Brianza
The Brianza , (in brianzolischen ) dialect of Italian Briansa is the historical name for the hill country between Lake Como in the north and Milan in the south, whose geographical boundaries are controversial and have shifted slightly again and again over the centuries. It comprises the Italian province of Monza and Brianza , founded in 2004 , the southern part of the province of Lecco and the south-eastern part of the province of Como .
Surname
The name is etymologically derived from the Celtic word brig (hill), which is still preserved today in the form bricch in many Italian dialects.
Geography and geology
The Brianza has a surface of approx. 880 km², 1200000 inhabitants (2006) and a population density of 1365 Ew / km². The Brianza can be roughly outlined by the Canale Villoresi near Monza in the south, the pre-Alps in the triangle of Lake Como , where the Lambro rises, in the north, the Seveso in the west and the Adda in the east. The originally exclusively, but still largely rural, cultural landscape has given the Brianzoli a strong sense of identity.
The postglacial hill country was formed by the glaciers of the Valtellina and Ticino and consists of lime, a landscape rich in boulders made of granite, diorite and slate, which come from Ortler , Bernina and Bergell and were often used for building houses. This is followed to the south by an alluvial plain that sinks towards the Po ( Po plain of conglomerates, sand and gravel soils), in contrast to the clay soil of the actual Po plain . The Brianza is rich in springs that are fed by the groundwater, which flows slowly down into the valley a few to several dozen meters under the glacial gravel and emerges approximately at the level of Monza. Urban sprawl and excessive water abstraction for agriculture have caused the groundwater level to drop considerably, in some cases by up to 100 m.
In the northern Brianza the hills are partly true mountains: the Monte Barro , 950 m, whose name comes from its position as a barrier between the Lago di Lecco and the flatter hills in the south; the Corni di Canzo , 1371 m, three striking rock horns west of Lake Lecco; the Monte San Primo , 1686 m, the highest mountain in the interstices between the Seearmen Lago di Como and Lecco.
Waters
The spring horizons, especially in the limestone hills of the regional parks Parco Regional di Montevecchia e della Valle del Curone , produce extremely hard water, and travertine formation can be observed at many springs.
The Adda is the largest river of the Brianza and marks its eastern edge. It comes from the Valtellina and is the fourth longest river in Italy with a total of 313 km. After leaving Lake Como at Lecco to the south, it flows through Lago di Garlate (4.6 km²), Lago di Olginate (0.77 km²) and then digs into a conglomerate gorge until it sull ' at Trezzo Adda enters the Po Valley and, after many meanders, flows into the Po .
At Paderno d'Adda there is one of only three bridges over the difficult to cross river (next to those of Olginate and Brivio). It is an early example of significant engineering achievement in Northern Italy. The bridge, the Ponte di Paderno, also called Ponte San Michele, is 266 m long and spans the valley at a height of 85 m. It is two-story and serves the Seregno- Bergamo railway line , above which is the carriageway for light car traffic. It was built in 1887–1889 by the Swiss Jules Röthlisberger (1851–1911). A few kilometers north, near Imbersago, the Adda is crossed by a still functioning ferry for cars and pedestrians, which goes back to a project by Leonardo da Vinci .
All other streams and rivers, of which the Lambro is the largest, flow roughly parallel to the Adda from north to south and either flow directly into the Po or one of its tributaries such as the Muzza. In the far west of the Brianza, the Seveso flows, which was affected by the dioxin disaster in 1976 in the town of the same name, while the small Molgora (emphasized: Mòlgora), which flows between Lambro and Adda and which has a special feature: it crosses under artificial waterways twice, has clean water , the Canale Villoresi near Pessano and the Naviglio della Martesana near Gorgonzola.
The Brianza belongs to the lake region of Italy. Although it only touches the two southern arms of Lake Como, a large number of mostly shallow lakes has formed in the former moraine landscape: the largest is the Lago di Annone (5.71 km², 11 m deep) west of Lecco Isella peninsula divided into two almost completely separate lake basins, further to the west the Lago di Pusiano or Eupilio (approx. 5 km², depth 24 m) fed by Lambro. Both lakes were extremely rich in fish, but with the introduction of untreated sewage from the metals industry of Valmadrera , Civate and Cesana Brianza from the 1960s, the fish died and the fishermen in the villages on the lake shores lost their livelihoods.
The Lago di Alserio (1.2 km²) is located west of the Lago di Pusiano in the province of Como , the Lago del Segrino (0.35 km²), north of the Pago di Pusiano, is known for its emerald green water and was by writers and Poets like Giuseppe Parini described. The postglacial Lago del Cariggi, approx. 5 km² in size, existed until the Middle Ages, of which only an alluvial plain between the places Renate and Besana in Brianza with the flora of a wet biotope was left.
climate
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Because of the diversity of the landscape, the climatic conditions are also different. In the northern hill country there is a moderate, more continental climate; It is noticeable that with a relatively small difference in altitude of 100 to 200 meters, the north of the Brianza shows bright sunshine and clear air (with a distant view as far as the Appennines in the south and the Monterosa in the west), while the south under a cloudy layer of fog or cloud (Upper limit 150–200 m above sea level). Accordingly, winter temperatures in the north can drop to −10 ° C, while the south has temperatures between −2 ° and +2 °. In summer the temperature can reach 40 ° C in cities during hot spells; north of Monza and in the hill country, summer temperatures are usually 2–4 ° C lower.
In the flat part, the southern Brianza, the climate is partly determined by the high population density of the agglomerations around Desio , Lissone , Seregno , Seveso and Meda and by the heavy pollutant emissions from traffic and industry. In the summer, like over Milan, there is often a heat bell over the landscape, in the damp winters there is often fog, the frequency of which has decreased between 1980 and 2010 due to the reduction in coal and oil heating. The precipitation falls mostly in autumn, in winter only rarely as snow.
The more pleasant climate compared to Milan and Monza has made Brianza the preferred, quickly accessible summer retreat of the Lombard aristocracy since the 16th century, which is why villas in Merate, Vimercate , Oreno, Velate Brianza, Arcore and Lesmo were built, which were mostly only inhabited in summer .
Cultural landscape
The hill slopes have been terraced and made usable for agriculture since ancient times. Until the expansion of the transport system in the 19th century, a lot of wine was grown on the southern slopes, which was of poor quality because of the soil, then the wine was imported from the Oltrepo Pavese and switched to the cultivation of herbs (rosemary, sage, etc.) on the terraces.
In the 19th century, as the basis of the silk industry, the Brianza was littered with tens of thousands of mulberry trees, of which only a few individual specimens have survived today. Agriculture shifted predominantly to the cultivation of maize, which is being increasingly reduced by two factors: the parceling and urbanization, because more and more residents of Milan are moving to the northern suburbs, and industrial buildings.
Nature parks
The Regional Park of Montevecchia e della Valle del Curone is an old cultural and natural landscape. In the Parco del Curone , oil test wells should be undertaken, but conservationists successfully crossed the line.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Jules Röthlisberger. Structurae.net, July 22, 2014, accessed June 30, 2018 .
- ↑ Regional Park of Montevecchia e della Valle del Curone. Retrieved June 29, 2018 .
- ↑ Al.S .: Niente trivelle nel parco del Curone , daily newspaper Corriere della sera , Cronache 31 July, 2009. [1]