History of Milan

Historical affiliations

Celtic tribe belonging to the Insubres group 590–222 BC
Roman Republic 222–27 BC
Roman Empire 27 BC–AD 395
Western Roman Empire 395–476
Kingdom of Italy 476–493
Ostrogothic Kingdom 493–553
Eastern Roman Empire 553–569
Lombard Kingdom 569–774
Carolingian Empire 774–781
Regnum Italiae 781–1014
Holy Roman Empire 1014–1114
Free Commune 1114–1259
Lordship of Milan 1259–1395
Duchy of Milan 1395–1447
Golden Ambrosian Republic 1447–1450
Duchy of Milan 1450–1796
Transpadane Republic 1796-1797
Cisalpine Republic 1797–1802
Italian Republic 1802–1805
Kingdom of Italy 1805–1814
Kingdom of Lombardy–Venetia 1815–1859
Kingdom of Sardinia 1859–1861
Kingdom of Italy 1861–1943
Italian Social Republic 1943–1945
Kingdom of Italy 1945–1946
Italian Republic 1946–present

Milan is an ancient city in northern Italy first settled under the name Medhelanon in about 590 BC by a Celtic tribe belonging to the Insubres group and belonging to the Golasecca culture. it was conquered by the ancient Romans in 222 BC, who latinized the name of the city into Mediolanum. The city's role as a major political centre dates back to the late antiquity, when it served as the capital of the Western Roman Empire.

From the 12th century until the 16th century, Milan was one of the largest European cities and a major trade and commercial centre, as the capital of the Duchy of Milan, one of the greatest political, artistic and fashion forces in the Renaissance. Having become one of the main centres of the Italian Enlightenment during the early modern period, it then became one of the most active centres during the Restoration, until its entry into the unified Kingdom of Italy. From the 20th century onwards Milan became the industrial and financial capital of Italy.

Celtic era

Celtic finds dating back to the period preceding the Roman conquest (3rd-2nd century BC), which is preserved in the Civic Archaeological Museum of Milan

Around 590 BC, a Celtic tribe belonging to the Insubres group and belonging to the Golasecca culture settled the city under the name Medhelanon. According to Titus Livy's comments, the city was founded around 600 B.C. by Belloveso, chief of the Insubres. Legend has it that Belloveso found a mythological animal known as the scrofa semilanuta (in Italian: "half-woollen boar") which became the ancient emblem of the city of Milan (from semi-lanuta or medio-lanum). Several ancient sources (including Sidonius Apollinaris, Datius, and, more recently, Andrea Alciato) have argued that the scrofa semilanuta is connected to the etymology of the ancient name of Milan, "Mediolanum", and this is still occasionally mentioned in modern sources, although this interpretation has long been dismissed by scholars. Nonetheless, wool production became a key industry in this area, as recorded during the early Middle Ages (see below).

Medhelanon, in particular, developed around a sanctuary, which was the oldest area of the village. The sanctuary, which consisted of a wooded area in the shape of an ellipse with a central clearing, was aligned according to precise astronomical points. For this reason, it was used for religious gatherings, especially in particular celebratory moments. The sanctuary of Medhelanon was an ellipse with axes of 443 m (1,453 ft) and 323 m (1,060 ft) located approximately near Piazza della Scala. The urban planning profile based on these early paths, and on the shape of the sanctuary, reached, in some cases, up to the 19th century and even beyond. For example, the route of the modern Corso Vittorio Emanuele, Piazza del Duomo, Piazza Cordusio and Via Broletto, which is curvilinear, could correspond to the south side of the ellipse of the ancient sanctuary of Medhelanon.

Celtic silver drachmas, minted in Milan in imitation of the Ancient drachmas of Massalia (Marseille), dating back to the period preceding the Roman conquest (2nd-1st century BC), which are preserved in the Civic Archaeological Museum of Milan. Some have writings in Etruscan characters

The Celtic sanctuaries, and that of Medhelan was not an exception, were equipped with a moat, which had the purpose of sacredly defining the urban space, distinguishing the "inside" and the "outside", and at the same time had to protect it from the flowing waters in the territory. One axis of the Medhelanon sanctuary was aligned towards the heliacal rising of Antares, while the other towards the heliacal rising of Capella. The latter coincided with a Celtic spring festival celebrated on 24 March, while the heliacal rising of Antares corresponded with 11 November, which opened and closed the Celtic year and which coincided with the point where the Sun rose on the winter solstice. About two centuries after the creation of the Celtic sanctuary, the first residential settlements began to be built around it. Medhelanon then transformed from a simple religious center to an urban and then military centre, thus becoming a real village.

The ruins of the basilica of Santa Tecla, which are located under the Milan Cathedral. Among them, remains of a temple were found, perhaps of the Celtic one dedicated to Belisama or of the subsequent Roman temple dedicated to Minerva

The first homes were built just south of the Celtic sanctuary, near the modern Royal Palace of Milan. Subsequently, with the growth of the town centre, other important buildings for the Medhelanon community were built. First of all, a temple dedicated to the goddess Belisama was built, which was located near the modern Milan Cathedral. Then, near the modern Via Moneta, which is located near today's Piazza San Sepolcro, a fortified building with military functions was built which was surrounded by a defensive moat.

At the current Biblioteca Ambrosiana, in Piazza San Sepolcro, archaeological excavations have revealed the presence, under the stone floor dating back to the 1st century AD. of the Roman forum of Milan, of a neighborhood of wooden houses dating back to the Celtic settlement of the 5th century BC. Other important findings attributable to the Celtic era were found along the south-west side of the Royal Palace, where, five meters below the modern road surface, remains of houses and a furnace were discovered which date back to a period between 5th and 4th centuries BC.

Among the remains of the Basilica of Santa Tecla, which are located under the Milen Cathedral, there is what remains of a square-based building with a side of 17 m (56 ft) perhaps associated with the aforementioned temple dedicated to Belisama, or with a subsequent Roman temple dedicated to Minerva. The moat of the previously mentioned fortified military building, which dated back to the 4th century BC, was found in Via Moneta.

Roman times

Main article: Mediolanum

Remains of the Roman walls of Milan located inside the Civic Archaeological Museum of Milan

During the Roman Republic, the Romans, led by consul Gnaeus Cornelius Scipio Calvus, fought the Insubres and captured the settlement in 222 BC. The chief of the Insubres then submitted to Rome, giving the Romans control of the settlement. The Romans eventually conquered the entirety of the region, calling the new province "Cisalpine Gaul" (Latin: Gallia Cisalpina)—"Gaul this side of the Alps"—and may have given the city its Latinized name of Mediolanum: in Gaulish *medio- meant "middle, centre" and the name element -lanon is the Celtic equivalent of Latin -planum "plain", thus *Mediolanon (Latinized as Mediolānum) meant "(settlement) in the midst of the plain".

The ancient Celtic settlement was, from a topographic point of view, superimposed and replaced by the Roman one. The Roman city was then gradually superimposed and replaced by the medieval one. The urban center of Milan has therefore constantly grown like wildfire, until modern times, around the first Celtic nucleus. The original Celtic toponym Medhelanon then changed, as evidenced by a graffiti in Celtic language present on a section of the Roman walls of Milan which dates back to a period following the Roman conquest of the Celtic village, in Mesiolano. Mediolanum was important for its location as a hub in the road network of northern Italy. Polybius describes the country as abounding in wine, and every kind of grain, and in fine wool. Herds of swine, both for public and private supply, were bred in its forests, and the people were well known for their generosity.

Colonne di San Lorenzo in front of Basilica di San Lorenzo

Roman solidus coin (picturing Emperor Constantius II) struck at the Mediolanum mint, circa 354-357 A.D.

Arena games: ivory cup depicting staged hunts and chariot races, found in Milan, 4th-5th century.

During the Augustan age Mediolanum was famous for its schools; it possessed a theater and an amphitheatre (129.5 X 109.3 m). A large stone wall encircled the city in Caesar's time, and later was expanded in the late third century AD, by Maximian. Mediolanum was made the seat of the prefect of Liguria (Praefectus Liguriae) by Hadrian, and Constantine made it the seat of the vicar of Italy (Vicarius Italiae). In the third century Mediolanum possessed a mint, a horreum and imperial mausoleum. In 259, Roman legions under the command of Emperor Gallienus soundly defeated the Alemanni in the Battle of Mediolanum. In 286, the Roman Emperor Diocletian moved the capital of the Western Roman Empire from Rome to Mediolanum. Diocletian himself chose to reside at Nicomedia in the Eastern Empire, leaving his colleague Maximian at Milan.

Ruins of the Emperor's palace in Milan. Here Constantine and Licinius issued the Edict of Milan.

Maximian built several gigantic monuments: the large circus (470 × 85 metres), the thermae or Baths of Hercules, a large complex of imperial palaces and other services and buildings of which few visible traces remain. Maximian increased the city area to 375 acres by surrounding it with a new, larger stone wall (about 4.5 km long) with many 24-sided towers. The monumental area had twin towers; the one included later in the construction of the convent of San Maurizio Maggiore remains 16.6 m high.

It was from Mediolanum that the Emperor Constantine issued what is now known as the Edict of Milan in AD 313, granting tolerance to all religions within the Empire, thus paving the way for Christianity to become the dominant religion of the Empire. Constantine was in Mediolanum to celebrate the wedding of his sister to the Eastern Emperor, Licinius. There were Christian communities in Mediolanum, which contributed its share of martyrs during the persecutions, but the first bishop of Milan who has a firm historical presence is Merocles, who was at the Council of Rome of 313. In the mid-fourth century, the Arian controversy divided the Christians of Mediolanum; Constantius supported Arian bishops and at times there were rival bishops. Auxentius of Milan (died 374) was a respected Arian theologian.

At the time of the bishop St. Ambrose (bishop 374–397), who quelled the Arians, and emperor Theodosius I, Mediolanum reached the height of its ancient power. The city also possessed a number of basilicas, added in the late fourth century AD. These are San Simpliciano, San Nazaro, San Lorenzo and the chapel of San Vittore, located in the basilica of Sant'Ambrogio. In general, the Late Empire encouraged the development of the applied arts in Mediolanum, with ivory and silver work being common in public building projects. In the crypt of the Duomo survive ruins of the ancient church of Saint Tecla and the baptistry where St. Augustine of Hippo was baptized.

In 402, the Visigoths besieged the city and the Emperor Honorius moved the Imperial residence to Ravenna. In 452 Attila in his turn besieged Mediolanum, but the real break with the city's Imperial past came in 539, during the Gothic War, when Uraia (a nephew of Witiges, formerly King of the Italian Ostrogoths) laid Mediolanum to waste with great loss of life. The Lombards took Ticinum as their capital in 572 (renaming it Papia – the modern Pavia), and left early-medieval Milan to the governance of its archbishops.

Middle Ages

Duchy of Milan in 14th Century, before Gian Galeazzo Visconti's conquests

In 539, the Ostrogoths conquered and destroyed Milan during the Gothic War against Byzantine Emperor Justinian I. In the summer of 569, a Germanic tribe, the Lombards (from which the name of the Italian region Lombardy derives), conquered Milan, overpowering the small Byzantine army left for its defense. Some Roman structures remained in use in Milan under Lombard rule, but the city was eclipsed by the nearby Lombard capital of Pavia during the next two centuries.

Milan surrendered to Charlemagne and the Franks in 774. The aristocracy and majority of the clergy had taken refuge in Genoa. In 774, when Charlemagne took the title of "King of the Lombards", he established his imperial capital of Aachen in what is today Germany. 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 (i.e. referring to Charlemagne's kingdom and not to the Italian region), which was worn by Charlemagne, dates from this period. Milan's domination under the Franks led by Charlemagne did nothing to improve the city's fortune, and the city's impoverishment increased and Milan became a county seat.

The Medieval Porta Ticinese (12th century) is one of the three medieval gates of the city that still exist in the modern Milan.

Piazza Mercanti used to be the heart of the city in the Middle Ages.

The 11th century saw a reaction against the control of the Holy Roman Emperors. The city-state was born, an expression of the new political power of the city and its will to fight against feudal overlords. Milan was no exception. It did not take long, however, for the city states to begin fighting each other to try to limit neighbouring powers. The Milanese destroyed Lodi and continuously warred with Pavia, Cremona and Como, who in turn asked Frederick I Barbarossa for help. In a sally, they captured Empress Beatrice and forced her to ride a donkey backwards out through the city. These acts brought the destruction of much of Milan in 1162. A fire destroyed the storehouses containing the entire food supply: and within just a few days Milan was forced to surrender.

A period of peace followed and Milan prospered as a centre of trade due to its position. As a result of the independence that the Lombard cities gained in the Peace of Constance in 1183, Milan returned to the commune form of local government first established in the 11th century. In 1208 Rambertino Buvalelli served a term as podestà of the city, in 1242 Luca Grimaldi, and in 1282 Luchetto Gattilusio. The position was a dangerous one: in 1252 Milanese heretics assassinated the Church's Inquisitor, later known as Saint Peter Martyr, at a ford in the nearby contado; the killers bribed their way to freedom, and in the ensuing riot the podestà was almost 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, and taxing the countryside. He also brought the Milanese treasury to collapse; the use of often reckless mercenary units further angered the population, granting an increasing support for the della Torre's traditional enemies, the Visconti. The most important industries in this period were armaments and wool production, a whole catalogue of activities and trades is given in Bonvesin della Riva's "de Magnalibus Urbis Mediolani".

The Biscione: the coat of arms of the House of Visconti, from the Archbishops' palace in Piazza Duomo

On 22 July 1262, Ottone Visconti was made archbishop of Milan by Pope Urban IV, against the candidacy of Raimondo della Torre, Bishop of Como. The latter started to publicise allegations that the Visconti had ties to the heretic Cathars and charged them with high treason: the Visconti, who accused the della Torre of the same crimes, were then banned from Milan and their properties confiscated. The ensuing civil war caused more damage to Milan's population and economy, lasting for more than a decade. Ottone Visconti unsuccessfully led a group of exiles against the city in 1263, but after years of escalating violence on all sides, in the Battle of Desio (1277) he won the city for his family. The Visconti succeeded in ousting the della Torre permanently, and proceeded to rule Milan and its possessions until the 15th century.

Much of the prior history of Milan was the tale of the struggle between two political factions: the Guelphs and the Ghibellines. Most of the time the Guelphs were successful in the city of Milan. Eventually, however, the Visconti family were able to seize power (signoria) in Milan, based on their "Ghibelline" friendship with the Holy Roman Emperors. In 1395, one of these emperors, Wenceslaus IV of Bohemia (1378–1400), raised Milan to the dignity of a duchy. Also in 1395, Gian Galeazzo Visconti became Duke of Milan. The Ghibelline Visconti family was to retain power in Milan for a century and a half from the early 14th century until the middle of the 15th century.

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. The Ambrosian Republic took its name from St. Ambrose, popular patron saint of the city of Milan. Both the Guelph and the Ghibelline factions worked together to bring about the Ambrosian Republic in Milan. Nonetheless, the Republic collapsed when, in 1450, Milan was conquered by Francesco Sforza, of the House of Sforza, who made Milan one of the leading cities of the Italian Renaissance.

Early modern

Spanish walls of Milan

Milan during the plague of 1630: plague carts carry the dead for burial.

Founded in 1778, La Scala is the world's most famous opera house.

Napoleon entering Milan on 15 May 1796

Highlighted in yellow, the Napoleonic Kingdom of Italy, which had Milan as its capital

The Italian Wars were a series of conflicts from 1494 to 1559 that involved, at various times, most of the city-states of Italy, the Papal States, the Republic of Venice, and later most of the major states of Western Europe. Milan's last independent ruler, Lodovico Sforza, called French king Charles VIII into Italy in the expectation that France might be an ally in inter-Italian wars. The future King of France, Louis of Orléans, took part in the expedition and realised Italy was virtually defenceless. This prompted him to return a few years later in 1500, and claim the Duchy of Milan for himself, his grandmother having been a member of the ruling Visconti family. At that time, Milan was also defended by Swiss mercenaries. After the victory of Louis's successor Francis I over the Swiss at the Battle of Marignan, the duchy was promised to the French king. When the Holy Roman Emperor and King of Spain Charles V defeated Francis I at the Battle of Pavia in 1525, northern Italy, including Milan, returned to Francesco II Sforza, passing to the Emperor ten years later on his death and the extinction of the Sforza line.

In 1556, Charles V abdicated in favour of his son Philip II and his brother Ferdinand I. Charles's Italian possessions, including Milan, passed to Philip II and remained with the Spanish line of Habsburgs, while Ferdinand's Austrian line of Habsburgs ruled the Holy Roman Empire. A 150-year period of Spanish domination then began. These years saw the rather oppressive ideological and fiscal control of the Spanish governors. There was a revival of the economy until the beginning of the 16th century, also as a consequence of the end of a long period of turbulence.

The Great Plague of Milan in 1629–31 killed an estimated 60,000 people out of a population of 130,000. This episode is considered one of the last outbreaks of the centuries-long pandemic of plague that began with the Black Death. There was then a profound demographic and economic crisis around 1630 due to the plague (the same one described by Alessandro Manzoni in the novel The Betrothed) and the arrival of the German army; then there were phenomena of economic stagnation which fit into a situation of depression which was generally found in the Italian peninsula until the mid-18th century.

In 1700 the Spanish line of Habsburgs was extinguished with the death of Charles II. After his death, the War of the Spanish Succession began in 1701 with the occupation of all Spanish possessions by French troops backing the claim of the French Philippe of Anjou to the Spanish throne. In 1706, the French were defeated at the Battle of Turin and were forced to yield northern Italy to the Austrian Habsburgs. In 1713–1714 the Treaties of Utrecht and Rastatt formally confirmed Austrian sovereignty over most of Spain's Italian possessions including Lombardy and its capital, Milan.

A period of lively reforms began around the middle of the 18th century under the reign of Maria Theresa of Austria (1740-1780) and continued with the reign of Joseph II of Austria (1780-1790). In this period, Milan began to play a primary role again both on a cultural level (sensitivity and contributions towards the Age of Enlightenment) and on an economic level. There are several institutions, still active today, that were founded or sponsored by the Austrians, in the first or second period. Among these are the Teatro alla Scala, the schools and the Brera Academy (housed in a convent confiscated from the Jesuits), the Braidense National Library (Maria Teresa made it public after it was previously private) and the Cassa di Risparmio delle Provincie Lombarde.

Between the second half of the 18th century and the first half of the 19th century, Neoclassicism flourished in Milan. During the end of the reign of Maria Theresa of Austria, throughout the subsequent Napoleonic Kingdom of Italy and the returna of Austrian, Milan was the protagonist of a strong cultural and economic rebirth, during which Neoclassicism was the dominant artistic style and the greatest expression. The Milanese neoclassical season was therefore among the most important in Italy and Europe.

Napoleon invaded Italy in 1796. Milan was the capital of the Transpadane Republic from 1796 to 1797, of the Cisalpine Republic from 1797 to 1802, of the Napoleonic Italian Republic from 1802 to 1805 and of the Napoleonic Kingdom of Italy from 1805 to 1814. Napoleon crowned himself King of Italy in the Milan Cathedral with the Iron Crown.

He conceived the completion of the Sforza Castle with the Foro Buonaparte, a project he later rejected due to the excessive cost, but which generated the current road semicircle, which he should have envisaged around the surviving nucleus of the Sforza Castle (not yet renovated at the time) a new seat of the republican government formed by an imposing Doric colonnade and some buildings that would become the new political center of the city: the only part of the Foro Buonaparte that was actually built was the Arena Civica.

For Napoleon, in 1807, the Arco della Pace was begun, which however was completed during the second Austrian domination. Designed by Luigi Cagnola and conceived as the "Victory Arch" to celebrate the French victory in the Battle of Jena, it was built starting in the autumn of 1807. The work was now two thirds complete when, with the fall of Napoleon (1814), the project was abandoned and then resumed in 1826 during the reign of the Habsburg emperor Francis I of Austria, who changed the dedication. The Arco della Pace ('Arch of Peace') was then completed in 1838.

Once Napoleon's occupation ended, the Congress of Vienna returned Lombardy, and Milan, along with Veneto, to Austrian control in 1814. During this period, Milan became a centre of lyric opera. Here in the 1770s Mozart had premiered three operas at the Teatro Regio Ducale. Later La Scala became the reference theatre in the world, with its premières of Bellini, Donizetti, Rossini and Verdi. Verdi himself is interred in the Casa di Riposo per Musicisti, his present to Milan. In the 19th century, other important theatres were La Cannobiana and the Teatro Carcano.

Late modern

Popular print depicting the "Five Days of Milan" (18–22 March 1848) uprising against Austrian rule

Victor Emmanuel II of Piedmont-Sardinia and Napoleon III of France entered Milan during the Second Italian War of Independence (1859).

A view of Milan in 1910. The chimney of the Santa Radegonda plant near Milan Cathedral is clearly visible. The plant, built in 1883, was the first power plant in Continental Europe

The new territorial structure of Italy was decided at the Congress of Vienna. On 7 April 1815 the constitution of the Austrian States in Italy was announced. Milan became the capital of the Kingdom of Lombardy-Venetia, formally independent, but in reality subject to the Austrian Empire.

The second Austrian period was turbulent and characterized by continuous tension due to the patriotic ferments that were widespread throughout Italy, including Milan, whose objective was to unify Italy by freeing it from foreigners. In this historical period, which is called the Risorgimento, on 18 March 1848, Milan effectively rebelled against Austrian rule, during the so-called "Five Days" (Italian: Le Cinque Giornate), that forced Field Marshal Radetzky to temporarily withdraw from the city. The bordering Kingdom of Piedmont–Sardinia sent troops to protect the insurgents, starting the First Italian War of Independence, and organised a plebiscite that ratified by a huge majority the unification of Lombardy with Piedmont–Sardinia. But just a few months later the Austrians were able to send fresh forces that routed the Piedmontese army at the Battle of Custoza on 24 July and to reassert Austrian control over northern Italy.

About ten years later, however, Italian nationalist politicians, officers and intellectuals such as Cavour, Garibaldi and Mazzini were able to gather a huge consensus and to pressure the monarchy to forge an alliance with the new French Empire of Napoleon III to defeat Austria during the Second Italian War of Independence and establish a large Italian state in the region. At the Battle of Solferino in 1859 French and Italian troops heavily defeated the Austrians that retreated under the Quadrilateral line. Following this battle, Milan and the rest of Lombardy were incorporated into Piedmont-Sardinia, which then proceeded to annex all the other Italian statlets and proclaim the birth of the Kingdom of Italy on 17 March 1861.

The political unification of Italy enhanced Milan's economic dominance over northern Italy. On 5 March 1876, the first issue of the newspaper Corriere della Sera was published, founded and directed by Eugenio Torelli Viollier, which would become the first Italian newspaper in terms of circulation and political relevance. In 1883, the Santa Radegonda Power Plant was inaugurated in Milan, in the street of the same name (next to the Milan Cathedral), the first power station in continental Europe, second in all of Europe compared to the Holborn Viaduct power station in London, in operation since April 1882, which however illuminated the only viaduct from which it took its name.

A dense rail network, whose construction had started under Austrian patronage, was completed in a brief time, making Milan the rail hub of northern Italy and, with the opening of the Gotthard (1882) and Simplon (1906) railway tunnels, the major South European rail hub for goods and passenger transport. Indeed, Milan and Venice were among the main stops of the Orient Express that started operating from 1919. Abundant hydroelectric resources allowed the development of a strong steel and textile sector and, as Milanese banks dominated Italy's financial sphere, the city became the country's leading financial centre.

In May 1898, Milan was shaken by the Bava Beccaris massacre, a riot named after the Italian General Fiorenzo Bava Beccaris related to soaring cost of living. In Italy the suppression of these demonstrations is also known as Fatti di Maggio (Events of May) or I moti di Milano del 1898 (the Milan riots of 1898). At least 80 demonstrators were killed, as well as two soldiers, and 450 wounded, according to government sources. The overreaction of the military led to the demise of Antonio Di Rudinì and his government in July 1898 and created a constitutional crisis, strengthening the opposition. The events of May marked a height of popular discontent with government, the military and the monarchy.

Contemporary

Expo 1906, which took place in Milan

Italian partisans in Milan during the final insurrection leading to the liberation of Italy in April 1945

The Pirelli Tower soon became iconic of the Italian post-war economic miracle.

Milan was the site of the Expo 1906, which occupied the entire area of Sempione Park and the area that would subsequently be occupied by the Fiera di Milano, now redeveloped under the name of CityLife. Very little remains of what was planted on the occasion: the most significant work remaining is the Civic Aquarium of Milan. At the beginning of the 20th century, Milan was a socialist city of workers' struggles; in 1911 the headquarters of the official socialist newspaper Avanti! was moved there. The election of Emilio Caldara, the city's first socialist mayor, took place in 1914. At the same time it was the intellectual center of Italian Futurism. On 14 November 1914, again in Milan, the printing of Il Popolo d'Italia began, the interventionist newspaper founded by Benito Mussolini, who was still part of the Italian Socialist Party at the time.

During World War I the city played a rearguard role, a shelter for wounded soldiers convalescing (including Ernest Hemingway, who remembered his days in Milan in the famous novel A Farewell to Arms) and as a center for the production of war material, being directly hit from the war on the occasion of a single Austrian air raid, on 14 February 1916, which caused the death of 18 people. Milan's northern location in Italy closer to Europe, secured also a leading role for the city on the political scene. It was in Milan that Benito Mussolini built his political and journalistic careers, and his fascist Blackshirts rallied for the first time in the city's Piazza San Sepolcro; here the future Fascist dictator launched his March on Rome on 28 October 1922.

The twenty years of fascism saw the creation of a series of public works in Milan, with administrators such as Ernesto Belloni, the first mayor of Milan of the new fascist administrative system, who took office in 1926: one above all the inauguration in 1931 of the Milano Centrale railway station, construction begun in 1913 and finished in 1931. On 23 May 1930 the Milan Planetarium given to the city by the publisher Ulrico Hoepli opened. On 28 October the Idroscalo was inaugurated, construction of which had begun in 1928, while the Palace of Justice was built from 1932 to 1940.

During the World War II Milan's large industrial and transport facilities suffered extensive damage from Allied bombings that often also hit residential districts. When Italy surrendered in 1943, German forces occupied and plundered most of northern Italy, fueling the birth of a massive resistance guerrilla movement. On 29 April 1945, the American 1st Armored Division was advancing on Milan but, before it arrived, the Italian resistance seized control of the city and executed Mussolini along with his mistress and several regime officers, that were later hanged and exposed in Piazzale Loreto, where one year before some resistance members had been executed. On 25 April 1945, with Allied troops approaching and German troops fleeing the city, the National Liberation Committee proclaimed the city's insurrection. On the same day the city was liberated. The day was proclaimed the Anniversary of the Liberation of Italy, and the city was awarded the Gold Medal of Military Valor for Resistance merits. The contribution given by the Milanese factories and the nearby Sesto San Giovanni was decisive in all phases of the Milanese Resistance.

During the post-war economic boom, the reconstruction effort and the so-called Italian economic miracle attracted a large wave of internal migration (especially from rural areas of southern Italy) to Milan. The population grew from 1.3 million in 1951 to 1.7 million in 1967. During this period, Milan was rapidly rebuilt, with the construction of several innovative and modernist skyscrapers, such as the Torre Velasca and the Pirelli Tower, that soon became the symbols of this new era of prosperity. The economic prosperity was, however, overshadowed in the late 1960s and early 1970s during the so-called Years of lead, when Milan witnessed an unprecedented wave of street violence, labour strikes and political terrorism. The apex of this period of turmoil occurred on 12 December 1969, when a bomb exploded at the National Agrarian Bank in Piazza Fontana, killing 17 people and injuring 88.

Expo 2015, which took place in Milan

In the 1980s, with the international success of Milanese houses (like Armani, Prada, Versace, Moschino and Dolce & Gabbana), Milan became one of the world's fashion capitals. The city saw also a marked rise in international tourism, notably from America and Japan, while the stock exchange increased its market capitalisation more than five-fold. This period led the mass media to nickname the metropolis "Milano da bere", literally "Milan to be drunk". But in the 1990s Milan was badly affected by Tangentopoli, a political scandal in which many politicians and businessmen were tried for corruption. The city was also affected by a severe financial crisis and a steady decline in textiles, automobile and steel production. Berlusconi's Milano 2 and Milano 3 projects were the most important housing projects of the 1980s and 1990s in Milan and brought to the city new economical and social energy.

In the early 21st century Milan underwent a series of sweeping redevelopments over huge former industrial areas. Two new business districts, Porta Nuova and CityLife, were built in the space of a decade, radically changing the skyline of the city. Its exhibition centre moved to a much larger site in Rho. The long decline in traditional manufacturing has been overshadowed by a great expansion of publishing, finance, banking, fashion design, information technology, logistics and tourism. The city's decades-long population decline seems to have partially reverted in recent years, as the comune gained about 100,000 new residents since the last census. The successful re-branding of the city as a global capital of innovation has been instrumental in its successful bids for hosting large international events such as 2015 Expo and 2026 Winter Olympics.

See also

• Timeline of Milan

Bibliography

Published in the 16th-19th century

in English

• Jedidiah Morse; Richard C. Morse (1823), "Milan", A New Universal Gazetteer (4th ed.), New Haven: S. Converse
• David Brewster, ed. (1830). "Milan". Edinburgh Encyclopaedia. Edinburgh: William Blackwood.
• Josiah Conder (1834), "Milan", Italy, The Modern Traveller, vol. 31, London: J.Duncan
• Mariana Starke (1839), "Milan", Travels in Europe (9th ed.), Paris: A. and W. Galignani
• Valery (1842). "Milan". Italy and its Comforts. London: Longman.
• "Milan", Black's Guide to Italy, Edinburgh: Adam and Charles Black, 1869
• William Smith, ed. (1872) [1854]. "Mediolanum". Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography. London: John Murray. hdl:2027/hvd.ah5cur.
• "Milan", Ballou's Monthly Magazine, Boston: Thomes & Talbot, February 1875, hdl:2027/nyp.33433081755823
• Fin Bec (August 1876), "Under Foreign Mahogany: Hotel Life in Milan", Gentleman's Magazine, London
• George Henry Townsend (1877), "Milan", A Manual of Dates (5th ed.), London: Frederick Warne & Co., hdl:2027/wu.89097349427
• "Milan", Cook's Tourist's Handbook for Northern Italy, London: T. Cook & Son, 1881
• J. Hardmeyer (1884), Milan, Illustrated Europe, Zurich: Orell Füssli & Co.
• W. Pembroke Fetridge (1884), "Milan", Harper's Hand-Book for Travellers in Europe and the East (23rd ed.), New York: Harper & Brothers, hdl:2027/nyp.33433066588363
• "Milan", Appleton's European Guide Book, New York: D. Appleton & Co., 1888
• "Milan", Bradshaw's Illustrated Hand-book to Italy, London: W.J. Adams & Sons, 1894
• "Milan", Hand-book for Travellers in Northern Italy (16th ed.), London: John Murray, 1897, OCLC 2231483

in other languages

• Bernardino Corio (1554), L'historia di Milano (in Italian), Vinegia: Giovan Maria Bonelli, OL 22885135M
• Morigia, Paolo (1595), La nobiltà di Milano, Milan: Pontio; 2nd edn (1619) with additions by Girolamo Borsieri, Milan: Bidelli.
• Guide des étrangers à Milan et dans les environs de cette ville (in French), Milan: Pierre et Joseph Vallardi, 1819, OL 25596877M
• Pietro Verri (1850), Storia di Milano (in Italian), Milano: Oliva, OL 24138005M
• "Milano". Nuova Enciclopedia Italiana (in Italian) (6th ed.). Torino: Unione Tipografico-Editrice Torinese. 1887. hdl:2027/nnc1.cu08476810.

Published in the 20th century

in English

• George Charles Williamson (1901), "Milan", Cities of Northern Italy, New York: A. Wessels company, OCLC 6516634
• Cecilia M. Ady (1907), History of Milan under the Sforza, London: Methuen & Co., OCLC 4369439, OL 6994215M
• Milan, Mediaeval Towns, London: J.M. Dent & Co., 1908
• Brown, Horatio Robert Forbes; Ashby, Thomas (1910). "Milan" . Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 18 (11th ed.). pp. 437–441.
• Benjamin Vincent (1910), "Milan", Haydn's Dictionary of Dates (25th ed.), London: Ward, Lock & Co., hdl:2027/loc.ark:/13960/t89g6g776 – via Hathi Trust
• "Milan", Northern Italy (14th ed.), Leipzig: Karl Baedeker, 1913 + 1870 ed.
• W.J. Rolfe (1914), "Milan", Satchel Guide for the Vacation Tourist in Europe, Boston: Houghton Mifflin, hdl:2027/mdp.39015065280888
• John Foot (1995). "The Family and the 'Economic Miracle': Social Transformation, Work, Leisure and Development at Bovisa and Comasina (Milan), 1950-70". Contemporary European History. 4 (3): 315–338. doi:10.1017/s0960777300003507. JSTOR 20081556. S2CID 145084971.
• Trudy Ring, ed. (1996). "Milan". Southern Europe. International Dictionary of Historic Places. Vol. 3. Fitzroy Dearborn. OCLC 31045650.
• John Foot (1999). "Television and the City: The Impact of Television in Milan, 1954-1960". Contemporary European History. 8 (3): 379–394. doi:10.1017/S0960777399003033. JSTOR 20081718. PMID 20120561. S2CID 35221104.
• Stefano D'Amico (2000). "Crisis and Transformation: Economic Organization and Social Structures in Milan, 1570-1610". Social History. 25 (1): 1–21. doi:10.1080/030710200363249. JSTOR 4286606. S2CID 145362967.

in Italian

• Francesco Malaguzzi Valeri (1906), Milano (in Italian), Bergamo: Istituto Italiano d'Arti Grafiche, OL 22335383M
• "Milano". Piemonte, Lombardia, Canton Ticino. Guida d'Italia (in Italian). Milan: Touring Club Italiano. 1916. p. 5+. hdl:2027/uiuo.ark:/13960/t1rf92c9w.
• Storia di Milano (in Italian). Fondazione Treccani. OCLC 461149469. 1953-1966 (17 volumes)
• Luigi Ganapini. Una città in guerra (Milano, 1939-1951) (Milan: Angeli, 1988)
• Achille Rastelli. Bombe sulla città. Gli attacchi aerei alleati: le vittime civili a Milano (Milan: Mursia, 2000)

Published in the 21st century

in English

• "History of Italy". HistoryWorld. p. 2. Retrieved 4 February 2020.
• Lecco, Alberto; Foot, John (2020). "Milan Italy". Encyclopedia Britannica. Encyclopedia Britannica, Inc. Retrieved 4 February 2020.
• Stefano D'Amico (2001). "Rebirth of a City: Immigration and Trade in Milan, 1630-59". The Sixteenth Century Journal. 32 (3): 697–721. doi:10.2307/2671508. JSTOR 2671508. PMID 18939327.
• Anna Trono; Maria Chiara Zerbi (2002). "Milan: The city of constant renewal". GeoJournal. 58.
• Elisabetta Merlo; Francesca Polese (2006). "Turning Fashion into Business: The Emergence of Milan as an International Fashion Hub". Business History Review. 80 (3): 415–447. doi:10.1017/S0007680500035856. JSTOR 25097225. S2CID 156857344.
• ""Venice and Northern Italy, 1400–1600 A.D." Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History". The Met. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. 2019. Retrieved 4 February 2020.
• "Insider's Guide to Milan", Wall Street Journal, 2 October 2010
• "You Know You're a Milan Insider When". New York Times. 15 October 2010.
• Chris Wickham (2015). "Milan". Sleepwalking into a New World: The Emergence of Italian City Communes in the Twelfth Century. Princeton University Press. pp. 21–66. ISBN 978-1-4008-6582-6.