![]() Come ricompensa Bernabò, Gian Galeazzo e i loro successori concedono a queste comunità e famiglie delle vantaggiose esenzioni fiscali: sono proprio queste esenzioni ad accomunare le numerose comunità rurali e le irrequiete famiglie delle colline briantee, cementandone il fronte in difesa della comune condizione privilegiata. Fra Tre e Quattrocento alcune comunità e famiglie del contado a nord di Milano si schierano fermamente a sostegno dei Visconti, coadiuvandoli nel loro tentativo di inquadrare le variegate forze del territorio e garantendo la difesa del confine sul fiume Adda. A new sense of identity that was strengthened, on the one hand, by the newborn territorial "Universitas Montis Briantie" and, on the other hand, by the power of the Lords of Milan. The granting of such tax exemption and the important role played by these bonds contributed to the birth of a new sense of identity in Brianza, built primarily upon the institutional structure of the granted privilege. It was indeed to defend such considerable privilege that the restless and diversified people of the Brianza hills grouped themeselves together, drawn by the centripetal influence of the most powerful families, who dubbed themselves Ghibellini. As a reward, Bernabò, Gian Galeazzo and their successors granted these communities and families an advantageous tax exemption. ![]() Between the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, some communities and families of the northern contado of Milan chose to side with the Visconti, not only ensuring their support to the latter’s effort to frame the various forces of the area, but also reinforcing the defenses along the river Adda. In the surrounding countryside, the activity of the Cistercian monks of Chiaravalle represents one of the situations more indicative of how land reclamation and waterways contributed fundamentally to the organisation of the territory over the span of the ages. The example given by Milan, a city lacking a natural river, that equipped itself with a dense network of canal, used in various ambits of the city life (defence, hygiene, agriculture, transport, milling systems) and for connections with the surrounding territory, can be considered as emblematic. the resumption of agricultural activity was conducive to the intense task of land reclamation of the Lombardian countryside and of commitment by the cities to amplify their waterways with the construction of new canals and the improvement of those already existing. ![]() In the early Middle Ages, despite the conditions of political instability and great economic and social difficulty, the function of the canals continued to be of great importance, also because the paths of river communication often substituted land roads, then left abandoned. The need to control the excessive amount of water present was the beginning of the exploitation of this great font of richness that was constantly maintained in subsequent eras. Already in Roman times there were numerous projects of canalisation and intense and diligent commitment to the maintenance of the canals, used for navigation, for irrigation and for the working of the mills. ![]() The abundance of water has certainly been a very important resource for the development of the Po Valley and has necessitated, more than once, interventions of regulation and drainage that have contributed strongly to imprint a particular conformation on the land.
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