Brianza (Italian: [briˈantsa], Lombard: [briˈãː(t)sa]) is a geographical, historical and cultural area of Italy, at the foot of the Alps, in the North-West of Lombardy, between Milan and Lake Como. The area of the modern day Brianza was originally settled in the 2nd millennium BC or even earlier. Brianza is in Lombardy, the region named after the Longobards, who arrived around the 570s, after the Celtic and the Roman expansion. The spread of Christianity in Brianza dates back to the 3rd century, owing much to Saint Ambrose. There, St. Augustine of Hippo (as documented by himself in his Confessions) had lived at Rus Cassiciacum (now Cassago), during the period after his conversion and just before his baptism by Bishop Ambrose. In the Middle Ages the Cathars, the Humiliati and the Pataria religious movement rose and fell in several towns of Brianza. The Franciscans flourished instead and remain to the present day. Most of the region follows the Ambrosian Rite of the Catholic Church in communion with the Pope in Rome. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brianza