Map - Gallarate

Gallarate (Lombard: Galaraa) is a city and comune of Alto Milanese of Lombardy and of Milan metropolitan area, northern Italy, in the Province of Varese. It has a population of some 54,000 people.

It is the junction of railways to Varese, Laveno and Arona (for the Simplon). Some 10 km to the west are the electric works of Vizzola, where 23,000 hp are derived from the river Ticino. Its territory is crossed by the river Arnetta and belongs to the Ticino River Natural Park.

The city had a strong textile industry in the first part of the 19th century.

In common with other nearby cities, such as Casorate Sempione and Samarate, its name comes from Latin.

Founded by the Gauls and later conquered by the Romans, Gallarate was mentioned as an important vicus or village in documents dating back to the Roman conquest of what was then called Gallia Cisalpina. After the Carolingian conquest of northern-central Italy, a castle was erected upon the remains of the original Roman fortifications located beside the still existing Basilica of Santa Maria. The castle has disappeared, but its ancient location is identified through the city's topography and by the street name Via Postcastello.

After the obliteration of Castelseprio by Ottone Visconti in 1287, Gallarate became the capital of the vast Seprio county. During these years, Gallarate saw a period of prosperity and economic growth that would last for the rest of Visconti control, until the beginning of French rule two centuries later (1498). Documents in the National Archives refer to Gallarate as an important centre of commercial exchange between both Italian and foreign markets, particularly for cotton, drapes, flax and textiles. Distinguished families such as the Rosnati, Reina, Masera, Palazzi, Macchi, Curioni, Mari and the Guenzati represented the nobility and the merchant classes. This period was also noted as a time of great civic improvement and the beginning of Gallarate as a centre of industrial activity.

In the late 15th century, the city fell under foreign domination, initially under the Spanish and then under the French (and then again Spanish and their Austrian successors), a condition which lasted until the 19th century. In between this political instability, Gallarate became a private fief of some of the competing noble Italian families such as the Bentivoglio, Pallavicino, Caracciolo, Altemps, Visconti, and Castelbarco.

Gallarate became a part of the Kingdom of Italy in 1859 and received the honorary title of city with a royal decree on 19 December 1860.

By the latter half of the 19th century, modern industry had begun to take over many areas of Italy. In a few decades, Gallarate became an important industrial city. This period was also marked by heavy social tensions brought about by the rapid political and economic changes wrought by Gallarate's own industrial revolution. Nowadays, Gallarate's industrial structure no longer includes these giant industrial powerhouses of the past. Their existence, however, is still marked out by the presence of the high chimneys, which are still visible along Gallarate's skyline. Many of the old Liberty style buildings, where thousands of Gallaratesi worked during the past century and a half, have been turned into new modern multi-level shopping centres and plazas.