Milan
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Milan (Italian: Milano, Italian pronunciation: [miˈlaːno] (
listen); Western Lombard:Milan, 
listen (help·info)) is a city in Italy and the capital of the region ofLombardy and of the province of Milan. The city proper has a population of about 1,318,000, while its urban area, roughly coinciding with its administrativeprovince and the bordering province of Monza e Brianza (created in 2004 splitting the eastern part from the province of Milan itself), is one of Europe's largest with an estimated population of 4 million spread over 1,980 km2, with a consequent population density of more than 2,000 inhab./km2.[2] The growth of many suburbs and satellite settlements around the city proper following the great economic boom of the 1950-60s and massive commuting flows suggest that socioeconomic linkages have expanded well beyond the boundaries of the city proper and its agglomeration, creating a metropolitan area of 7.4 million population expanded all over the central section of Lombardy region.[3][4] It has been suggested that the Milan metropolitan area is part of the so-called Blue Banana, the area of Europe with the highest population and industrial density.[5]
listen); Western Lombard:Milan, listen (help·info)) is a city in Italy and the capital of the region ofLombardy and of the province of Milan. The city proper has a population of about 1,318,000, while its urban area, roughly coinciding with its administrativeprovince and the bordering province of Monza e Brianza (created in 2004 splitting the eastern part from the province of Milan itself), is one of Europe's largest with an estimated population of 4 million spread over 1,980 km2, with a consequent population density of more than 2,000 inhab./km2.[2] The growth of many suburbs and satellite settlements around the city proper following the great economic boom of the 1950-60s and massive commuting flows suggest that socioeconomic linkages have expanded well beyond the boundaries of the city proper and its agglomeration, creating a metropolitan area of 7.4 million population expanded all over the central section of Lombardy region.[3][4] It has been suggested that the Milan metropolitan area is part of the so-called Blue Banana, the area of Europe with the highest population and industrial density.[5]The city was founded under the name of Medhlan,[6] by the Insubres, a Celticpeople. Milan was later captured by the Romans in 222 BC, and it became very successful under the Roman Empire, being the capital city of the Western Roman Empire from 286 until 402 AD. Milan became one of the most prosperous Italian cities during the High Middle Ages, playing a primary role in the Lombard League. Later Milan became the capital city of the Duchy of Milan, being ruled by the Visconti, the Sforza, the Spanish and the Austrians. In 1796, Milan was conquered by Napoleon I and he made it the capital of his Kingdom of Italy in 1805.[7][8] Later Milan became the capital city of the Kingdom of Lombardy–Venetia, which was part of the Austrian Empire. In 1859 the city was unified with the Kingdom of Sardinia, which later became the Kingdom of Italy. During the Romantic period, Milan was a major cultural centre in Europe, attracting several artists, composers and important literary figures. Later, duringWorld War II, the city was badly affected by Allied bombings, and after German occupation in 1943, Milan became the main hub of the Italian resistance.[7]Despite this, Milan saw a post-war economic growth, attracting thousands of immigrants from Southern Italy and abroad.[7]
An international and cosmopolitan city, 15.2% of Milan's population is foreign born.[9] The city remains one of Europe's main transportation[10] and industrial hubs, and Milan is the EU's 10th most important centre for business and finance(2009)[11] with its economy (see economy of Milan) being the world's 26th richest by purchasing power.[12] The Milan metropolitan area has Europe's 7th largest GDP in 2008.[13] The province of Milan (which increasingly is becoming a single administrative urban unit to supersede the limited commune) had a GDP pp per capita of around €40,000 in 2007 (161% of the EU 27 average) which was the highest of any Italian province [14] (Il Sole 24 Ore Quality of life survey 2008) and the city's workers have the highest average income rates in Italy,[14] and 26th in the world.[15] In addition, Milan is the world's 11th most expensive city for expatriate employees,[16] and according to a 2010 study by the Economist Intelligence Unit, the city is the world's 12th most expensive to live in.[17] Its economic environment has made it, according to several studies, the world's 20th and Europe's 10th top business and financial centre,[18][19] having been highly successful in terms of city branding.[20]
Milan is recognised as a world fashion and design capital, with a major global influence in commerce, industry, music, sport, literature, art and media, making it one of GaWC's major Alpha world cities.[21] The Lombard metropolis is especially famous for its fashion houses and shops (such as along Via Monte Napoleone) and the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele in the Piazza Duomo (reputed to be the world's oldest shopping mall). The city has a rich cultural heritage and legacy, a vibrant nightlife,[22][23] and has a unique cuisine; it is home to numerous famous dishes, such as the Panettone Christmas cake and therisotto alla Milanese. The city has a particularly famous musical, particularly operatic, tradition, being the home of several important composers (such asGiuseppe Verdi) and theatres (such as the Teatro alla Scala). Milan is also well-known for containing several important museums, universities, academies, palaces, churches and libraries (such as the Academy of Brera and the Castello Sforzesco) and two renowned football teams: A.C. Milan and F.C. Internazionale Milano. Milan is the 52nd most popular tourist destination in Europe, with over 1.914 million foreign arrivals to the city in 2008.[24] The city hosted the 1906 World Exposition and will host the 2015 Universal Exposition.[25]
Inhabitants of Milan are referred to as "Milanese" (Italian: Milanesi or informallyMeneghini or Ambrosiani). They state that the city is the "moral capital of Italy".[7]
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The English name Milan derives from the Italian form Milano which stems from the Latin Mediolanum, the ancient city founded by the Celtic tribe of the Insubres, that was in possession of the city until the Roman conquest in the 2nd century BC.[citation needed]. The Mediolanum name is borne by a number of Gallo-Roman sites in France, such as Mediolanum Santonum (Saintes) and Mediolanum Aulercorum (Évreux) and appears to contain the Celtic element -lan, signifying an enclosure or demarcated territory (source of the Welsh word 'llan', meaning a sanctuary or church). Hence, Mediolanum could signify the central town or sanctuary of a particular Celtic tribe.[6][8]
The origin of the name and of a boar as a symbol of the city are fancifully accounted for in Andrea Alciato's Emblemata (1584), beneath a woodcut of the first raising of the city walls, where a boar is seen lifted from the excavation, and the etymology of Mediolanum given as "half-wool",[26] explained in Latin and in French. The foundation of Milan is credited to two Celtic peoples, the Bituriges and the Aedui, having as their emblems a ram and a boar;[27] therefore "The city's symbol is a wool-bearing boar, an animal of double form, here with sharp bristles, there with sleek wool."[28] Alciato credits Ambrose for his account.[29]
The German name for the city is Mailand, while in the local Western Lombard dialect, the city's name is Milán.
Around 400 BC, the Celtic Insubres inhabited Milan and the surrounding region. In 222 BC, the Romans conquered this settlement, which was then called Mediolanum. After several centuries of Roman control, Milan was declared the capital of the Western Roman Empire by Emperor Diocletian in 293 AD. Diocletian chose to stay in the Eastern Roman Empire (capital Nicomedia) and his colleague Maximianus ruled the Western one. ImmediatelyMaximian built several gigantic monuments, like a large circus 470 × 85 m (1,540 ft × 279 ft), the Thermae Herculeae, a large complex of imperial palaces and several other services and buildings.
In the Edict of Milan of 313, Emperor Constantine I guaranteed freedom of religion forChristians.[30] The city was besieged by the Visigoths in 402, and the imperial residence was moved to Ravenna. Fifty years later (in 452), the Huns overran the city. In 539, the Ostrogothsconquered and destroyed Milan in the course of the so-called Gothic War against ByzantineEmperor Justinian I. In the summer of 569, the Longobards (from which the name of the Italian region Lombardy derives) conquered Milan, overpowering the small Byzantine army left for its defence. Some Roman structures remained in use in Milan under Lombard rule.[31] Milan surrendered to the Franks in 774 when Charlemagne, in an utterly novel decision, took the title "King of the Lombards" as well (before then the Germanic kingdoms had frequently conquered each other, but none had adopted the title of King of another people). The Iron Crown of Lombardy dates from this period. Subsequently Milan was part of the Holy Roman Empire.
The Biscione: the coat of arms of the House of Visconti, from the Archbishops’ palace in Piazza Duomo. The initials IO<HANNES> stand for archbishop Giovanni Visconti(1342–1354).
During the Middle Ages, Milan prospered as a centre of trade due to its command of the rich plain of the Po and routes from Italy across the Alps. The war of conquest by Frederick I Barbarossa against the Lombard cities brought the destruction of much of Milan in 1162. After the founding of the Lombard League in 1167, Milan took the leading role in this alliance. As a result of the independence that the Lombard cities gained in the Peace of Constance in 1183, Milan became a duchy. In 1208 Rambertino Buvalelli served a term as podestà of the city, in 1242 Luca Grimaldi, and in 1282 Luchetto Gattilusio. The position could be fraught with personal dangers in the violent political life of the medieval commune: in 1252 Milanese heretics assassinated the Church's Inquisitor, later known as Saint Peter Martyr, at a ford in the nearby contado; the killers bribed their way to freedom, and in the ensuing riot the podestà was very nearly lynched. In 1256 the archbishop and leading nobles were expelled from the city. In 1259Martino della Torre was elected Capitano del Popolo by members of the guilds; he took the city by force, expelled his enemies, and ruled by dictatorial powers, paving streets, digging canals, successfully taxing the countryside. His policy, however, brought the Milanese treasury to collapse; the use of often reckless mercenary units further angered the population, granting an increasing support for the Della Torre's traditional enemies, the Visconti.
On 22 July 1262 Ottone Visconti was created archbishop of Milan by Pope Urban IV, against the Della Torre candidate, Raimondo della Torre, Bishop of Como. The latter thus started to publicize allegations of the Visconti's closeness to the heretic Cathars and charged them of high treason: the Visconti, who accused the Della Torre of the same crimes, were then banned from Milan and their properties confiscated. The civil war which ensued caused more damage to Milan's population and economy, lasting for more than a decade. Ottone Visconti unsuccessfully led a group of exiles against the city in 1263, but after years of escalating violence on all sides, finally, after the victory in the Battle of Desio (1277), he won the city for his family. The Visconti succeeded in ousting the della Torre forever, ruling the city and its possession until the 15th century.
Much of the prior history of Milan was the tale of the struggle between two political factions—the Guelphs and the Ghibellines. Most of the time the Guelphs were successful in the city of Milan. However, the Visconti family were able to seize power (signoria) in Milan, based on their "Ghibelline" friendship with the German Emperors.[32] In 1395, one of these emperors, Wenceslas (1378–1400), raised the Milanese to the dignity of a duchy.[33] Also in 1395, Gian Galeazzo Visconti became duke of Milan. The Ghibelline Visconti family was to retain power in Milan for a century and a half from the early 14th century until the middle of the 15th century.[34]
In 1447 Filippo Maria Visconti, Duke of Milan, died without a male heir; following the end of the Visconti line, the Ambrosian Republicwas enacted. The Ambrosian Republic took its name from St. Ambrose, popular patron saint of the city of Milan.[35] Both the Guelph and the Ghibelline factions worked together to bring about the Ambrosian Republic in Milan. However, the Republic collapsed when in 1450, Milan was conquered by Francesco Sforza, of the House of Sforza, which made Milan one of the leading cities of the ItalianRenaissance.[6][35]
Milan in the 17th century.
The French king Louis XII first laid claim to the duchy in 1492. At that time, Milan was defended bySwiss mercenaries. After the victory of Louis's successor Francis I over the Swiss at the Battle of Marignano, the duchy was promised to the French king Francis I. When the Habsburg Charles Vdefeated Francis I at the Battle of Pavia in 1525, northern Italy, including Milan, passed to the House of Habsburg.[36]
In 1556, Charles V abdicated in favour of his son Philip II and his brother Ferdinand I. Charles's Italian possessions, including Milan, passed to Philip II and the Spanish line of Habsburgs, while Ferdinand's Austrian line of Habsburgs ruled the Holy Roman Empire. The Great Plague of Milan in 1629–31 killed an estimated 60,000 people out of a population of 130,000. This episode is considered one of the last outbreaks of the centuries-long pandemic of plague which began with the Black Death.[37]
In 1700 the Spanish line of Habsburgs was extinguished with the death of Charles II. After his death, the War of the Spanish Successionbegan in 1701 with the occupation of all Spanish possessions by French troops backing the claim of the French Philippe of Anjou to the Spanish throne. In 1706, the French were defeated in Ramillies and Turin and were forced to yield northern Italy to the Austrian Habsburgs. In 1713, the Treaty of Utrecht formally confirmed Austrian sovereignty over most of Spain's Italian possessions includingLombardy and its capital, Milan.
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Napoleon conquered Italy in 1796, and Milan was declared capital of the Cisalpine Republic. Later, he declared Milan capital of the Kingdom of Italy and was crowned in the Duomo. Once Napoleon's occupation ended, the Congress of Vienna returned Lombardy, and Milan, along with Veneto, to Austrian control in 1815.[38] During this period, Milan became a centre of lyric opera. Here in the 1770s Mozart had premiered three operas at the Teatro Regio Ducal. Later La Scala became the reference theatre in the world, with its premières of Bellini, Donizetti, Rossini and Verdi. Verdi himself is interred in the Casa di Riposo per Musicisti, his present to Milan. In the 19th century other important theatres were La Cannobiana and the Teatro Carcano.
On March 18, 1848, the Milanese rebelled against Austrian rule, during the so-called "Five Days" (Italian: Le Cinque Giornate), and Field Marshal Radetzky was forced to withdraw from the city temporarily. However, after defeating Italian forces at Custoza on July 24, Radetzky was able to reassert Austrian control over Milan and northern Italy. However, Italian nationalists, championed by the Kingdom of Sardinia, called for the removal of Austria in the interest of Italian unification. Sardinia and France formed an alliance and defeated Austria at the Battle of Solferino in 1859.[39] Following this battle, Milan and the rest of Lombardy were incorporated into the Kingdom of Sardinia, which soon gained control of most of Italy and in 1861 was rechristened as the Kingdom of Italy. Thepolitical unification of Italy cemented Milan's commercial dominance over northern Italy. It also led to a flurry of railway construction that made Milan the rail hub of northern Italy. Rapid industrialization put Milan at the centre of Italy's leading industrial region, though in the 1890s Milan was shaken by the Bava-Beccaris massacre, a riot related to a high inflation rate. Meanwhile, as Milanese banks dominated Italy's financial sphere, the city became the country's leading financial centre. Milan's economic growth brought a rapid expansion in the city's area and population during the late 19th and early 20th centuries.[8]
In 1919, Benito Mussolini organized the Blackshirts, who formed the core of Italy's Fascist movement, in Milan and, in 1922, the March on Rome began from the city. During the Second World War Milan suffered severe damage from British and American bombing. Even thoughItaly quit the war in 1943, the Germans occupied most of Northern Italy until 1945. Some of the worst Allied bombing of Milan was in 1944 and much of it focussed around Milan's main railway station. In 1943, anti-German resistance in occupied Italy increased and there was much fighting in Milan. As the war came to an end, the American 1st Armored Divisionadvanced on Milan as part of the Po Valley Campaign. But even before they arrived, members of the Italian resistance movement rose up in open revolt in Milan and liberated the city. Nearby, Mussolini and several members of his Italian Social Republic (Repubblica Sociale Italiana, or RSI) were captured by the resistance at Dongo and executed. On 29 April 1945, the bodies of the Fascists were taken to Milan and hanged unceremoniously upside-down at Piazzale Loreto, a major public square.
After the war the city was the site of a refugee camp for Jews fleeing from Austria. During theeconomic miracle of the 1950s and 1960s a large wave of internal immigration, especially fromSouthern Italy, moved to Milan and the population peaked at 1,723,000 in 1971. During this period, Milan saw a re-construction of most of its destroyed buildings and factories, and was affected by a rapid post-war economic growth, called Il boom in Italy. The city saw the construction of several innovative and modernist buildings and skyscrapers, such as the Torre Velasca and the Pirelli Tower. Milan was, however, in the late-1960s until the late-1970s seriously affected by the Marxist/Leninist/Communist Italian group called Brigate Rosse, or Red Brigades, and the city was often filled with political manifestations and protests. A major event of this period of turmoil, known as the Years of Lead occurred in Milan on December 12, 1969, when a bomb exploded in the National Agrarian Bank in the Piazza Fontana, killing seventeen people and injuring eighty-eight.
The population of Milan begun to shrink during the late 1970s, so in the last 30 years almost one third of the total city population moved to the outer belt of new suburbs and small cities that grew around Milan proper.[40] At the same time the city also attracted increasing levels of foreign immigration. Emblematic of the new phenomenon is the quick and great extension of a "Milanese Chinatown", a district in the area around Via Paolo Sarpi, Via Bramante, Via Messina and Via Rosmini, populated by Chinese immigrants from Zhejiang, one of today's most picturesque districts in the city. Milan is also home to one-third of all Filipinos in Italy, harbouring a sizeable and steadily growing population that numbers just over 33,000[41] with a birth rate averaging 1000 births a year.[42]
In the 1980s, Milan's industry began to be extremely successful. As it became a major exporter of textiles and several clothing labels headquartered in the city began to become internationally renowned (such as Armani, Versace and Dolce & Gabbana), Milan began to be recognized internationally as a major fashion capital, and the traditionally affordable and practical, yet stylish and chic attire produced by the city's stylists made it a serious global competitor, threatening Paris' century-long status as the world capital haute couture or high-fashion. The city also saw a rise in the number of international tourists, notably from China, Japan or other Far-Eastern countries. This period of prosperity and the new international image of the city being a "capital of fashion" led many journalists to call the metropolis during the period "Milano da bere", literally "Milan to drink".[43]
In the 1990s, Milan was badly affected by Tangentopoli, a serious political scandal centered in the Palazzo delle Stelline complex, in which several politicians and businessmen were tried for alleged corruption. The city also underwent a financial crisis, and faced sluggish industrial growth, compared to that of the 1950s and 1980s. Despite this, Milan ripened its image as a fashion and design capital, with new labels such as Miu Miu setting up. By the late-1990s, Milan regained some slight industrial and economic stimulus to grow.
By the early 21st century, Milan's economy, which had been stagnant in the early-1990s, began to re-grow slightly again, yet this was short-lived and the city, despite having relieved itself from Tangentopoli's strain, fell into another economic recession and crisis. This period saw a rapid fall in Milan's industrial exports, and the Asian textile and clothing companies began to rival the still strong, yet declining Milanese fashion labels. However, Milan was able to maintain its strong economy, firstly by moving its Fiera (an exposition of products related to mainly industrial design) to a new establishment in Rho just outside the city,[44] and the announcement in 2008 of the city hosting the Expo 2015[45] has brightened prospects for the city's future, with several new plans of regeneration and the planned construction of numerous avant-garde structures. Despite the decline in Milan's industrial production,[46] the city has found alternative and successful sources of revenue, including publishing, finance, banking, food production, information technology, logistics, transport and tourism.[46] Overall, Milan's population seems to have stabilized in recent years, and there has been only a slight increase in the population of the city since 2001.[40]
The nine districts of Milan
§ Date of election: May 30, 2006
Of nine boroughs into which Milan is divided, eight are governed by centre-right coalition (1–8) and one by centre-left coalition (9).
The city of Milan is subdivided into administrative zones, called Zona. Before 1999, the city had 20 Zone; in 1999 the administration decided to reduce the number of these zones from 20 to 9. Today, the Zona 1 is in the "historic centre", the zone within the perimeter of the Spanish-era city walls; the other eight cover the areas from the Zona 1 borders to the city limits. So a zone is very big (considering inhabitants' number), comparable to many Italian city or even a half or third of some Italian province (provincia). Nevertheless a zone's government and zone representatives in Milan have very little power and very few duties.
The district of Milan is located in the Padan Plain in the west-central area, inclusive among the rivers Ticino and Adda, among the riverPo and the first reliefs of the Alps. It has a surface area of 181 km2 and is 122 metres above sea level.
Milan has a Humid subtropical climate (Köppen climate classification Cfa),[47] - although with some continental characteristics - similar to much of Northern Italy's inland plains, where hot, humid and very sultry summers and cold, wet winters prevail.[48]
Average temperatures in city center are 37 F (3°C) in January with 28°F (-2°) for the minimum and 77 (25°C) in July with average maximum of 86 F (30°C). Snowfalls are relatively common during winter but with few days with snow. The historic average of Milan's area of 8,2 (21 cm)in the period between 1950 and 2007; with a record of 27,5 in (70 cm) during the famous snowfall of January 1985. Humidity is quite high during the whole year and annual precipitation averages about 1000 mm (40 in).[48][49][50] The ventilation is poor throughout the year and this increases the rate of pollution. In the stereotypical image, the city is often shrouded in the heavy fog characteristic of cold seasons in the Po Basin, although the removal of rice paddies from the southern neighbourhoods, the urban heat island effect and the reduction of pollution from factories have reduced this phenomenon in recent years, at least in the city centre but the pollution is still very high. Wind is generally absent. In spring, though, gale-force windstorms can happen, generated either byTramontana blowing from the Alps or by Bora-like winds from northeast.
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