Bicocca (district of Milan)
Encyclopedia
Bicocca is a district of Milan
, Italy
, part of the Zone 9 administrative division of the city. Until 1841, it was an autonomous comune. The main historic landmark of the district is the 15th century Villa Arcimboldi. In the last decades of the 20th century, the district has been affected by a major requalification project that lead to the construction of important facilities such as the University of Milan Bicocca
seats and the Teatro degli Arcimboldi
theatre.
that was built in 1450 and that was owned by the aristochratic family of the Arcimboldi, as the word "Bicocca" is an archaic term meaning "small castle located in an elevated place". The villa is still in place, and it is one of the landmarks of the Bicocca district.
In 1552, the place was the setting of a famous battle
between the Spanish of Charles V
and the French of Francis I
.
In the 19th century, the area of Bicocca was affected by a quick industrialization process, and was gradually absorbed into the urban agglomerate of Milan. It remained an autonomous comune
until 1841, when it was annexed to Niguarda
, which in turn became part of Milan in 1923.
In the first half of the 20th century Bicocca became the centre of an important industrial area that also comprised Greco
and Sesto San Giovanni
, and that greatly contributed to the Italian economy of the time. The first facilities to be established in Bicocca were those of Pirelli
, Ansaldobreda, and Wagons-Lits. In the nearby area of Sesto, the Falck steel mill
was also a prominent factory. Pirelli maintained a leading role in the area. A historic neighbourhood of Bicocca, "Borgo Pirelli" ("Pirelli Town"), developed as a residential area for the thousands of workers that were employed in the Pirelli factories.
Coherently with its leading role in Italian industry, Bicocca was also the setting of some of the most important events in the history of Italian trade union
s and workers' rights. In 1943, a 28 days strike was declared by the workers of Pirelli, Falck, Magneti-Marelli
, Borletti, FACE-Bovisa, Caproni
, and Alfa Romeo
. The strike had a wide resonance as it was in direct opposition of the anti-strike laws introduced by the "Codice Rocco" designed by Alfredo Rocco
and thus, indirectly, of the fascist
regime. About 40 workers of Pirelli were arrested. In a subsequent riot 1944, thousands of workers were deported to Nazi
concentration camps. Many of those that escaped arrest in 1994 would become partisans of the National Liberation Committee
.
De-industrialization of the Bicocca district began in the 1970s.
In 1985, Pirelli started a project to redevelop the area. The resulting "Progetto Bicocca" (Bicocca Project), which affected an area of 960.000 m2, was the largest urban transformation project in the history of Italy, and the second in Europe, after that of Berlin
. The prominent results of this project were the construction of a large university district (called University of Milan Bicocca
) and of the Teatro degli Arcimboldi
, a large theatre that has also been used to house La Scala shows while the historic La Scala theatre was undergoing restoration. Other main buildings realized by the project were a seat of the CNR
(National Council of Research) and the Istituto Neurologico Besta, a major neurological hospital. Several companies now have their Milanese headquarters in Bicocca, including Pirelli, Siemens
, Deutsche Bank
, Reuters
, Fastweb
, Johnson & Johnson
, and Hachette-Rusconi
.
In 1918 the villa was acquired by the Pirelli
company, that had already established many facilities in the area.
Milan
Milan is the second-largest city in Italy and the capital city of the region of Lombardy and of the province of Milan. The city proper has a population of about 1.3 million, while its urban area, roughly coinciding with its administrative province and the bordering Province of Monza and Brianza ,...
, Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
, part of the Zone 9 administrative division of the city. Until 1841, it was an autonomous comune. The main historic landmark of the district is the 15th century Villa Arcimboldi. In the last decades of the 20th century, the district has been affected by a major requalification project that lead to the construction of important facilities such as the University of Milan Bicocca
University of Milan Bicocca
The University of Milan - Bicocca is a university located in Milan, Italy.The University of Milan-Bicocca was established in 1998. It is located in an area on the northern outskirts of Milan, which was occupied by the Pirelli industrial complex until the late 1980s...
seats and the Teatro degli Arcimboldi
Teatro degli Arcimboldi
The Teatro degli Arcimboldi is a theatre and opera house in Milan which was built over a twenty-seven month period in anticipation of the closure and subsequent nearly three-year long renovation of Milan's La Scala opera house in December 2001...
theatre.
History
The toponymy "Bicocca" is probably a reference to a villaVilla
A villa was originally an ancient Roman upper-class country house. Since its origins in the Roman villa, the idea and function of a villa have evolved considerably. After the fall of the Roman Republic, villas became small farming compounds, which were increasingly fortified in Late Antiquity,...
that was built in 1450 and that was owned by the aristochratic family of the Arcimboldi, as the word "Bicocca" is an archaic term meaning "small castle located in an elevated place". The villa is still in place, and it is one of the landmarks of the Bicocca district.
In 1552, the place was the setting of a famous battle
Battle of Bicocca
The Battle of Bicocca or La Bicocca was fought on April 27, 1522, during the Italian War of 1521–26. A combined French and Venetian force under Odet de Foix, Vicomte de Lautrec, was decisively defeated by a Spanish-Imperial and Papal army under the overall command of Prospero Colonna...
between the Spanish of Charles V
Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor
Charles V was ruler of the Holy Roman Empire from 1519 and, as Charles I, of the Spanish Empire from 1516 until his voluntary retirement and abdication in favor of his younger brother Ferdinand I and his son Philip II in 1556.As...
and the French of Francis I
Francis I of France
Francis I was King of France from 1515 until his death. During his reign, huge cultural changes took place in France and he has been called France's original Renaissance monarch...
.
In the 19th century, the area of Bicocca was affected by a quick industrialization process, and was gradually absorbed into the urban agglomerate of Milan. It remained an autonomous comune
Comune
In Italy, the comune is the basic administrative division, and may be properly approximated in casual speech by the English word township or municipality.-Importance and function:...
until 1841, when it was annexed to Niguarda
Niguarda
Niguarda is a district of Milan, Italy. It is an area located within Zona 9 of the city. It was an independent village till 1923, then became part of the city after the Giunta Mangiagalli ....
, which in turn became part of Milan in 1923.
In the first half of the 20th century Bicocca became the centre of an important industrial area that also comprised Greco
Greco (district of Milan)
Greco is a district of Milan, Italy, part of the Zone 2 administrative division, located north-east of the city centre. Before being annexed to the city of Milan it was an independent comune, named Greco Milanese...
and Sesto San Giovanni
Sesto San Giovanni
Sesto San Giovanni is a comune in the Milan metropolitan area, located in the province of Milan and region of Lombardy in Italy. Its railway station is the northernmost stop on the Milan Metro M1 line. The city is informally referred to as "Sesto"...
, and that greatly contributed to the Italian economy of the time. The first facilities to be established in Bicocca were those of Pirelli
Pirelli
Pirelli & C. SpA is a diverse multinational company based in Milan, Italy. The company, the world’s fifth largest tyre manufacturer, is present in over 160 countries, has 20 manufacturing sites around the world and a network of around 10,000 distributors and retailers.Founded in Milan in 1872,...
, Ansaldobreda, and Wagons-Lits. In the nearby area of Sesto, the Falck steel mill
Steel mill
A steel mill or steelworks is an industrial plant for the manufacture of steel.Steel is an alloy of iron and carbon. It is produced in a two-stage process. First, iron ore is reduced or smelted with coke and limestone in a blast furnace, producing molten iron which is either cast into pig iron or...
was also a prominent factory. Pirelli maintained a leading role in the area. A historic neighbourhood of Bicocca, "Borgo Pirelli" ("Pirelli Town"), developed as a residential area for the thousands of workers that were employed in the Pirelli factories.
Coherently with its leading role in Italian industry, Bicocca was also the setting of some of the most important events in the history of Italian trade union
Trade union
A trade union, trades union or labor union is an organization of workers that have banded together to achieve common goals such as better working conditions. The trade union, through its leadership, bargains with the employer on behalf of union members and negotiates labour contracts with...
s and workers' rights. In 1943, a 28 days strike was declared by the workers of Pirelli, Falck, Magneti-Marelli
Magneti-Marelli
Magneti Marelli S.p.A. is an Italian company which deals with development and manufacturing of systems, modules and high-technology components for the automotive industry...
, Borletti, FACE-Bovisa, Caproni
Caproni
thumb|right|300px|[[Caproni Ca.316]] seaplane at its moorings.Caproni was an Italian aircraft manufacturer founded in 1908 by Giovanni Battista "Gianni" Caproni....
, and Alfa Romeo
Alfa Romeo
Alfa Romeo Automobiles S.p.A. is an Italian manufacturer of cars. Founded as A.L.F.A. on June 24, 1910, in Milan, the company has been involved in car racing since 1911, and has a reputation for building expensive sports cars...
. The strike had a wide resonance as it was in direct opposition of the anti-strike laws introduced by the "Codice Rocco" designed by Alfredo Rocco
Alfredo Rocco
Alfredo Rocco was an Italian politician and jurist.Rocco was born in Naples.He was Professor of Commercial Law at the University of Urbino and in Macerata , then Professor of Civil Procedure in Parma, of Business Law in Padua, and later of Economic Legislation at "La Sapienza" University of Rome,...
and thus, indirectly, of the fascist
Fascism
Fascism is a radical authoritarian nationalist political ideology. Fascists seek to rejuvenate their nation based on commitment to the national community as an organic entity, in which individuals are bound together in national identity by suprapersonal connections of ancestry, culture, and blood...
regime. About 40 workers of Pirelli were arrested. In a subsequent riot 1944, thousands of workers were deported to Nazi
Nazism
Nazism, the common short form name of National Socialism was the ideology and practice of the Nazi Party and of Nazi Germany...
concentration camps. Many of those that escaped arrest in 1994 would become partisans of the National Liberation Committee
National Liberation Committee
The National Liberation Committee was the underground political entity of Italian Partisans during the German occupation of Italy in the last years of the Second World War. It was a multi-party entity, whose members were united by their anti-fascism...
.
De-industrialization of the Bicocca district began in the 1970s.
In 1985, Pirelli started a project to redevelop the area. The resulting "Progetto Bicocca" (Bicocca Project), which affected an area of 960.000 m2, was the largest urban transformation project in the history of Italy, and the second in Europe, after that of Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
. The prominent results of this project were the construction of a large university district (called University of Milan Bicocca
University of Milan Bicocca
The University of Milan - Bicocca is a university located in Milan, Italy.The University of Milan-Bicocca was established in 1998. It is located in an area on the northern outskirts of Milan, which was occupied by the Pirelli industrial complex until the late 1980s...
) and of the Teatro degli Arcimboldi
Teatro degli Arcimboldi
The Teatro degli Arcimboldi is a theatre and opera house in Milan which was built over a twenty-seven month period in anticipation of the closure and subsequent nearly three-year long renovation of Milan's La Scala opera house in December 2001...
, a large theatre that has also been used to house La Scala shows while the historic La Scala theatre was undergoing restoration. Other main buildings realized by the project were a seat of the CNR
Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche
The Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche or National Research Council, is an Italian public organization set up to support scientific and technological research. Its headquarters are in Rome.-History:The institution was founded in 1923...
(National Council of Research) and the Istituto Neurologico Besta, a major neurological hospital. Several companies now have their Milanese headquarters in Bicocca, including Pirelli, Siemens
Siemens
Siemens may refer toSiemens, a German family name carried by generations of telecommunications industrialists, including:* Werner von Siemens , inventor, founder of Siemens AG...
, Deutsche Bank
Deutsche Bank
Deutsche Bank AG is a global financial service company with its headquarters in Frankfurt, Germany. It employs more than 100,000 people in over 70 countries, and has a large presence in Europe, the Americas, Asia Pacific and the emerging markets...
, Reuters
Reuters
Reuters is a news agency headquartered in New York City. Until 2008 the Reuters news agency formed part of a British independent company, Reuters Group plc, which was also a provider of financial market data...
, Fastweb
Fastweb
FASTWEB S.p.A. is an Italian broadband telecommunications company. It provides voice, Internet, cable television, IPTV and FTTH connection. The cable television and IPTV services were developed by Fastweb themselves as the technology market in 2000 was not mature enough to offer the level of...
, Johnson & Johnson
Johnson & Johnson
Johnson & Johnson is an American multinational pharmaceutical, medical devices and consumer packaged goods manufacturer founded in 1886. Its common stock is a component of the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the company is listed among the Fortune 500....
, and Hachette-Rusconi
Hachette Filipacchi Médias
Hachette Filipacchi Médias, S.A. is a magazine publisher. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of Lagardère Media of France.- History :Hachette Filipacchi was founded by Louis Hachette in 1826 when he purchased the Librarie Brédif. Hachette was purchased by Matra in 1980, a firm associated with Ténot &...
.
Villa Arcimboldi
The villa of the Arcimboldi (also known as "Bicocca degli Arcimboldi"), built in 1450, has been owned by several prominent families of the Milanese, and experienced a period of decay until it was restored in the early 20th century. From 1913 it became an experimental "open air school" for sick children. Carla Visconti di Modrone and Maria Pirelli greatly contributed to this project.In 1918 the villa was acquired by the Pirelli
Pirelli
Pirelli & C. SpA is a diverse multinational company based in Milan, Italy. The company, the world’s fifth largest tyre manufacturer, is present in over 160 countries, has 20 manufacturing sites around the world and a network of around 10,000 distributors and retailers.Founded in Milan in 1872,...
company, that had already established many facilities in the area.