In 1162, Frederick I Barbarossa, the Emperor of Germany, destroyed Milan in just a few days, and 20 years later, in 1183, the city became a duchy. In 1447, the Ambrosian Republic was established, which collapsed 3 years later, in 1450, when Milan was conquered by Francesco I of the House of Sforza. Read More [...]
Louis XII, King of France between 1498 and 1515, claimed the Duchy of Milan in 1500. After the Spanish Emperor Charles V defeated the successor of Louis XII, François I, at the Battle of Pavia, in 1525, the northern Italy, including Milan, passed to the Spanish line of Habsburgs. Starting with 1713, Milan passed under Austrian rule. In 1859, the city and the rest of Lombardy were incorporated into the Kingdom of Sardinia, which in 1861 was renamed Kingdom of Italy.
GEOGRAPHY: Today, Milan is the second-most populous city in Italy, after Rome, and the capital of the Italian region Lombardy. The city is located 50 kilometers southwest of Bergamo, 86 kilometers west of Brescia, 151 kilometers north of Genoa, 218 kilometers northwest of Bologna, 272 kilometers west of Venice, 315 kilometers northwest of Florence, 600 kilometers northwest of Rome and about 800 kilometers north of Naples.
TRANSPORT: Milan has three airports. The most important is Milano-Malpensa Airport, located about 45 kilometers away. The second is Orio al Serio Airport, known also as Il Caravaggio International Airport, located about 50 kilometers away from Milan. The third is the Milano-Linate Airport, the closest to the city, located about 7 kilometers away. To get to Milan from one of these airports, you can take one of the many buses reaching the city. A bus ticket to and from each airport is about 5€.
By train, a trip from Genoa takes between one hour and a half and two hours, and the cheapest ticket is 13.45€. From Bologna, the ticket is 16.80€ and the trip takes about 2 hours. From Venice, the trip takes between two and three and a half hours and the cheapest ticket is 20.70€.
In Milan, you can travel by metro, by tram or by bus, all operated by Azienda Trasporti Milanesi S.p.A.. A single ticket costs 1.5€ and a 24-hour ticket is 4.5€.
LANDMARKS: Among the tourist attractions of the city, the famous Cathedral of Milan, also known as the Duomo, is the star. The massive Gothic church, along with the square in front and the nearby Vittorio Emanuele II Gallery, the Royal Palace and the Museo del Novecento, are the starting point for discovering the city.
Worth mentioning are also the medieval Castle Sforzesco, the Church of Santa Maria delle Grazie, famous for housing Leonardo da Vinci’s Last Supper, Basilica of Sant'Ambrogio, the second most important church in Milan, after the Duomo, La Scala Theater, one of the most renowned opera houses in the world, Arco della Pace, one of the finest neoclassical triumphal arches in Europe, and the Monumental Cemetery of Milan, a beautiful open-air museum.