashes that followed the Peace of Constance in 1183 and which involved the heirs of Frederick Barbarossa, during the assault by Frederick II on the ramparts of Milan, the forces of Lombardy had to hold up in Gorgonzola: there were clashes amongst them and commanders of both sides were captured by their respective enemies.[citation needed]

In the thirteenth century, the town belonged directly to the Milanese family of the Della Torre, before they were ousted by the Visconti. In 1288, Gorgonzola was recorded as one of the most important churches of the diocese of Milan,[citation needed] and in 1510 it appears for the first time on a document, with its current name.[citation needed]

Towards the end of the 18th century, the town became politically significant for the area around Milan, particularly the 12th district of Lombardy, and it was vested with the power to administer 33 neighbouring towns.[citation needed] By the time of the Italian unification in 1861, Gorgonzola was in charge of administering only nineteen of these, including one that was larger than itself: Cernusco sul Naviglio.[citation needed] In 1861 the population of the area was 28,496, only 4,320 of whom lived in Gorgonzola itself.

Etymology
For a long time it was thought that the name derived from the Latin "Curte Argentia" which seems to indicate a settlement near the Roman town of Argentia, situated between Milan and Bergamo, or, according to other interpretations, a place for the horses at the 14th mile on the road towards Bergamo; over time the name would undergo the change in Curt-Argentia, Cort-argentiola and finally Gorgonzola. A more recent theory is that it takes its name from the goddess Concordia, corrupted into Corcondiola and finally in Gorgonzola.

Weather

Gorgonzola is located in the west of the basin of the Po Valley, and has a continental climate. Winters are cold, with heavy frost and fog, and temperatures frequently close to or below freezing. There are approximately 100 frost days per year, mostly from late November to early April, but occasionally in October or April as well.

Cheese
The city claims to have been the birthplace of its namesake cheese in 879, although other towns claim the origins. The area has a long history of breeding of dairy cows and production of cheese, in particular soft cheese. In this regard there are documents in the state of Milan that prove the presence of these cattle, sheep and cows, periodically surveyed and took the Empress Maria Theresa of Austria, who, in one of his proclamations declared that the areas east of the state of Milan would continue in the cultivation of meadows for the breeding of dairy cows to be used in the production of cheese.
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