LEGNANO

Latin Leunianum, city, Milano provincia, Lombardia (Lombardy) regione, northern Italy, on the Olona River. An unimportant Roman settlement called Leunianum, it became the site of a fortified castle of the bishops of Milan in the 11th century and in 1176 was the scene of a decisive defeat of the Holy Roman emperor Frederick I Barbarossa by the forces of the Lombard League. A monument built in 1876 by Enrico Butti commemorates the victory. Notable landmarks in the city include the Church of San Magno (1529), with an altarpiece by Bernardino Luini, and the remains of a castle of the Visconti family, who controlled the region in the 14th and 15th centuries. A northwestern industrial satellite of Milan, Legnano has important metallurgical and cotton-textile plants and machinery, soap, and candle works. Pop. (1993 est.) mun., 50,545.