Introduction (Milanese)
The first Milanese folksong that has reached us goes back to the days of Frederick Barbarossa and was written by the Humiliati of Brera, after the destruction of the city by the Emperor (1162). The words appear in the historical novel of Margherita Pusterla (1838) by Cesare Cantù: «Come diruto Mediolano – de Barbarossa com la mano. – Li militi se botano a Maria – ke laudata sia». Dante mentions the terrible destruction of Milan in Purgatory when, having arrived in the circle of the [...]