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Once Italy's largest city, position taken over by Rome as a consequence of the boom years after the last war, Milan remains however the financial and economic hub. It has the nation's largest concentration of industry, but over all it is very famous all over the globe as the world's leading centre for design and fashion. Among Italy's most sophisticated cities, Milan offers the country's best shopping, the most diverse nightclubs and a varied cuisine from around the country and the rest of the world, besides a traditional one of strong personality. Spend a few days and wander around the shopping arcades and backstreets, the exclusive boutique area and the groovier Navigli to the south.

Milan Travel guide, Milan hotels - holidays in Italy

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According to the Roman historian Livy, a Celtic village was first founded in this area in the 6th century BC. Conquered by Roman legions in 222 BC, "Mediolanum" (this was the Roman name for Milan) attempted to rebel, becoming an ally of Carthage, Rome's enemy. But the Romans won and, towards the end of the 1st century BC, Milan became a part of the state of the Caesars. Only a few traces of the Roman period remain in the city. The Columns of San Lorenzo, the ruins in Via Circo and under the Stock Exchange, and those in the Monastero Maggiore are, nevertheless, evidence of the fact that the public buildings were those of a large city. With the subdivision of the Roman Empire, Milan became the capital of its Western part, in 286 AD. It was a very important centre for the consolidation of the new Christian religion. Many Milanese churches (e.g St. Ambrogio, St. Eustrogio and San Lorenzo) have Early Christian origins.

A period of decline due to barbarian invasions ended in the 11th century, when the city became a commune, a government involving all classes, and started a period of rapid growth. Devastated by Frederick Barbarossa in 1162, it was revenged in 1176 by the Lombard League, an alliance of Milan and the neighbouring cities, in the Legnano battle. The city rose to prominence under the regime of Viscontis who enriched it with buildings and monuments such as the imposing and spectacular late-Gothic Duomo, and the fortified nucleus of the Castello, which became one of the most luxurious courts of the Renaissance under the successors Sforzas, who enlarged it and from whom it took the name Castello Sforzesco. A remarkable independence movement - called the Comuni - developed in many towns of 12th century Northern Italy. The Comuni fought against the hegemony of the German emperors. Milan had regained its economic predominance in the region, and played a major role in the Comuni movement. During this period the city was governed by democratic laws, and built the Pallazo della Ragione as a seat for its political self-rule. The last representative of this dynasty, Lodovico Sforza, great patron of the art, employed the architect Bramante to improve the city's churches and Leonardo da Vinci to paint the Last Supper in the monastery of St. Maria delle Grazie.

In 1499 the French took control of the city , marking the beginning of almost four centuries of foreign rule. After the French came the Austrian Hapsburgs who commissioned the Teatro della Scala, the world's best theatre with its perfect acoustic, and founded the Brera art gallery, filled, during the Napoleon short rule, with paintings looted from churches and private collections. Mussolini made his mark on the city with the building of the massive white central station. It was in Piazzale Loreto that the dead dictator was strung up by the mob. The period of democratic government came to an end when power was seized by the old Milanese Visconti family, who were to be 'lords' of Milan from 1277 to 1447. The Viscontis gave the city a political and cultural supremacy which brought international renown, and it is under their rule that the construction of the Duomo and of the Castle. began. After 1447 there were three brief years of republican rule. Then in 1450, Francesco Sforza, son-in-law of the last Visconti duke and captain of the Milanese army, took over command of the city. The Sforza family's rule coincided with the Renaissance years in Italy and with one of Milan's moments of major artistic creativity. Among others, Donato, Bramonte and Leonardo da Vinci came to work for the city. It was during this period that the Duomo and the Castle were being built, along with the hospital which is today's the State University, and with the church of Santa Maria delle Grazie.

In the last years of Sforza rule, in the early 16th century, Northern Italy became one of the territories contested by the French and the Spanish monarchies. The Spanish prevailed, and they governed the city for nearly two centuries (1535-1706). This was not a time of development. The scourge of the plague oppressed the city in 1630; but it was at least enlivened by the cultural initiatives of the Borromeo family, especially cardinals Carlo and Federico. The Ambrosiana was founded in this period, and seminaries and the palazzo of the Jesuit order (today's Brera) were built.

The great European wars of the late 17th and early 18th centuries brought Milan under the domination of the Austrian Imperial dynasty of the Hapsburgs. The period when Maria Theresa held sway, during the second half of the 18th century, was characterized by a strong revival operated by lay forces in all sectors of society. The city experienced a recovery, which encompassed its economy, the functioning of its public administration, arts and culture, education and scientific development. The Brera Academy was founded in this period and the Scala Opera theatre, the Pallazo Reale, and the Villa Reale were built, as well as many other private palazzi, in the neo-classical style which was to continue throughout. In the course of the wars that followed the French Revolution of 1789, Milan came under French control. At first it became capital of the Cisalpine Republic and, thereafter, of the so-called 'Regno Italico', which was governed by relatives of Napoleon and comprised nearly the whole of Northern Italy. This was a brief period characterized by great artistic and ideological zeal, which bequeathed the city with its first town-planning schemes, together with major public works such as the Arena and some of the new 'Porte' (city gates).

The Austrians returned to Milan after Napoleon's defeat in 1815, but they were no longer enlightened reformers. Their minister Metternich described Italy as 'a mere geographic expression' when, in fact, Milan had been introduced, during the Napoleonic era, to the ideas of Italy's national unification. In 1848 the city rebelled against the Austro-Hungarians, and in 1859 it became part of the Savoy Kingdom, which was to become, in 1861. With the unification of Italy, Milan could broaden its reach for new markets and it rapidly became a financial and industrial centre. The city attracted workers from other Italian regions, but its growth also sowed the seeds of social tensions which did erupt in 1898 and were fiercely repressed by cannon fire. Milan's city centre was soon taken over by banks and insurance companies, causing great changes in the urban landscape. Elegant residential districts were built, along with a model prison (San Vittore) and the Cimitero Monumentale.

The Fascist party was founded in Milan in 1919. With the exception of industrial workers and a few groups of intellectuals, the city itself did not oppose the birth of the dictatorship. It was during Fascism that a series of pompous works such as the Stazione Centrale were built, but there were also some examples of innovative architecture; the Triennale was one of them.
Milan headed the national reconstruction, since it had been devastated by Allied bombardments (it had, in fact, been on the front line of the partisan war against the Nazis who had occupied Italy in 1943.) The city has emerged as Italy's major centre for commerce, finance, publishing and, recently, as the Italian capital of the media, design, fashion and advanced service sectors.

Milan Sights, sightseeing, culture:

The hard work ethic of the Milanese spans the centuries. Their oldest traditions are steeped in methodical work in the fields.
It was working the land that made the Milanese put to use both the technique of the tenacious Certosini monks and the hydraulic inventions of Leonardo da Vinci, who lived as a guest of the Sforza family for many years (1482-1513) and bequeathed the city with precious practical knowledge such as designs for irrigation methods in agriculture.

In the 15th century the Dominican church and convent of Santa Maria della Gracia was outside the medieval walls of Milan. It was in its refectory that, between 1495 and 1497, Leonardo painted “ The Last Supper”. Along with the Monna Lisa at the Paris Louvre, The Last Supper is Leonardo's most famous work. It is one of the paintings most often taken as a symbol of Western Art. It depicts the instant in which Jesus announces to the apostles that he knows one of them will betray him. Thanks to the sense of perspective the painting conveyed, the monks eating in the refectory almost had the impression they were part of the scene.

Milan hosts about one hundred libraries both state and private and holds the central office from one of the eight Italian national libraries: the Biblioteca Braidense in Palazzo Brera. The more important libraries hold an historic and artistic patrimony of great value. There are also smaller ones detached in different neighbourhoods, most are situated by the Consigli di Zona. The various university faculties, associations and cultural centres possess a collection of works that can be consulted at request.

To discover a link between Milan and culture is not difficult. The renowned cultural examples are numerous. The Scala, for example, does not need much introduction. The world most famous ambrosian institution exists since 1778, precisely from August 3rd. That day the theatre vibrated with the notes from the "Europa Conosciuta" from Antonio Salieri, the grand rival of Mozart. The merit goes to the genius of Giuseppe Piermarini who created the musical paridise on the area belonging to the church of Santa Maria della Scala, constructed in the XV century by Beatrice Regina della Scala, wife of Bernabò Visconti.

However, since that first performance of Salieri, the "Golfo mistico" and the stage of the Scala have heard the undisputable masterpieces of Rossini, Verdi, Bellini, Donizetti, Boito, Mascagni, Puccini not to forget Wagner e Beethoven. The years pass by, but the traditions of the scala remain intact: today just like in the 18th cent. Every December 7th, the day of Saint Ambrogio, the season commences and emotions start to rise. Location of culture, the Scala has maintained intact its traditions and, above all, much curiosity. For example, for the sale of tickets for the standing positions, the theatre does not accept any reservations. When one talks of standing positions you are referring to the "loggione", where the real enthusiast is located. Another example? It is required a certain standard dress, meaning a type of dark suit for the first performance. The public are asked however to present in jacket and tie for all performances.

Produces talent of unquestionable value. With the official capital in Rome, Milan is the undisputed capital of the Italian theatrical culture. From the Theatre alla Scala, a side that merits a section to it, the various points of reference in the metropolis are many, and each one rich in history. Like the Piccolo Teatro di via Rovello, of which opens shortly the new location at "Garibaldi". Paolo Grassi and Giorgio Strehler, who have represented and still represent the key of interpretation for this fantastic world, founded the Theatre in 1947. A prestigious history, which accompanies other temples from the theatre the Carcano, to San Babila and to Filodrammatici. History, which has slowly educated the young into renovating the traditions and create new universes. The most renowned example is that of the Teatro dell'Elfo, the theatre that invented Gabriele Salvatores and all other actors who followed in the same style: from Paolo Rossi to Gianni Bisio, from Silvio Orlando to Francesco Catania.