It is thought that the first settlement of “boffaloresi” was between 1180 – 1190 , during the excavations of “Naviglio Grande” ; probably in the position of the present-day it was necessary a fixed site for the excavations. For his strategic location the village was theatre of armed engagements in the Middle Age , with the one with “Milanesi” and Federico II in 1242. In 1341 Gian Galeazzo Visconti made Boffalora a fief and gave it to Nicolò Spinelli . In 1396 Visconti gave part of the land of Boffalora to the monks of “ Certosa di Pavia” . In 1451 it was fief of “ Magistrato Straordinario of Milan status” . In 1493 the bishop Giacomo de Viola consecrated the first church which was built by Crivelli’s noble family and he dedicated it to “Saint Maria della Neve” . Between the 17th and the 18th century the village became a touristic resort for milanesi’s nobles families . Today there are some traces of the noble presence : Calderari and Giulini’s houses . In the 19th century there is the first appearance of “ Barchet”, a sort of boat that could transport people on the “ Naviglio Grande ” to Milan . With Napoleon Boffalora became again a strategic place for military operations . He decided to build the present bridge on the “ Ticino”, so during all the first part of 19th century some troops alternated on that bridge like invaders and liberator . The 4 June 1859 there was the war between the Franco-Piemontesi and Austrians for the possession of Ticino’s bridge , whose conquest was permitted by the famous victory in the “Magenta’s battle”, that led to the unity of Italy . In the first 1900s Boffalora got bigger by new settlements and the building of new farms and it became an agricultural centre . In the end of the Second World War the woods and the valley places were garrisoned by Germans and Republicans with good anti-aircraft guns which were against the Anglo-Americans air force that in September 1943 tried to destroy the Ticino’s bridge with a lot of air-raid . In April 1945 Boffalora was set free by the Americans . At the end of the war the ordinary activities were begun: the spinning , the milling , the husking of rice and milk manufacture.
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