Insubria

Insubria is a historical-geographical region which corresponds to the area inhabited in Classical antiquity by the Insubres; the name can also refer to the Duchy of Milan (1395–1810). For several centuries this name stood for an area stretching approximately between the Adda river in the east and the Sesia river in the west, and between the San Gottardo Pass in the north and the Po river in the south, thus it was a synonym of the Milan region and the countryside areas gravitating towards it.

Polybius claims the Insubres founded the city of Milan around 600 BC. They were a Celtic or Ligurian people which dwelt in the 4th–5th century BC in the area of pre-Alpine lakes and Milan. The name Insubres is visible in the middle portion of the Tabula Peutingeriana.

The symbol of Insubria (when conceived as the Duchy of Milan) is the Milanese Ducal flag, the Visconti child-swallowing serpent quartered with the Imperial eagle. For further details, see the Duchy of Milan.

At present, the meaning of the term Insubria is perceived as more restricted, as it indicates the territory of the cross-boundary cooperation community Regio Insubrica, which was set up in 1995 by the Italian provinces of Varese, Como, Verbano-Cusio-Ossola together with the Swiss Canton Ticino: that is to say, the lakes area between Italy and Switzerland where the Italian language is spoken. The Regio Insubrica was recently extended to the territories of the provinces of Novara and Lecco.

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