Milan

Milan was founded by Celts as Medhelanon, "the settlement in the middle of the plain", and taken by Rome in 222 BC. As Mediolanum it grew into the chief city of northern Italy, and in 286 Diocletian made it the capital of the Western Roman Empire. Here in 313 Constantine issued the Edict of Milan granting tolerance to all religions, and Saint Ambrose, bishop from 374, became the city's patron. Visigoths, Attila's Huns and the Ostrogoths besieged or sacked it, and the Lombards took it in 569.

In the Middle Ages Milan warred with its Lombard neighbours and was largely destroyed by Frederick Barbarossa in 1162, but it recovered as one of Europe's largest cities. Gian Galeazzo Visconti became its first duke in 1395, and from 1450 the Sforza made it a centre of the Renaissance, bringing Leonardo da Vinci, who painted the Last Supper and improved the canals, and Bramante. Spanish rule followed from 1535, with the great plague of 1629–31 killing about 60,000 of 130,000 inhabitants, then Austrian rule from 1714. Napoleon was crowned King of Italy in the cathedral.

The Five Days of 1848 briefly drove out the Austrians, and after 1859 Milan joined the new Italian state, becoming its railway hub and financial capital. Mussolini launched Fascism here, and in April 1945 the resistance took the city before Allied troops arrived. Postwar migration from the south lifted the population to a peak of about 1.74 million in 1973. The 1969 Piazza Fontana bombing, which killed 17 people, opened the "years of lead"; the 1980s brought global fashion fame, and the 1990s the Tangentopoli corruption scandal. Since then new districts such as Porta Nuova and CityLife have changed the skyline, and the city hosted Expo 2015 and, with Cortina d'Ampezzo, the 2026 Winter Olympics.

Milan is one of the world's fashion capitals, alongside Paris, London and New York, a role it took in the 1980s with houses such as Armani, Prada, Versace and Dolce & Gabbana. Fashion weeks twice a year and the Salone del Mobile, the world's largest furniture fair, bring in buyers and designers, and Fiera Milano is Europe's largest permanent trade exhibition. Design runs deep: the signs and architecture of the metro won the Compasso d'Oro award in 1964, and the postwar Pirelli and Velasca towers announced a modern city.

Music is the other great tradition. La Scala has given the premieres of Verdi's Nabucco, Puccini's Madama Butterfly and many more, and its season opens each 7 December, the feast of Saint Ambrose, the day the Oh bej! Oh bej! Christmas fair begins. The city has a symphony orchestra and a conservatory, and its football is split between AC Milan and Inter, who share the San Siro stadium.

The Milanese are known for working hard and moving fast. The early-evening aperitivo is a social ritual, Brera keeps its artists' reputation, and Porta Venezia is the city's LGBT-friendly quarter. Small customs survive in the centre: visitors spin on the mosaic bull in the Galleria for luck, and a clear view of the gilded Madonnina on the cathedral still means a fine day.

About 1.36 million people lived in the city in 2026, and the wider metropolitan area, the largest in Italy, has more than six million. The population fell for decades as families moved to the suburbs but has grown again in recent years. Around a fifth of residents are foreign citizens; the largest foreign countries of birth include Egypt, the Philippines and China, and Chinatown around Via Paolo Sarpi is the oldest Chinese community in Italy.

Milan is Italy's economic capital: its metropolitan area produces about a fifth of the country's output, the Borsa Italiana stock exchange and many national companies have their headquarters here, and finance, fashion, publishing, media, technology and tourism have replaced most of the old factories. Several major universities draw students from across Italy, and the Via Monte Napoleone was described in 2024 as the most expensive street in the world.

The day starts early, with coffee standing at the bar, quick lunches and long working hours, and evenings begin with the aperitivo. Housing costs are a constant complaint, winter air pollution is a serious problem, and AC Milan and Inter, who bought San Siro in November 2025, plan to replace it, with demolition expected in 2031 or 2032. In August the city empties and many restaurants close.

Milanese cooking uses butter, rice and slow-cooked meat. The cotoletta alla milanese is a breaded veal cutlet cooked with the bone in and traditionally fried in clarified butter, often called "elephant's ear" for its shape. Risotto alla milanese is coloured and flavoured with saffron and enriched with beef marrow, and is often served with ossobuco, cross-cut veal shank braised with vegetables, white wine and broth and finished with gremolata. Winter brings cassoeula, pork rib chops and sausage stewed with Savoy cabbage, and busecca, tripe stewed with beans.

Panettone, the tall sweet bread with dried fruit eaten at Christmas, is associated above all with Milan, and its name comes from the Milanese dialect. Other pastries follow the calendar: chiacchiere and tortelli at Carnival, colomba, a dove-shaped cake, at Easter, and cinnamon-flavoured pane dei morti for All Souls' Day. The everyday bread is the michetta, a puffed white roll.

Many historic restaurants and bars are in the centre, Brera and the Navigli, and the Caffè Cova has served pastries since 1817. Campari has long been a favourite Milanese aperitif, and the Negroni sbagliato, the "mistaken Negroni" made with sparkling wine instead of gin, is a fixture of the aperitivo hour, when bars from the Navigli to Porta Venezia set out snacks with drinks.