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| Milan (Italian: Milano;
Milanese dialect: Milán) is the main city in northern Italy,
and is located in the plains of Lombardy, the most populated and
developed region in Italy. The city proper has about 1,308,500 inhabitants
(2004), but the population of the urban area including the hinterland
is about 4 million and is called La Grande Milano (Greater Milan,
1,981 square kilometres). The metropolitan area, called the Città
Regione (The City Region) claims more than 9.4 million inhabitants
(this is an ambitious definition of Milan's metropolitan area, perhaps
not very comparable with figures claimed for metros outside Italy).Milan's name has for many
centuries been recorded as Mailand, which is still the German name
of the city today. It comes from the Celtic Mid-lan (meaning "in
the middle of the plain") and was known as Mediolanum by the
Romans. Its province lies in the western part of Lombardy; it covers an area of 1,982 km2 and has a population of 3,839,818 (2004); in 1991, the population was 3,738,685. The province comprises 188 communes, ranging in population (2001) from Milan Municipality (1,308,311) to Nosate (638); the city of Milan has lost 113,084 inhabitants (8.3 percent), from 1991 to 2001. The town is famous for fashion firms and shops (via Montenapoleone) and the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele on the Piazza Duomo, reputed to be the world's oldest shopping mall. Milan is one of the world capitals of fashion, like New York City, Paris, London and Rome, and design. Indeed the English word milliner is derived from the name of the city. Another famed product of the city is the traditional Christmas sweet cake called Panettone. Milan is also famous for the Alfa Romeo motorcar and for its silk production. Inhabitants of Milan are referred to as "Milanesi" and nicknamed "Meneghini". History It is presumed Milan was originally founded by the Celts of Northern Italy around 600 BC and was conquered around 222 BC by the Romans, who gave it the name of Mediolanum. In the 4th century AC, at the time of the bishop Saint Ambrose and emperor Theodosius I, the city was briefly the capital of the Western Roman Empire. At that time Milan was the second largest city in Europe, with more than 300,000 inhabitants. St Ambrose is now the Patron Saint of the city. His feast day is the 7th of Decmeber. In the 11th century, after the Ostrogothic and Lombard periods, the city regained its importance 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 untouched by the epidemic, but it was deeply affected by the plagues of 1402 (50,000 deaths), 1542 (80,000), 1576 (17,000) and 1629 (also known as Great Plague of Milan, 70,000 deaths). 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 later on by Austria (Habsburg), then given in the early 16th century to the Spanish Habsburg line to rule. In the 18th century Austria replaced Spain as Milan's overlord, because the Spanish line of Habsburgs died out. But the French Revolution and the Napoleonic Wars saw the city annexed into the French satellite states of the Cisalpine Republic, which later became the Kingdom of Italy. After this period, Milan was part of the Kingdom of Lombardy-Venetia under Austrian rule. Milan eventually became one of the main centers of Italian nationalism, claiming 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). As a critical industrial center of Italy, Milan was target of continuous 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 Italian Social Republic puppet state, 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 such as Precotto and Turro were destroyed. After the war, the city was reconstructed and has again become an important financial and industrial centre of Italy. See also: Rulers of Milan. Places of interest Duomo di Milano:  The street plan of Milan, with streets either radiating from the Duomo or circling it, reveals that the Duomo occupies the most important site in Roman Mediolanum. Saint Ambrose's 'New Basilica' was built on this site at the beginning of the 5th century, with an adjoining basilica added in 836. When fire damaged both buildings in 1075, they were rebuilt as the Duomo. In 1386 the archbishop, Antonio da Saluzzo, began the new project, in a rayonnant Late Gothic style that is more characteristic of France than Italy. The beginning of the construction was related to Gian Galeazzo Visconti's accession to power in Milan, as a form of reward to the noble and working classes which had been suppressed by his tyrannic predecessor Barnabò. To start the works, three main buildings were demolished: the place of the Archbishopric, the Ordinari Palace and the Baptistry of St. Stephen at the Spring, and the old church of St. Maria Maggiore was to be exploited in the years. Enthusiasm for the new, immense building spread soon among the populations and the shrewd Gian Galeazzo, as well as his cousin, archbishop Antonio da Saluzzo, managed to collect large donations as contributes for the working. the contruction program was stricly regulated under the "Fabbrica del Duomo": this had an organic of 300 deputies, the first chief engineer being Simone da Orsenigo. Galeazzo gave the Fabbrica exclusive use of the marbles from the Candoglia quarry and freedom from bills. In 1389 a French chief engineer was named, Nicolas de Bonaventure, who gave the church a strong Gothic imprint. Ten years later another Frenchman, Jean Mignot from Pairs was called to judge and improve the works, as they had was to approach the tiburio and technical aid was needed to lift stones at that unprecented height. Mignot declared all the work donate until now as in pericolo di ruina ("peril of crumble down"), as done sine scienzia ("without science"). In the following years Mignot's forecasts proved untrue, but anyway they spurred Galeazzo's engineers to improve their instruments and techniques. Works had proceeded fast and, at the death of Gian Galeazzo in 1402, almost half of the work had been completed. Construction, however, languished almost totally until 1480, due to lack of money and ideas: the most notable works of this period were the sepulchres of Marco Carelli and Pope Martin V (1424) and the windows of the apse (1470s). Among the latter, are still visible today those portraying St. John the Evangelist, by Cristoforo de Mottis, and Saint Eligius and San John of Damascus, by Niccolò da Varallo. In 1452, under Francesco Sforza, the nave and the aisles were completed up to the sixth spans.In 1490, under Lodovico Sforza, an octagonal base was chosen for the cupola. This was completed in ten years and decorated in the interior with four series of fifteen statues each, portraying saints, prophets, sibyls and other characters of the Old Testament. the external remained long without any decoration, with the exception of the so-called Guglietto dell'Amadeo ("Amadeo's Little Spire"), from 1507 to 1510. This is a Renaissance masterwork which howover didn not forget to harmonize with the general Gothic appearance of the on-going church.Under the subsequent Spanish domination, the new church was practicable, but largely unfinished in the interior, and the transepts were missing. In 1552 Giacomo Antegnati was commissioned a large organ, which was to placed in the northern choir, and Giuseppe Meda provided four of the sixteen pales which had to decorate the altar area (the progrm was completed by Federico Borromeo). In 1562 the Marco d'Agrate's St. Bartholomew and famous Trivulzio candelabrum (12th century) were added. The accession of the ambitious Carlo Borromeo to the bishop throne meant the elimination of all lay monuments from the church. These included the tombs of Giovanni, Barnabò and Filippo Maria Visconti, Francesco Sforza and his wife Bianca, Galeazzo Maria Sforza and Lodovico, which were brought to unknown destinations. Borromeo's main intervention was however the nomination of Pellegrino Pellegrini as chief engineer, which raised several disputes as this needed the revision of the Fabbrica's statutes, being Pellegrino not a lay. Borromeo and Pellegrino desired a new appearance for the Cathedral, a Renaissance one which could assert a Roman nature for it, instead of the foreign one, as it was considered the Gothic style. As the façade was largely incomplete, Pellegrini designed a "Roman" style one, with columns, obelisk and a large tympanum. This, however, remained unapplied, though the interior decoration continued: in 1575-1585 the presbitery was rebuilt, while new altars and the baptistry were added in the nave. A wooden choir was constructed for the main altar by Francesco Brambilla, a work completed in 1614.In 1577 Borromeo finally consecrated the whole edifice as a new, distint church from the old Santa Maria Maggiore and Santa Tecla (which had been unified in 1549 after heavy disputes).At the beginning of the 17th century Federico Borromeo had the foundings of the new façade laid by Francesco Maria Richini and Fabio Mangone. Works continued until 1638 with the construction of five portals and two middle windows. In 1649, however, the new chief architect Carlo Buzzi introduced a striking revolution: the façade was to be reverted to original Gothic style, including the already finished particulars within big Gothic pilasters and two giant belfries. Other projects were provided, among the others, by Filippo Juvarra (1733) and Luigi Vanvitelli (1745), but all remained unapplied and the facade. In 1682 the façade of Santa Maria Maggiore was demolished and the cathedral's roof covering completed.In 1762 one of the main features of the cathedral, the Madonnina's spire, was erected at the dizzy height of 108.5 meters. It was designed by Francesco Croce and at the top, according to very original status of the Cathedral, has a famous polychrome statue of the Madonna. On May 20, 1805, Napoleon Bonaparte ordered the facade to be finished. He was going to be crowned as King of Italy and his enthusiasm went on by assuring that expenses were to be fulfilled through the French treasure, in the form of reimbourse to the Fabbrica which in the meantime had to sell all its real estates. The reimbourse was never paid, though this meant that finally, within only seven years, the Cathedral had its facade completed. the new architect, Francesco Soave, followed largely Buzzi's project, adding some neo-Gothic details to the upper windows. As a form of thanksgiving, a statue of Napoleon was placed at the top of one of spires.In the following years the great part of the missing arches and spires was constructed. The statues on the southern wall were also finished, while in 1829-1858 new decorated windows replaced the worn out ones, though with less significant results. The last details of the cathedral were finished only in the 20th century: the last gate was inaugurated on January 6, 1965. This date is considered the very end of a process which had proceeded for generations, although even now some uncarved blocks remain to be completed as statuary. Santa Maria delle Grazie:  Is a Renaissance church in Milan built by Guiniforte Solari between 1466 and 1490 on a commission by Dominican monks. Later modifications include work by Donato Bramante in 1492-1497. The church is famous for the mural of the Last Supper by Leonardo da Vinci, although the painting is actually situated in the adjacent Dominican convent; its restoration in the 1990s was very controversial since much of the painting was removed in favor of only the stratum authentically painted by Leonardo, which is much more fragmentary. Castello Sforzesco:  Castello Sforzesco (English: Sforza Castle) is a castle in Milan, Italy that now houses an art gallery. Original construction on the site began in the 14th century. In 1450, Francesco Sforza began reconstruction of the castle, and it was further modified by later generations. Currently, it houses an art gallery featuring paintings and sculptures by artists such as Michelangelo. |
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| At TRAVEL WORLD EUROPE, you can find qualified information about the cities of Europe, such as population, language, history, places of interest and many more. In addition, we provide information about air and train tickets, accomodations, car rental and phone rental. If you plan a trip to any place, or just want to get more information about Europe, TRAVEL WORLD EUROPE is your first destiny! |
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