Castiglione Olona is a town and ''
comune'' in the
province of Varese
The province of Varese ( it, provincia di Varese) is a province in the region of Lombardy in northern Italy. Its capital is the city of Varese (population of 80,857 inhabitants), but its largest city is Busto Arsizio. The headquarters of the A ...
, in
Lombardy
(man), (woman) lmo, lumbard, links=no (man), (woman)
, population_note =
, population_blank1_title =
, population_blank1 =
, demographics_type1 =
, demographics1_footnotes =
, demographics1_title1 =
, ...
. As of 31 December 2015, it has a population of 7,753 inhabitants.
History
The town of Castiglione Olona rose around the fifth century CE under the
Roman Empire
The Roman Empire ( la, Imperium Romanum ; grc-gre, Βασιλεία τῶν Ῥωμαίων, Basileía tôn Rhōmaíōn) was the post-Roman Republic, Republican period of ancient Rome. As a polity, it included large territorial holdings aro ...
domain. Consequently, the Lombards entered and took possession of the village until the Castiglioni family became sole proprietor of the land around 1000 AC. The family engaged in many battles for the rule of the lands so they had walls built all around the village to protect themselves from enemies. Today only a small part of the walls near the fortress is visitable. In 1422, cardinal
Branda da Castiglione
Branda da Castiglione (Castiglione Olona, 4 February 1350 – Castiglione Olona, 4 February 1443) was an early Italian humanist, a papal diplomat and a Roman Catholic cardinal.
Early career
He was born to a Milanese noble family related to Gof ...
obtained the permission from
Pope Martin V
Pope Martin V ( la, Martinus V; it, Martino V; January/February 1369 – 20 February 1431), born Otto (or Oddone) Colonna, was the head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 11 November 1417 to his death in February 1431. H ...
to build the church of Collegiata (Santi Stefano e Lorenzo); the church contains frescoes attributed to
Masolino
, death_date = ''c.'' 1447
, death_place = Florence
, nationality = Italian
, field = Painting, fresco
, training =
, movement = Italian Renaissance
, works = frescoes in the Brancacci Chapel
, patrons ...
.
In the town, the 15th and 16th century palace of cardinal Branda now serves as a museum, still contains a chapel and a number of frescoed walls, some attributed to Sienese painter
Vecchietta
Lorenzo di Pietro (1410 – June 6, 1480), known as Vecchietta, was an Italian Sienese School painter, sculptor, goldsmith, and architect of the Renaissance. He is among the artists profiled in Vasari's ''Le Vite delle più eccellenti pittori, ...
.
Lombardia Beni Culturali
entry on the palace.
Twin towns — sister cities
Castiglione Olona is twinned with:
* Étupes, France
References
Cities and towns in Lombardy
{{Varese-geo-stub