The site of today's Malpensa Airport has seen aviation activities for more than 100 years.

The first began on 27 May 1910, when the Caproni brothers flew their "flying machine," the Cal biplane. In the years that followed, many aircraft prototypes took off from the same site; eventually, it was decided to upgrade the farming patch to a more formal airfield. Both Gianni Caproni and Giovanni Agusta established factories on the new site; the airfield soon developed into the largest aircraft production center in Italy.