Milan (Italian: Milano ; Western Lombard: Milan (listen)) in Italy, is the capital of the region of Lombardia and of the province of Milan. The city proper has a population of about 1.3 million, while the urban area is the fifth largest in the E.U. with an estimated population of 4.3 million. The Milan metropolitan area, by far the largest in Italy, is estimated by OECD to have a population of 7.4 million.
Milan is renowned as one of the world capitals of design and fashion. The English word millinery , referring to women's hats, is derived from the name of the city. The Lombard metropolis is famous for its fashion houses and shops (such as along Via Montenapoleone) and the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele in the Piazza Duomo (reputed to be the world's oldest shopping mall). Milan is regarded as the true fashion capital of the world, according to the 2009 Global Language Monitor, and annually competes with other major international centres, such as New York, Paris, Rome and London. Some of the finest Italian fashion houses, such as Gucci, Prada, Versace, Missoni, Dolce & Gabbana, Armani, Valentino, Trussardi, Luxottica and Moschino, to name a few, are headquartered in the city. The city also contains boutiques and important offices of other major labels, such as Max Mara, Louis Vuitton, Chanel, Dior, Ferragamo, Fendi and Hermès. Milan also contains the world's first seven-star hotel, the ultra-luxurious Town House Galleria, located within the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II, and is one of The Leading Hotels of the World.
An international and cosmopolitan city, 13.9% of Milan's population is from abroad. Milan's global importance and influence in fashion, opera, finance, business, culture, sport, literature, commerce, industry and media make it one of GaWC's major Alpha world cities, ranking amongst the top 18 global cities, along with Madrid, Seoul, Moscow, Toronto, Brussels, Mumbai, Buenos Aires and Kuala Lumpur. Milan is one of the EU and the world's most important centres for business and finance, with its economy (see economy of Milan) being the world's 26th richest by purchasing power, with a GDP of $115 billion, and the Milan metropolitan area has Europe's 4th highest GDP, that of € 241.2 billion (US$ 312.3 billion) in 2004, which means that were Milan a country, it would be the world's 28th richest, near in size to that of the economy of Austria. Milan, also, has one of Italy's highest GDP (per capita), about €35,137 (US$ 52,263), which is 161.6% of the EU average GDP per capita. The city is also the world's 11th most expensive city for expatriate employees.
The city hosted the World Exposition in 1906 and will host the Universal Expo in 2015, and currently the FieraMilano fair is considered the largest in Europe. Milan is a city rich in art, history and culture. Milan hosts two well-known football teams: AC Milan and Inter Milan, and is an official candidate for the 2020 Olympic Games. Milan has its own unique cuisine, and is famous for being the home of Panettone, a Christmas sweet-cake, and Risotto alla Milanese. Furthermore, the city has a long musical, particularly operatic, tradition. La Scala, built in 1778, is considered one of the most prestigious and important opera houses in the world, and the city hosts a fine collection of museums, art galleries, churches, libraries, universities and academies. Milan hosts numerous important works of art, such as Leonardo da Vinci's The Last Supper , found in the Convent of Santa Maria delle Grazie. The Pinacoteca di Brera, near to the prestigious Academy of Brera, founded by Empress Maria Theresa of Austria is a very important European art gallery. Also, the Milan Cathedral took five centuries to complete, is the fourth largest cathedral in the world and is regarded as a masterpiece of Gothic architecture. The Bocconi University in the city, ranks among the top 20 best business schools in the world by The Wall Street Journal , and the Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore is the biggest Catholic university in the world.
Inhabitants of Milan are referred to as "Milanese" (Italian: Milanesi or informally Meneghini or Ambrosiani ).
History
Etymology
The word Milan derives from the ancient Latin name of the city, Mediolanum . This name is borne by a number of Gallo-Roman sites in France, such as Mediolanum Santonum (Saintes) and Mediolanum Aulercorum (Evreux) 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.
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", 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; therefore "The city's symbol is a wool-bearing boar, an animal of double form, here with sharp bristles, there with sleek wool." Alciato credits the most saintly and learned Ambrose for his account.
The German name for the city is Mailand , while in the local Western Lombard dialect, the city's name is Milán.
Roman times
Main article: MediolanumAround 400 BC, the Celtic Insubres inhabited Milan and the surrounding region. In 222 BC, the Romans conquered this settlement, which received the name 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 the Western one. Immediately Maximian built several gigantic monuments, like a large circus (470 x 85 meters), the Thermae Erculee, 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 for Christians. 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 Ostrogoths conquered and destroyed Milan in the course of the so-called Gothic War against Byzantine Emperor 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. 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.
Middle Ages
During the Middle Ages, 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. 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 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 1259 Martino 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 treasure to collapse; the use of often reckless mercenary units further angered the population, granting an increasing support for the Della Torre 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 a allegations of the Visconti's nearness 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 led a group of exiles unsuccessfully against the city
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