The Diffused District of Intralocal Significance of Malpensa Nord – Ticino is made up of the townships of Somma Lombardo, Golasecca, Sesto Calende, Varano Borghi , Vergiate, Angera, Mercallo, Mornago.
The district is placed on the limits between Lombardy and Piedmont, between Malpensa and the Ticino river, in an area with a quite high commercial and industrial density, bridging the provinces of Varese, Milan and Novara, characterized by the presence of several facilities and services. Among the facilities, due to their concentration of economic connections of different kind, we should mention above all the Malpensa Intercontinental Airport (on the territory of Somma Lombardo still exists the Terminal 2 of the old airport, with an extension of approx. 2,5 square kilometers, just 3 kilometers far from the town center, while the Terminal 1 is about 7 kilometers far from the town center) and the new Milan International Fair. The development of both structures will be improved during the next years, due to the EXPO 2015 taking place from May 1st until October 31st 2015: there will be important financial effects, thanks to the investments that will be done on the territory (more than 20 billion euro of facilities) and thanks to the high number of visitors (29 millions of tourists are expected during the six months of exhibition, that means a daily average number of 160.000 people).
The District will be situated in a strategic position from a logistic point of view, at a crossing of both road and railway routes of high importance: the so called “corridor 5” (arterial thoroughfare that belongs to one of the main road and railway artery for people and goods transportation that the European Union promised to realize in order to connect Lisbon to Kiev), the motorway A8 (also known as Lakes Motorway) that connects Milan to Varese and the motorway A26 (Voltri – Gravellona Toce), the state road SS 33 Sempione, that connects Milan to the Switzerland and the railway lines Milan-Domodossola as well Milan-Luino).
Somma Lombardo: the town holds the primacy on the territorial extension of the Varese province. The river Ticino flows through its territory for 5 kilometers, offering nice touristic ways especially suitable to bicycle tours. In 2006 Somma Lombardo was declared touristic town (one of the major attraction is the Castle Visconti of San Vito, that dates back to the IX century). The economy of Somma Lombardo has always been in line with the typical ones of towns with similar dimensions. But, due to the growth of Malpensa, a lot of hotels have been recently built on its area and nearby, on the territory of Case Nuove, close to the Terminal 2, the so called “old Malpensa”.
Sesto Calende: it is placed on the south part of the Maggiore Lake, where the Ticino river restarts its course towards the Po, as effluent of the Verbano. In the townships of Golasecca and Sesto Calende there are archeological areas of the Golasecca Civilation whose finds are kept in the archeological museum of Golasecca itself.
Varano Borghi: the township is placed on the north-east shore of the Comabbio Lake, a natural oasis of high interest, inserted into the “Sites of Community Importance”. Due to the fact that the lake has only a maximum depth of 7,7 meters, during winter it is always frozen and allows people to iceskate on it. The Comabbio Lake is completely surrounded by a pedestrian and cycle lane that respects the natural values of the territory. The lane was recently connected to the one that stretches along the Varese Lake with the realization of a route of 40 kilometers immersed in the nature.
In order to guarantee the connection the Varese province realized a wooden bridge on the Brabbia channel and the underground passage of the provincial road n. 18 (with 24 meters of length). By finishing this circuit the Varese province becomes the third province in Lombardy as far as the number of pedestrian and cycle kilometers is concerned: 40 kilometeres of the system in the Varese and Comabbio lake areas, plus 63 kilometers of the system in the Olona Valley. In order to enlarge the route, there is a project concerning the connection with the Park of the Ticino River from the township of Mercallo (on the area of the Comabbio lake), passing through Sesto Calende and Golasecca, to reach the Naviglio (channel) Villoresi and the town of Abbiategrasso, in order to guarantee the link with the center of Milan and the town of Pavia.
The name of Varano derives from the celtic word “var” that identifies a place close to the water. Since the past centuries Varano was an industrial town and its rapid development was due to the settlement of the second Italian factory for the mechanical cotton spinning: in 1819 Pasquale Borghi established the first spinning machines in the old mill on the Brabbia channel, using the water motive power. In order to give a more permanent character to the workforce coming from the country, the owners built, at the very beginning of his activity, some dormitories and later on also houses for workers and managers. The township was one of the few examples existing in Italy of a modern industrial vision, that was able to join technical development of the factory with social life of the workers. Angera In Roman times, under the name of Angleria, was an important lake port and road station. Angera received the title of city by Duke Ludovico il Moro of October 7, 1497. Today its major feature is the Rocca, an imposing castle of very ancient origin. The area offers good wines and lovely panoramas over Lago Maggiore.
The Castle or Rocca Borromeo of Angera, an unusual example of a completely preserved medieval fortified building, rises on a spur of calcareous rock that has always dominated the southern part of Lake Maggiore.
This imposing construction houses items that bear important witness to local history, which is revisited thanks to the marvellous cycle of frescoes of the "Sala di Giustizia" (Justice Hall) dating from the end of the 13th century. It also has many historical rooms, and includes the Torre Castellana, the top of which affords magnificent panoramic views. Also particularly worthy of mention is the seventeenth century wine press that is housed in the wine-pressing room.
Some rooms house the Doll and Children’s Clothes Museum. This is the most important collection of its kind in Europe, and a large section is dedicated to mechanical automatons dating from the nineteenth century, all of which are fully functioning.
The spectacular fortress or Rocca, invites the tourist to experience a fascinating encounter with the area’s historical events and its traditions. It is an age-old heritage that is enhanced by the wide expanse of Lake Maggiore, and is crowned by the incomparable beauty of the foothills of the Alps in the foreground, and the Alps behind.
The tower can also be reached on the regular ferry service.
Vergiate: the township is placed in the west area of the Varese province. Its economy is based on the industry, above all the aviation industry: the plant of SIAI Marchetti (that now belongs to Finmeccanica group) had in the past the leading role in this business. SIAI (that means Società Idrovolanti Alta Italia – Hydroplanes Society of Northern Italy) had its main plant close by, in the town of Sesto Calende and produced ocean-going hydroplanes in the Thirties.
This kind of production was later replaced by the one of helicopters Agusta Westland, after a reorganization of the Finmeccanica group that followed the conveyance of Aermacchi. It’s also to mention the airport of Vergiate (that now belongs to Agusta Westland) well known in Italy for piloting courses . Regarding this production it’s important to underline that the aviation industry of the Province of Varese produced in 2008 the 32% of the Italian export in this division, with a turnover of 1 billion and 504 million euro, and has very positively forecasts.
Mercallo, said also Mercallo of the Stones, it is far a country of almost 2000 inhabitants about twenty kilometers from Varese. Situated to half coast on the hill, his territory it does it departs of the "Zone of the Seven Lakes", of which the more main point is the Verbano Lake.
The word "mercallo" it would derive from the German terms "Markt" and "Halle", that respectively mean "market" and "center", pointing out so the commercial importance of Mercallo. The appellative "of the Stones" it would be due to the great presence of "erratic rocks" in the zone, but there is also whoever it sustains that the appellative remembers the hard-working activity of the ancient “scalpellini”that once they lived these places.
Mornago currently counts few less than 5000 inhabitants and represents an important industrial center, sets really to half road between Gallarate and Varese, in a flourishing zone of activity, a sort of triangle (Varese-Gallarate-Vergiate) whose communications with Milan are facilitated by the presence of the highway Milan-lakes, that it subsequently issues him toward Varese on one side and toward the Verbano Lake from the other from Gallarate. Also the presence of the International airport of the Malpensa has given further impulse to the development of the zone
The Park of the Ticino River
Four townships of the District belong to the Park of the Ticino River (Somma Lombardo, Golasecca, Sesto Calende and Vergiate), whose course makes the natural limit between Lombardy and Piedmont.
The park, which was the first regional park in Italy, was realized in 1974 in order to defend the river itself and the several natural environments of the Ticino valley from urbanization and industrialization getting more and more invasive. The Consortium Park of the Ticino Valley manages and rules its territory by applying a system of separate protection of natural, agricultural and urban areas. The final goal is to conciliate the environmental protection needs with the social and economic ones of the many towns of the area, one of the most populated in Italy. A difficult but possible challenge under the password “sustainable development”. The parks allows to spend nice days absorbed by nature and green areas, according to the rules of a sustainable tourism.
The importance of the Ticino river and of its valley has been recognized internationally with its insertion, in 2002, in the UNESCO World Network of Biosphere Reserves, on the occasion of the MAB program (Man and Biosphere), award reserved to areas that are meant to demonstrate a balanced relationship between man and nature (e.g. encourage sustainable development).
The Park of the Ticino River spreads over two regions, Piedmont and Lombardy and its made by 47 Lombard townships located along the Ticino banks. It has a surface of 91.410 hectares and it’s included in the areas of Maggiore Lake and Po river, in the provinces of Varese, Milan and Pavia, with the following division:
- 22.249 Natural Park
- 69.161 Regional Park.
The Park of the Ticino River in Piedmont has a surface of 6.561 hectares of Natural Park (11 townships of the province of Novara). The inhabitants are approximately half a million people.
Commercial overview of the District
The District is placed in a unique big urban area to which belong significant townships such as Gallarate and Busto Arsizio. This brought remarkable advantages for the industrial development and consequently for the employment. The industrial manufacturing system represented (and somehow still represents) a first market opportunity for the single companies that created satellite chains as well as real supply chains. Moreover, the creation of an industrial district allowed to create job opportunities for the inhabitants of the townships of the area, not only regarding quantity but also quality. As a matter of fact, the skills and the productive culture brought about and diffused into the District produced a job qualification effect. Skills and job culture that put the foundations for flourishing of hand-crafted and industrial activities as “spin off” of other companies.
But if - from a competitive point of view - taking part to the big urban area means more advantages than disadvantages for industries, there is no doubt that for commercial activities exists competition among offering hubs, increasing due to the following competitors:
- other Commercial Districts already operating (DUC and DID) or ready to start, above all Gallarate and Busto Arsizio
- other - even if distant - areas of commercial offer, first of all the commercial attraction hubs, such as Milan, but also Varese;
other
offer hubs in extra
urban areas, among which the commercial area connected to Malpensa
airport, and built on the main arterial routes, both in the
townships of the District and in the areas close by, such as the
state route SS 33 (Strada Statale del Sempione) or the state route
SS 32 (Ticinese) that connects Novara with the above mentioned
state route SS 33 of Sempione and
the state route SS 336 of Malpensa Airport (part of the SS 336 is a
clearway known as Superstrada Malpensa 2000. From the township of
Busto Arsizio the SS 336 connects the motorway Milan/Varese – exit
Busto Arsizio - with
both terminals of the intercontinental airport, with four lanes on
two carriageways; it becomes then an ordinary road passing through
Somma Lombardo, getting ahead of the Ticino river and finally joining
the SS 32 Ticinese close to Varallo Pombia).
As far as this matter is concerned it’s interesting to refer about the figures of a study analysed by SMAIL (Sistema di Monitoraggio Annuale delle Imprese e del Lavoro – Annual monitoring system of companies and work, promoted by the Chamber of Commerce) on the territory of Varese. More than a third of the employers of Varese, among the ones working in the province, work in an area which is not the one in which they live: the published figures refer to approx. 209.000 employers of private companies working, in 2008, in business units in the Varese province. Among those people, 160.000 live in the province itself, while almost 50.000 – not including free lance and state employers – come from external areas. Better specified, 22.000 live in the Milan province, almost 6.500 live in the Como province, about 4.500 in the Novara province, 5.000 in other provinces of Lombardy and 1.500 in areas of Piedmont. There are also 10.000 people that work in the Varese province but live in other Italian provinces: there is no doubt that a part of them provisionally lives in the Varese province. And also a hundred employers with residence abroad. Regarding the displacements of the 160.000 people who live and work on the territory, a high attraction force is played by Varese and hinterland that attract 16.200 people who live in other areas, while there are 11.200 people going out, with a positive balance of 5.000 people.
Other areas with a positive balance are Gallarate (+ 3.100), Tradate (+ 1.100) and Saronno (+300). The most negative balances refer to Laveno Mombello (-2.800) and Sesto Calende (-3.400) whose residents move above all in Varese.
To end the general overview of the area in which the District is placed, it’s interesting to talk about the position occupied by the Varese province in the rankings that evaluate life quality on the territory. Varese occupies the 27th position (the township gained 13 positions compared to the year before), according to the study of Il Sole 24Ore – it is at the 43rd position according to the study Italia Oggi (it gained also here 14 positions, as it was at the 57th place the year before); according to the Lega Ambiente index dated 2009 (Environment League) it is at the 32nd position (with no difference compared to 2008).
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