Farmhouses of Brugherio

The old farmhouses of Brugherio were agricultural structures typical of the Po-Valley in Lombardy, which gave its name to the surrounding areas as well, roughly corresponding to fractional towns in which Brugherio was divided. The union of the various small rural municipalities in which the territory was fragmented gave birth in 1866 to the municipality of Brugherio. Some are still visible: Bindellera, Casecca, Cattoni, Comolli, Dorderio, Guzzina, Increa, Modesta (called also Del Bosco), Moia, Occhiate (with Occhiate's mill), Pareana, San Cristoforo, Sant'Ambrogio, San Paolo and Torazza.

Isolated in the countryside (as Sant'Ambrogio, Guzzina and Occhiate) or unified in a rural agglomeration (as Cassina Baraggia and San Damiano), the farms were the core of peasant life. They had closed courts and shared architectural characteristics of farms on the plains north of Milan. In such designs the yard was intended to functionally link the property, having a central role in the agricultural chain of production (as occurred in Po-valley companies). Around the courtyard, usually very large, four buildings opened: two porches on the ground floor, topped by a railing leading to the residential upper floor; the third belonged to stables and barns; and the fourth was originally made up of small rooms used as latrines. The houses were so arranged: in the ground floor there were a kitchen, pantry, closets and the living room, bedrooms being upstairs. At the center of the courtyard one could find water well.

In Brugherio and its surroundings, agricultural properties were mostly small and divided, apart from a few exceptions, until the Napoleonic era. Polyculture (wheat, maize, beans, potatoes) prevailed, intended mainly for personal consumption rather than sale. The area was known for the production of wine and, from the mid-eighteenth century, mulberry cultivation grew: the mulberry trees, which were customarily planted on the edge of the field, to avoid sacrificing other crops needed to feed silkworms, were given by the owner to the tenant farmers to labour them together. Women and children were in charge of breeding silkworms. The silkworm boom saw the construction of several mills, the first of which were located in Baraggia and Moncucco.

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