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MILAN
572km
(355 miles) NW of Rome, 140km (87
miles) NE of Turin, 142km (88
miles) N of Genoa.
A rich and prosperous city, Milan’s affluence has come
through the hard work and
pragmatism of its people. There
are two million of them, and they
are the reason why Milan is the
most dynamic city in all of Italy.
. Milan is Italy's gateway to
Europe and its most sophisticated
and high-tech metropolis. It does
not have much of the turbulent
history that sometimes paralyzed
modern developments in Rome and
Florence, or the watery
deterioration that seems to
pervade Venice.
The hard nosed work ethic of the Milanese can be traced to
the Teutonic origins of the
Lombards of northwestern Germany.
They occupied Milan and
intermarried with its population
after the collapse of the Roman
Empire. In the 14th century, the
Viscontis, through their
intelligence, riches, and marriage
alliances with the royalty of
England and France, made Milan
Italy's strongest city. Milan, in
those early days, started a
continuing campaign of drainage
and irrigation of the Po Valley,
and this helped to make it one of
the world's most fertile regions.
These facts have made the rest of
Italy compare the painstaking
Milanese to the nearby practical
Swiss.
Its recent history began with the Hapsburgs in the
Seventeenth century. This
inheritance left it with scores of
neoclassical buildings in its
inner core and a long-lasting
admiration for music and work. In
1848, it was at the heart of the
northern Italian revolt against
its Austro-Hungarian rulers and,
with Piedmont, was at the center
of the 19th-century nationalistic
fervor that swept through Italy
and ended in the country's
unification. During this same
period, Milan mainly through the
novelist Manzoni, was encouraging
the development of a Pan-Italian
dialect.
Contemporary Milan is Italy’s most influential city, a
commercial powerhouse that is home
to many major industries and over
four hundred banks. It is the
center of publishing, silk
production, TV and advertising,
and fashion design. Besides this
it also lies close to Italy's
largest collection of
automobile-assembly plants, rubber
and textile factories, and
chemical plants. Milan also boasts
La Scala, one of Europe's most
prestigious opera houses, and a
major commercial university which
was the alma mater of most of
Italy's corporate presidents. In
addition, it's the site of several
world-renowned annual trade fairs.
In
an unabashed capitalistic style,
Milan has acquired more art than
it has created. To succeed in
Milan, in either business or the
arts, is to have made it to the
top of the particular line you are
in. If you visit Italy to find
sunny piazzas and lazy bright
afternoons, you will have to go
elsewhere; you won't find them
amid the fogs and rains of Milan.
You will, however, have visited
the heart of modern Italy.
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