Hebrew-English Guide to Soncino
13 THE HISTORY OF SONCINO LANFRANCO GOTO According to an ancient tradition he was the founder of Soncino in the year 388 A.D. He was an officer of Gothic origin. The Goths were an ancient po- pulation of Germanic origin, coming from Scandinavia who came to Italy under the leadership of Alaric. According to the nineteenth-century historian Francesco Galanti- no, author of a Storia di Soncino (1869-70) which was based on the Biografia Soncinate (1834) by the historian Paolo Ceruti, Lanfranco Goto, who escaped from the snares of the governor of Milan, during the period of the religious struggles that bloodied the city, would take refuge in the area between Lodi and Brescia, near the river Oglio, where there were also woods and pastures to ensure survival, and here he would build a brick tower surrounded by huts that could be used as a shelter for himself and his companions. Having settled in this place, he gave it a name similar to that of his native land: Sukkin, Sowkin which means high, coastal bank, due to the characteristics of the territory which, probably, at that time, was wetted by the marshy waters of Lake Gerundo. The hill on which the present historic center of Soncino stands, in the past, it had to emerge from the waters and therefore it could be a well protected and safe place.
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