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.

Commerce and Industry

Milan is the centre of many financial businesses, and its hinterland is an avant-garde industrial area. the Fair of Milano is one of the most important in the world. Today there's a new Fair under construction in the north-western suburb of Pero and Rho. the new Fair will be opened in the May 2005: it will be the largest 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

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:

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 won 3 European Cups, a World Cup, 3 Cup Winners' Cups, 2 Korac Cups and 25 National Championships.

The Amatory Rugby Club Milano won 18 National Championships. Different ice hockey teams of Milano have won 29 National Championships in Ice Hockey.

Transport

Milan has 4 subway lines (red, green, yellow and blue line) called Milan Metro for more than 80 km. there is a Light Metro called Metrò San Raffaele. from December 2004 will open the new Suburban Railway Service in the Milano Metropolitan Area, called "S" Lines. there will be 10 lines, (the service will be similar to French R.E.R. and German S-Bahn) that will run in the Great Milano (more than 7 Millions of inhabitants). Extension of line 1, 2 and 3 are under construction for totally more than 15 km with 10 new stations. the line 5 will be built from the first half of 2006. a 6th line is under project. Milano have also one of the most exstensive system of Tramway of all the World with more than 286,8 Km.

Milan has a large international airport known as Malpensa International Airport, which is located in Varese, Italy. It also has the Linate Airport in the actual city limits, and the Orio al Serio International Airport in Bergamo, for Europe traffic. The system of the 3 Milano's Airport is the most trafficated and crowded of Italy with more than 29 Millions of passengers.

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, August 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.

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

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