The mulberry

Morus
The mulberry
Family: Moraceae

A bit of history…

Mulberry, from central Asia, was introduced in Costantinopolifrom some monks in 500 AD and thereafter, after the Arabian invasions, it was spread even in Europe. In Italy the tree began to spread in XV Century, after the return of Marco Polo from his travel to China, while traditionally it is being dated back the colture of mulberry in Lombardy only to the end of the century, during the duchy of of Ludovico Maria Sforza.
According to someone, the title Il Moro conferred to the Lord of Milan, would come from Milan word muròn (in turn from Latin morus, that specifies the type of the tree, equipped of fruits like blackberry), this is to underline the promotion work of the breeding of silkworms that the Duke did.
The prestige of the mullberry is indeed linked to its use in the colture of the silkworm, activity that till the first half of XX Century has represented a great source of income for many peasants' families of our territory. At the beginning of 1700, the leaves of this tree – the only food for worns – were contended and were centre of fiscal verifications, as theAustrian authority organized also a cadastral certificate that verified their presence – only in Parabiago – with 6,417 mulberries. So, on view of the great economic meaning of the mulberry, were expected strict fines for those who stole the leaves or damaged the mulberry.


…Today

In the past mulberries were the main riches of the Po Valley – included milano high and dry valley - and strongly characterized the landscape, covering the fields with endless rows.
The colture and the use of silkworns finished around 30s because of the introduction of first artificial fibres, today even the mulberry is almost disappeared from our fields (as also disappeared the rows for the division of the fields, obstacle for agrarian machines' work): some samples are still visible in Parabiago near Dio'l Sa church.


Il gelso