Milano
Article
July 6, 2022
Milan (/ miˈlano /; Milan in Milanese dialect, / miˈlãː /) is an Italian town of 1 370 948 inhabitants, the capital of the Lombardy region and the metropolitan city of the same name, and the center of one of the most populous metropolitan areas in Europe. With over 1 million and 370 thousand inhabitants, it is the most populous city in the region, the second most populous municipality in Italy after Rome and is one of the twenty most populous cities in Europe. Founded around 590 BC from a Celtic tribe belonging to the Insubri group and belonging to the Golasecca culture, it was conquered by the ancient Romans in 222 BC. Over the centuries, "Mediolanum" increased its importance until it became the capital of the Western Roman Empire; in this period the edict of Milan was promulgated, which granted all citizens, and therefore also Christians, the freedom of worship. At the forefront of the fight against the Holy Roman Empire in the communal age, it first became a seigniory and then was raised to the rank of ducal at the end of the fourteenth century, remaining at the center of the political and cultural life of Renaissance Italy. At the beginning of the sixteenth century it lost its independence in favor of the Spanish Empire and then passed, almost two centuries later, under the Austrian crown: thanks to the Habsburg policies, Milan became one of the main centers of the Italian Enlightenment. Capital of the Napoleonic Kingdom of Italy, after the Restoration it was one of the most active centers of the Risorgimento until its entry into the Savoyard Kingdom of Italy. Main economic and financial center of the Italian Republic, Milan led its industrial development, establishing the so-called Industrial Triangle with Turin and Genoa, especially during the years of the economic boom, when industrial and urban growth also involved the neighboring cities, creating the vast metropolitan area of Milan. In the cultural field, Milan is the main Italian publishing center and is at the top of the world music circuit thanks to the opera season of the Teatro alla Scala and its long opera tradition. It is also one of the main European trade fairs and industrial design centers and is considered one of the world capitals of fashion. Milan is one of the destinations of international tourism; it is in fact among the forty most visited cities in the world (second in Italy after Rome and fifth in the European Union). Milan is considered a global city, the only Italian city in the group of Alfa World Cities.