Facts about Milan

After 1861, Milan lost its political importance, but it retained a central position in cultural debates.

Milan surrendered to the Franks in 774 when Charlemagne, in an utterly novel decision, took the title "King of the Lombards."

The first railroad built in Milan, the Milan and Monza Rail Road was opened for service on August 17, 1840.

Milan (Italian: Milano; Western Lombard: Milan) is the capital city of the Province of Milano and of Lombardy region (Lombardia) in northern Italy.

Milan is also well-known as the seat of the Alfa Romeo motorcar company; for its silk production; and as a world center for fashion design.

Milan also has the Linate Airport within the city limits (for European and domestic traffic), and Orio al Serio Airport close to the city of Bergamo.

Milan’s economic growth brought a rapid expansion in the city’s area and population during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

The official population figures of the Milan metropolitan area was 3,076,643 residents, making it the second largest in Italy after Rome.

Greater Milan has an extensive tramway system, with more than 178 miles (286km) of track, and 20 lines.

Milan and Lombardy are official candidates for the Summer Olympic Games of 2020 ("Milan-Lombardy 2020").

Milan was the site of the 1906 World Exposition.

Milan also has four trolleybus routes, and included in the fleet are 10 air-conditioned Cristalis trolleybuses.

In 1922, Mussolini began his March on Rome from Milan.

The city, or comune, of Milan is the capital of the Lombardy region, which is one of Italy's 20 regions, and of the province of Milan.

In 2008, Milan was in a significant architectural and urban design renaissance.

The city of Milan is subdivided into nine administrative zones, called Zona.

Liturgical music differs, since the Gregorian chant was not used in Milan because its own Ambrosian chant, established by the Council of Trent (1545-1563), and earlier than the Gregorian , was used instead.

In 1715, just a year before Leibniz's death, the British Royal Society handed down its verdict, crediting Newton with the discovery of calculus and concluding that Leibniz was guilty of plagiarism.

On April 29, 1945, the bodies of the Fascists were taken to Milan and hung unceremoniously upside-down at Piazzale loreto a public square.

During the 1950s and 1960s, thousands of Italians, particularly from Southern Italy, moved to Milan to seek jobs within the city’s rapidly expanding economy.

The war of conquest by Frederick I Barbarossa (1122-1190) against the Lombard cities destroyed much of Milan in 1162.

During World War II, Milan sustained severe damage from British and American bombing.

The Politecnico di Milano and Statal University teach architecture and engineering.

Milan has three subway lines, with 50 miles (80km) of track, and a light metro-service connecting the San Raffaele Hospital with the Cascina Gobba station.

Milan's population, like that of Italy as a whole, is overwhelmingly Roman Catholic.

Milan was listed as having the 40th largest gross domestic product in the world in 2005, at US$115-billion.

The political unification of Italy cemented Milan’s commercial dominance over northern Italy, and led to a flurry of railway construction that made Milan the rail hub of northern Italy.

The Olona river, the Lambro river, and the Seveso creek run through Milan—the Olona and Seveso run mostly underground.

Milan took the leading role in the Lombard League from its founding in 1167.

Milan's geographic location within Italy makes it the nation's most important economic center.

The seven defining points that Honey raises form the working definition of ecotourism for many treatises on ecotourism and several university programs.

Subsequently Milan was part of the Holy Roman Empire.

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.

State universities include the Universitа degli Studi di Milano, and the University of Milan Bicocca.

The Huns overran the city in 452, and in 539, the Ostrogoths conquered and destroyed Milan during the Gothic War (535–552) against Byzantine Emperor Justinian I.

In 1447, Filippo Maria Visconti, Duke of Milan, died without a male heir; following the end of the Visconti line, the Ambrosian Republic was enacted.

Milan is home to numerous universities and other institutes of higher learning.

During this period, Milan became a center of lyric opera.

The city proper (Comune di Milano) had a population of 1,338,436 inhabitants in 2011.

Redevelopment has made FieraMilano - the city's Exhibition Centre and Trade Fair complex in the northwestern suburb of Rho, opened in April 2005 - the largest trade fair complex in the world.

In 1919, Benito Mussolini organized the Blackshirts, who formed the core of Italy’s Fascist movement, in Milan.

The French king Louis XII first laid claim to the duchy in 1492, when Swiss mercenaries defended Milan.

Much of the bombing focused around Milan's main train station.

Before they arrived, members of the Italian resistance movement revolted and liberated Milan.

In 1943, anti-German resistance in occupied-Italy increased and there were explosions in Milan.

On March 18, 1848, the Milanese rebelled against Austrian rule.

Some of the worst Allied bombing of Milan was in 1944.

The city was important for the history of Christianity as the site of the proclamation, Edict of Milan, in which Emperor Constantine I in 313 C.E.

Rapid industrialization put Milan at the center of Italy’s leading industrial region.

In 1395, Gian Galeazzo Visconti became duke of Milan.

Once Napoleon’s occupation ended, the Congress of Vienna returned Lombardy, and Milan, along with the Veneto, to Austrian control in 1815.

Milan is the second railway hub of Italy, and the five major stations of Milan, including the Milan Central station, are among Italy's busiest.

Later, he declared Milan capital of the Reign of Italy and was crowned in the Duomo.

Milan is located in the Po Basin of northern Italy, 400 feet (122 meters) above sea level.

Milan is classified as having a humid subtropical climate, with hot, humid summers with little rainfall and cool, damp winters.

Milan is an industrious and vital city, which in 2008 was in a long phase of reconstruction in preparation for Expo 2015 and further economic growth.

From the 1980s, Milan attracted numerous foreign immigrants.

Milan has its own historic Catholic rite known as the Ambrosian Rite, which varies slightly from the Catholic rite, with some differences in the liturgy and mass celebrations, and in its calendar.

The best known Milanese cheese is gorgonzola from the nearby town of that name.

After several centuries of Roman control, Milan was declared the capital of the Western Roman Empire by Emperor Diocletian in 293 C.E.

Milan prospered as a center of trade due to its command of the rich plain of the Po and routes from Italy across the Alps.

Milan is one of the major financial and business centers of the world.

Milan was first settled more than 2500 years ago.

Meanwhile, as Milanese banks dominated Italy’s financial sphere, the city became the country’s leading financial center.

When the Habsburg Charles V defeated Francis I at the Battle of Pavia in 1525, northern Italy, including Milan, passed to the House of Habsburg.

Football is the most popular sport in Italy, and Milan is home to two world-famous football teams: A.C. Milan and Internazionale.