Online Encyclopedia
Milan
- This is about the Italian city of Milan. For other uses, see Milan (disambiguation).
Milan (Milano in the Italian language, and Milán in Milanese dialect, from Latin, Mediolanum with the meaning of 'in the middle of the plain') is the main city in northern Italy, and is located in the plains of Lombardy, the most developed of Italian regions. It has about 1.3 million inhabitants, but the urban area totals about 4.5 million and the Metropolitan Area about 7.5 million. It is the capital of the region and is the economic capital of Italy. It has for many centuries been recorded as Mailand, which is still the German name of the city today.
Its province lies in the western part of Lombardy; it covers an area of 1,982 sq. km and has a population of 3,707,210 (2001 census); in 1991 the population was 3,738,685. The province comprises 188 communes, ranging in population (2001) from (obviously) Milan (1,256,211) to Nosate (638); the commune of Milan has lost 113,084 inhabitants (8,3%), from 1991 to 2001.
The town is famous for fashion firms and shops (via Montenapoleone) and the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele on the Piazza del Duomo, reputed to be the world's oldest shopping mall. Another famed product of the city is the traditional sweet cake called panettone.
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Commerce and Industry
Milan is the centre of many financial businesses, and its hinterland is an avant-garde industrial area. Fiera Milano http://www.fieramilano.com/ , the city's Exhibition Center and Trade Fair complex is one of the most important in the world. A new fairground is under construction in the north-western suburb of Pero and Rho, due to be opened in May 2005. This is Europe's largest open construction project and will make Fiera Milano the largest trade fair complex in the world.
Famous companies in Milan
- Alemagna
- Alfa Romeo
- Luxottica
- Motta
- Pirelli
- Telecom Italia
- Mediaset
- Allianz Italia
- ENI
- Ferrovie Nord Milano
- Banca Intesa
- Mediobanca
- ItalCementi
- S.A.Serravalle
- Ente Fiera di Milano
- Armani
- Dolce & Gabbana
- Versace
- Prada
- Autobianchi
- Innocenti
- Bugatti
- Isotta-Fraschini
- Corriere della Sera/RCS
- Feltrinelli Editore
- Mondadori Editore
- [1] http://www.st.com [STMicroelectronics]]
Culture
Milan is the most important town in the world for Opera lirica, with its famous Teatro alla Scala (La Scala, theatre).
The Biblioteca Ambrosiana contains drawings and notebooks by Leonardo da Vinci among its vast holdings of books, manuscripts and drawings and is one of the main repositories of European culture. The city is also the home of the Brera Academy of Fine Arts .
Universities in Greater Milan:
- Politecnico di Milano
- Università Statale I°
- Università Statale II° - Bicocca
- Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore
- Università Bocconi
- Scuola Superiore di Direzione Aziendale - Bocconi
- Università I.U.L.M.
- Università C.Cattaneo L.I.U.C.
- Università San Raffaele
- L.U.C. Beato Angelico
- Accademia delle Belle Arti di Brera
- Conservatorio Superiore di Milano
- I.S.E.F. Milano
- Istituto Europeo di Design
The main monuments and museums include the Duomo di Milano (a Gothic cathedral), the Romanesque church of Sant' Ambrogio (St. Ambrose, patron saint of the city), the church of Santa Maria delle Grazie (where Leonardo's Last Supper fresco is located), the Sforza Castle, the Brera Museum, the Poldi-Pezzoli Museum and the Central Station.
Sport
The city is home of two world-famous football teams: A.C. Milan and Internazionale F.C.. The famous Monza Formula One circuit is located in the suburbs. The Olimpia Milano is succesfull European basketball team that have won 3 European Cups, a World Cup, 3 Cup Winners' Cups, 2 Korac Cups and 25 National Championships.
The Amatory Rugby Club Milano have won 18 National Championships. Different ice hockey teams from Milan have won 29 National Championships between them.
Transport
Milan has 4 subway lines (red, green, yellow and blue line) called Milan Metro which run for more than 80 km. There is a light metro called Metrò San Raffaele. The new Suburban Railway Service (called "S" Lines) will open from December 2004 in the Milano Metropolitan Area. There will be 10 lines (the service will be similar to French R.E.R. and German S-Bahn) which will run in the greater metropolitan area (more than 7 million inhabitants). Extensions of line 1, 2 and 3 are under construction, giving more than 15 km of track with 10 new stations. Line 5 is also under construction and will be finished in the first half of 2006. A sixth line is in planning stages. Milan also has one of the most exstensive tram systems in the world, with more than 286.8 Km of track.
Milan has a large international airport known as Malpensa International Airport, which is located in Varese, Italy. It also has the Linate Airport within the city limits, and the Orio al Serio International Airport in Bergamo for European traffic. Put together, the three airports make Milan air travel capital of Europe, with more than 29 million passengers a year.
History
It is presumed Milan was originally founded by the Celts of Northern Italy around 600 BC and was conquered by the Romans around 222 BC, who gave it the name of Mediolanum. In the 4th century A.D., at the time of the bishop Saint Ambrose and emperor Theodosius I, the city became for a short time the capital of the Western Roman Empire.
After the Ostrogothic and Lombard periods, the city re-gained its importance in the 11th century and led other Italian cities in gaining semi-independence from the Holy Roman Empire. During the Plague of 1349 Milan was one of the few places in Europe that was not touched by the epidemic. During the Renaissance Milan was ruled by dukes of the Visconti and Sforza families, who had artists like Leonardo da Vinci and Bramante at their service. After trying to conquer the rest of northern Italy in the 15th century, Milan was conquered by France, and then by Spain, in the early 16th century.
In the 18th century Austria replaced Spain as Milan's overlord, but during the French Revolution and the Napoleonic Wars, which saw the city annexed into the French satellite states of the Cisalpine Republic, which itself became the Kingdom of Italy. After the end of the wars, the city became one of the main centers of Italian nationalism, reclaiming independence and the unification of Italy.
In 1859 (after the second of the Wars of Italian Independence) Austrian rule was ended by the kingdom of Sardinia (which transformed into the kingdom of Italy in 1861).
Being a critical industrial centre of Italy, Milan was target of continuos carpet bombing during World War II. The city was bombed even after Pietro Badoglio surrendered to the allied forces in 1943. In fact Milan was part of Mussolini's puppet state Italian Social Republic and an important command centre of the German Army stationed in Italy. When war in Italy was finally over, April 25, 1945, Milan was heavily damaged and entire neighborhoods like Precotto and Turro were radically destroyed. After the war the city was reconstructed and became again an important financial and industrial centre of Italy. See also: Rulers of Milan
Monuments
Principal churches
- Duomo
- Sant'Alessandro
- Basilica di Sant'Ambrogio
- San Babila
- San Bernardino alle Ossa
- Basilica di Sant'Eustorgio
- Basilica di San Lorenzo
- San Marco
- Santuario di Santa Maria dei Miracoli
- Santa Maria del Carmine
- Santa Maria delle Grazie
- Basilica di San Nazaro Maggiore
- Santa Maria presso San Satiro
- San Sebastiano
- San Simpliciano
- Santo Stefano Maggiore
Principal architectures
- Colonne di S. Lorenzo
- Roman amphitheatre (scant remains)
- Archi di Porta Nuova
- Castello Sforzesco (Sforza Castle)
- Ospedale Maggiore, Ca' Granda (now University)
- Leonardo da Vinci's Horse Statue at Hippodrome
- Palazzo della Ragione
- Teatro alla Scala
- Palazzo Serbelloni
- Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II°
- Torre Velasca
- Pirelli Tower
Principal Museums
- Pinacoteca di Brera
- Pinacoteca Ambrosiana
- Museo di Arte Moderna
- Triennale di Milano
- Musei del Castello
- Egyptian Museum
- Padiglione di Arte Contemporanea
- Museo di Storia Naturale
- Museo della Scienza e della Tecnologia
- Galleria Vinciana
- Museo Poldi Pezzoli
- Museo Bagatti Valsecchi
- Museo Velomilano
Art
In the church Santa Maria delle Grazie one of the most famous paintings of Leonardo da Vinci The Last_Supper (Leonardo) can be found.
Twinning
Milan is twinned with:
External links
- The official website of the city council http://www.comune.milano.it
- Tourist guide for Milan http://www.milano24ore.net