Castellanza

Castellanza is a town and comune located in the province of Varese, along the boundary of the province of Milan, in the Lombardy region of northern Italy. Overview The toponym refers to the castellanze (plural form, singular castellanza), defensive territorial unities who rose around castels and other strongpoints in the then county of Seprio. The Olona river divides Castellanza in the two main boroughs of Castellanza proper and Castegnate. The town is renowned for its recently established private University Carlo Cattaneo (also known as LIUC). The town has a population of approximately 15,000 inhabitants and since the late 19th century has been one of the main industrial centres in the province of Varese. With the beautiful backdrop of the Alps and the famous Italian lakes Lago Maggiore and Lago di Como, the province of Varese is also home to 23,000 manufacturing and craft industries that export over 30% of their production worldwide and generate employment to approximately 175 thousand people. Castellanza received the honorary title of city with a presidential decree on January 4, 1974.