Treviglio (; ) is a town and (i.e. municipality) in the province of Bergamo, in Lombardy, Northern Italy. It lies south of the province capital, in the lower territory called .
It's also part of the geographic area named , included among the rivers Fosso Bergamasco to the North, Adda to the West and Serio to the East.
With approximately 30,000 inhabitants, the comune is now the second most populous town in the province.
It is sometimes dubbed "the tractor town" for the presence of the SAME Deutz-Fahr headquarters, or less frequently "the town of courtyards" for their preponderant presence in the Old Town.
It is subdivided in five main quarters: Old town, West zone, North zone, the recent built East zone and the PIP (industrial zone). Northward lie four (boroughs): Geromina, Castel Cerreto, Battaglie and Cascina Pezzoli; once the village of Castel Rozzone was also a of Treviglio.
The coat of arms is composed of a crenellated tower, which represents the city with its Ghibelline past; flanked by two golden lions rampant, for its free and valiant citizenry and topped by an eagle, symbol of the privileges obtained by the Holy Roman Empire, which is holding a pig aloft, symbol of the achieved prosperity.
History
The area where Treviglio lies was firstly inhabited by Celtic tribes, in particular Insubres.
During the conquest of the Cisalpine Gaul (Gallia Cisalpina) by the Romans a castrum was built to guard an important trading cross way and the near villages.
Afterward a Roman settlement was founded and grew through trade and local goods manufacture.
After the arrival of the Lombards the territory was included in the Fara Gera d'Adda (Fara which was an administrative division of the Lombard system) and, after the fall of the Kingdom of the Lombards it became part of the Holy Roman Empire.
Treviglio was founded in the Early Middle Ages as a fortified town, unifying three preexisting settlements: Cusarola (Celtic), Pisignano (Roman) and Portoli (Lombard). Thus the original town was divided into three districts, called 'portae' (Latin for "gates"), each headed toward one of the settlements: "Porta Torre" to the village of Cusarola; "Porta Zeduro" (named originally "Zelute") to Portoli and "Porta Filagno" to that of Pisignano.
The first official document found citing the new town dates back to November 964 D.C.
Around the year 1000 Treviglio harboured the inhabitants of Oriano, a commune near Brescia, which had been destroyed in the course of the struggle between Arduin of Ivrea and Henry II who were warring for the Imperial crown. During the wars that had taken place in Northern Italy the city of Treviglio grew harbouring refugees in the new fourth district of "Porta Nova" (literally "New Gate"), originally called " Porta Oriano" for the refugees from Oriano.
The Rozzoni family, at that time powerful, tried in vain a coup d'état, and was as a consequence temporarily exiled in its property near Treviglio, "Castel Rozzone" (in Italian "Rozzoni's Castle") that nowadays is a village independent from the city itself.
In 1167 Treviglio joined the first Lombard League, which had the aim of preserving local jurisdiction and droit de régale, a purpose that was achieved with the victory over emperor Frederick I 'Barbarossa', at the Battle of Legnano. The earliest copy of the Statute found dates 1392 and is currently housed in the city's museum. It describes a government held by sixty Consuls- initially twenty each for everyone of the original ethnic communities, thereafter fifteen for each district - remaining in office for six months. The leading member of the Council and chief of Treviglio was the Chancellor (Cancelliere), similar to an actual mayor. This statute also required that no noble could be allowed to live within the city walls - and therefore to be elected Consul - so as to prevent their possible involvements in the power strives of the town and the town involvement in their struggles for power.
In 1395 Treviglio gained formal autonomy from the Empire, which it held as a "Separate Land of the Duchy of Milan", except for several brief Venetian occupations (1431-1433; 1448–1453 and 1499–1509). These occupations are mentioned in The Betrothed, a renowned Italian novel by Alessandro Manzoni. At the last withdrawal in 1509, the city was burnt down by the departing Venetian troops. The French king Louis XII who witnessed the event, claimed to vindicate it in the subsequent Battle of Agnadello.