The town is famous for fashion firms and shops (via Montenapoleone) and the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele on the Piazza Duomo, reputed to be the world’s oldest shopping mall. Milan is one of the world capitals of fashion, like New York City, Paris and London. Another famed product of the city is the traditional Christmas sweet cake called Panettone. Milan and Lombardy are candidates for the Summer Olympic Games of 2016.
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 later transformed into the Kingdom of Italy. After the end of the wars, Milan was part of the Kingdom of Lombardy-Venetia, under Austrian rule: the city became one of the main centers of Italian nationalism, reclaiming independence and the unification of Italy.
Pages: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11
Related Travel Information
Novara is a city of Piedmont, in North-west Italy, to the west of Milan.
Founded in ancient times by Romans, Novara currently has 112,000 inhabitants.
See also battle of Novara.
Varese is a city in north-western Lombardy, northern Italy, 55 km north of Milan.
It is the capital of the province with the same name; other important towns in the province are Busto Arsizio, Gallarate, Saronno, Tradate, Vedano Olona.
Geographical features
The province of Varese lies below the Alps, so mountains and hills constitute 32% and 46% of its territory respectively; other common features are rivers (including the Ticino and Olona) and glacial lake (Lake Maggiore, Lake Lugano, Lake of Varese and four other smaller ones). (if you want get an idea on how the lakes around Varese are, visit: www.kayakvarese.it) The southern
Monza (locally 'Munscia') is a city (2001 pop. 117,068) in the province of Milan, Lombardy, Italy. Its new province (Monza e Brianza), created in 2004, will be effective in 2009.
It is the third largest city of Lombardy and the most important economical, industrial and administrative centre of the Brianza sub-region, supporting a textile industry and a publishing trade, but its international fame comes from the Autodromo Nazionale Monza racing circuit, home to the Italian Grand Prix, and the Scuderia Ferrari team, and previously the Alfa Romeo team.
The city lies on the Lambro, a tributary of the Po, 8 miles north-northeast
Vicenza (population 107,223) is the capital of the province of Vicenza in the Veneto region, northern Italy at the northern base of the Monti Berici, straddling the Bacchiglione. At 45°33? N 11°33? E, Vicenza is approximately 60 km west of Venice and 200 km east of Milan. The city has an active and lively industrial sector, which is especially famous for jewelry and clothing factories. The Gold Exposition is world-famous and it takes place in Vicenza three times per year (January, June, September).
History
Vicenza (Roman "Vicetia") an ancient Roman municipium (from 49 BCE) was overshadowed by its neighbor Patavium (Padua) in
Pelagie Islands (Isole Pelagie in Italian) consist of Lampedusa, Linosa, and Lampione. They are small islands in the Mediterranean Sea between Malta and Tunisia, south of Sicily. They are part of Agrigento province, Italy.
The name Pelagie comes from the Greek word "pelaghia", meaning high sea. The archipelago is the most southern part of Italy, and is part of the African continent.
