Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Table of Contents
-history of cultures
-weather + climate ((humid subtropical summers 9 hrs of sun, cold foggy winters) average of 30.7C summer – 7.8C
winter)
Milanese culture is a collage of many of the countries that have ruled it over the centuries including; Spain, Austria,
and France. All these have been very apparent when looking at Milan’s
architecture which resembles the Spanish architecture of the large building with small details even the Italian
cuisine and language all have a sense of the countries that have ruled it.
Milan is considered multicultural and diverse with banking, industrial, and design sectors that draws attention from
tourists // employees from all around the world
The earliest settlement on the site of Milan was founded by Gauls about 600 BC and in the following centuries came
the Celtic tribe more commonly known as the Insubres
225-194 BC Rome establishes control over the Po valley and MEDIOLANUM, the Latinised form of a Celtic place
name meaning ‘middle earth’.
286 AD Under Emperor Diocletian’s tetrarchy, Milan becomes the capital of the Western Roman Empire. It will
remain capital until 402, when the imperial seat of power is moved to Ravenna.
374 Ambrose, future patron saint of the city, is made bishop of Milan.
6th-8th century Milan is ruled by the Lombards from whom Lombardy takes its name.
1018-1045 The bishop and count Ariberto d’Intimiano successfully repels Emperor Corrado II’s siege.
1158 Emperor Frederick I, also known as Barbarossa (Redbeard), besieges Milan and will attack the city again in
1162. Five years later Milan becomes the head of the Lombard League, a coalition of cities that in 1176, finally
defeats the imperial army.
1395 Gian Galeazzo Visconti becomes duke of Milan. In the following years he extends the territory of his duchy to
include most of northern Italy reaching as far as Pisa, Siena and Perugia. He dies suddenly in 1402.
1450 Francesco Sforza, married to Bianca Maria, last of the Visconti line, becomes the city’s ruler.
1498 Leonardo da Vinci completes The Last Supper in the convent next to Santa Maria delle Grazie.
1499 Duke Ludovico Sforza known as ‘Il Moro’ (the Moor) is imprisoned by the French army as they invade Milan
and the surrounding area.
1512 Maximilian, Ludovico il Moro’s son, takes back the duchy through a strategic allegiance with Switzerland.
Three years later, the battle of Melegnano will place Milan back into French hands.
1525 Emperor Charles V of Hapsburg defeats the French army in the battle of Pavia, firmly placing the city of Milan
under his power. Ten years later the duchy of Milan moves directly under Spanish domination.
1627-1631 The population is reduced to almost half its size by the plague as narrated two centuries later by
Alessandro Manzoni in his I PROMESSI SPOSI (The Betrothed), a masterpiece of Italian prose.
1706 Joseph I of Austria’s troops, led by Eugenio of Savoy occupy Milan, putting an end to Spanish occupation. In
1713 the Treaty of Utrecht, closing act of the war of Spanish Succession, ratifies the transferral of Lombardy to the
Austrian imperial family.
1797 Milan, conquered by Napoleonic troops, is proclaimed capital of The Cisalpine Republic.
1848 During the First Italian War of Independence, the Five Days of Milan (18th-22nd March) mark a temporary
ousting of Austrian power from the city.
1859 Austria, defeated by France in the Second Italian War of Independence, hands Milan and Lombardy to the
House of Savoy.
1861 The Kingdom of Italy is proclaimed.
1898 The riots caused by an increase in the price of bread are violently repressed by general Fiorenzo Bava
Beccaris, who on 8th May gives order to fire cannons against the crowd killing 80 protesters.
1919 Once-socialist Benito Mussolini founds in Milan the FASCI DI COMBATTIMENTO (League of Combat).
1945 Heavily damaged by allied forces bombing, on 24th and 25th April Milan rises up against the German troops:
the city is liberated even before allied forces enter.
On 29th April the corpse of Mussolini, brought to justice near Lake Como, is hung in Loreto square.
Must see
Milan Cathedral
La Scala Theatre
Lake Como
Bellagio
Varenna
Sforza Castle
Cinque terre
Tirano st Moritz
Verona
Lake Garda
Welcome tour
Pinacoteca di Brera
Modder Art Gallery
Ambrosian Library
Mueso Novecento
Milan is infamously known for its fashion industry that has been the origin of many famous global brand names
including; Versace, Armani, Ferré, Prada, Dolce and Gabbana, and Missoni
Milan’s traditional dishes and cuisine consist of mostly carbohydrates and a well-seasoned sauce
of some sort including: