Quarto Cagnino (; ) is a district (''

quartiere A (; : , ) is an administrative division of Italy, roughly equivalent to a township or municipality. It is the third-level administrative division of Italy, after regions () and provinces (). The can also have the title of (). Formed a ...

'') of

Milan Milan ( , , ; ) is a city in northern Italy, regional capital of Lombardy, the largest city in Italy by urban area and the List of cities in Italy, second-most-populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of nea ...

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

, part of the Zone 7 administrative division of the city. It borders the districts of

Trenno Trenno is a district ("quartiere") of Milan, Italy, part of the Zone 8 administrative division of the city. It borders on green areas to the north and west (on the Boscoincittà city park) and to the south (on the Parco di Trenno); to the east, it ...

(north),

San Siro San Siro is a football stadium in the San Siro district of Milan, Italy. It has a seating capacity of 75,817, making it the largest stadium in Italy and one of the largest stadiums in Europe. It is the home stadium of the city's principal ...

(east), Baggio (south), and

Quinto Romano Quinto Romano () is a district (''quartiere'') of Milan, Italy, part of the Zone 7 administrative division of the city. Before being annexed to Milan, it was an autonomous ''comune'' (until 1869) and a ''frazione'' of Trenno (from 1869 to 1923). ...

(west). Before being annexed to Milan, in 1869, it was an autonomous ''

comune A (; : , ) is an administrative division of Italy, roughly equivalent to a township or municipality. It is the third-level administrative division of Italy, after regions () and provinces (). The can also have the City status in Italy, titl ...

'' and, briefly, a part of Trenno (from 1861 to 1869). Quarto Cagnino is a formerly rural, now urban district, with the last period of quick urban development having occurred in the late 1960s in so called "GESCAL" projects. The "GESCAL" acronym stands for "Gestione Case per i Lavoratori", i.e., "Housing for Workers"; these projects were meant to realize vast low-income apartment blocks in rationally organized, "satellite" city neighbourhoods.
Le facciate di Quarto Cagnino
' (in Italian) Example of GESCAL apartment flats are found along Via Carlo Marx, close to the San Carlo hospital. While low-income, huge apartment buildings dominate the landscape of Quarto, these contrast with some remaining ancient cascine, testifying the rural past of the district. These are mostly found along Via Fratelli Zoia, which used to be the main street of old rural Quarto Cagnino. The district is connected to Milan by several bus lines. The district has one of the major hospitals in Milan, the San Carlo, and part of two large city parks, Parco delle Cave and Parco di Trenno.

History

The origins of "Quarto Cagnino" date back at least to

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of Roman civilization *Epistle to the Romans, shortened to Romans, a letter w ...

times, as the very toponymy proves (the name "quarto", i.e., "fourt", being a reference to Quarto being four

Roman mile The mile, sometimes the international mile or statute mile to distinguish it from other miles, is a British imperial unit and United States customary unit of length; both are based on the older English unit of length equal to 5,280 English ...

s from Milan). In the Middle Ages, a rural '' borgo'' developed, which had an important role in the Milanese country as it was crossed by both a

pilgrimage A pilgrimage is a travel, journey to a holy place, which can lead to a personal transformation, after which the pilgrim returns to their daily life. A pilgrim (from the Latin ''peregrinus'') is a traveler (literally one who has come from afar) w ...

route to the

Holy Land The term "Holy Land" is used to collectively denote areas of the Southern Levant that hold great significance in the Abrahamic religions, primarily because of their association with people and events featured in the Bible. It is traditionall ...

and the road towards

Santiago de Compostela Santiago de Compostela, simply Santiago, or Compostela, in the province of Province of A Coruña, A Coruña, is the capital of the autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Galicia (Spain), Galicia, in northwestern Spain. The city ...

.
Quarto Cagnino, addio a un pezzo di storia
' (in Italian) In the 18th and 19th, a number of cascine (farms) were established nearby the ''borgo''. Prominent crops in the area included mulberries, vine, and fodder.
Le cascine di Quarto Cagnino
' (in Italian) In 1846, the population of Quarto was 298, and its territory 182

hectare The hectare (; SI symbol: ha) is a non-SI metric unit of area equal to a square with 100-metre sides (1 hm2), that is, square metres (), and is primarily used in the measurement of land. There are 100 hectares in one square kilometre. ...

s. In 1861, Quarto Cagnino as well as two nearby comunes (

Figino Figino may refer to: * Figino (district of Milan), a quarter in the Italian city of Milan. * Figino, Switzerland, a settlement in the Barbengo quarter of the Swiss city of Lugano. * Giovanni Ambrogio Figino (1548/1551 – 1608), Italian Renaissa ...

and

) were annexed to Trenno (which was renamed "Trenno e Uniti") which in turn became part of Milan in 1869.

Footnotes

{{coord, 45, 28, 23, N, 9, 06, 34, E, source:kolossus-itwiki, display=title Districts of Milan Former municipalities of Lombardy