The city was founded by Celts, but its modern name originates in the Latin Medio-lanum meaning “the town in the middle of the plain”. It was conquered by the Romans in 222BC and quickly became one of the empire’s cultural and industrial centres. It grew further in importance when Diocletian made it capital of the Western Empire. After the fall of Rome, the Goths and later the Lombards dominated northern Italy. The Arian Christian Lombards established their capital at Pavia whilst Milan, an enclave of Catholic orthodoxy, was governed by archbishop successors to St Ambrose. Their position of temporal power strengthened when in 774 Charlemagne broke up the Lombard fiefs. The fear of Hunnish invasion in 899 forced the inhabitants of Milan to take up arms and fortify their city; at the same time peasants made good their escape from the tyranny of their feudal lords by seeking shelter within the city walls. The city grew and for the first time we can say there were Milanese. From 1262, when they seized power, until 1447, Milan was ruled by the Visconti, who gave 12 lords to the duchy of Lombardy. With the death of the last heir a three-year period of chaotic self-government was followed by the rule of Francesco Sforza. He was succeeded by five of his family whose rule lasted until 1535. French claims to the duchy were crushed by Charles V of Spain and both duchy and city became a dependency of the Spanish crown. At the close of the war of Spanish Succession Lombardy was ceded to Austria whose rule lasted, with the exception of the Napoleonic interlude, from 1706 until 1859. Under Maria-Theresa, Milan enjoyed a period of great intellectual activity; Beccaria and Parini worked here and the architect Piermarini erected La Scala. With the brief liberty that came with Napoleon’s defeat of Austria some sense of self-determination was born. However, the hopes and dreams of this era were shattered when the Austrians were restored to power, their rule now accompanied by a repression that worsened with time. Austrian reprisals for the revolt of the five days (le Cinque Giornate) in 1848 were merciless and it wasn’t until the intervention of the French in Northern Italy (Battle of Soferino) that Austria ceded Lombardy to Napoleon III who in turn made it “a gift” to Vittorio Emanuele II of Savoy. After its annexation to the newly formed Kingdom of Italy, Milan underwent a vast programme of urban renewal, with the creation of piazzas and boulevards around the Duomo, the building of the Galleria and the elimination of winding roads.

POLITICS

From the end of WWII Milan maintained a strong social-democratic tradition and one of reform which continued until in 1992 when the so-called “Tangentopoli” investigations began. Examining the corruption and bribery in the political and financial spheres, which had its origin in Milan and subsequently spread all over Italy, the investigations saw heads roll in the upper echelons of civic politics.

The way was thereby opened for a new municipal government under Lord Mayor Marco Formentoni of the separatist Lega Nord (Northern League) and later Gabriele Alberini, an entrepreneur backed by Silvio Berlusconi. (Berlusconi is of course Italy’s current prime minister and leader of his party Forza Italia (slogan “Go, Italy, Go”). This party has governed the city for the last nine years. At time of writing, upcoming elections in April 2006 look set for a race between Letizia Moratti, candidate of the centre-right, and the winner of the January 2006 centre-left primaries. Candidates for the centre-left nomination include ex-prefect Bruno Ferrante, Nobel Prize-winner Dario Fo, CEO Davide Corritore and Milly Moratti (sister-in-law of Letizia and wife of Massimo Moratti, patron of Milan’s football team, Inter). Pre-election polls indicate a close race between the two sides.

RELIGION

A recent survey showed less than 30% of Italians to be practising Catholics. However Italy, whose 1984 treaty with the Vatican replaced earlier clauses of the Lateran Pact of 1929, still requires crucifixes to be placed in state schools, hospitals and courts of law. Teachers of Catholic religion (chosen or revoked by bishops) by recent law have been placed in state schools and paid by the taxpayer, ie, by Muslims, Jews, agnostics and atheists.

The Catholic church has made itself felt most recently at the polls in its assault against a proposition extending assisted birth and stem cell research laws. Leaders of the Catholic religious right, which crusades for the indissolubility of marriage, include Pierferdinando Casini (himself divorced and father of a daughter born out of wedlock), Silvio Berlusconi (whose wife admitted to once having had an abortion and who like her husband comes out of a dissolved marriage) and Umberto Bossi of the Northern League (Lega Nord).

Milan, with a strong Muslim population, has seen a move by the Minister of Police, Pisanu, to close the Islamic school of Milan in name of the integration and the separation of church and state. The ruse was picked up by the Lord Mayor of Milan who forbade the Islamic schools on grounds that the classroom structures were “unfit for use” and also by the President of the Province of Milan, Penati, who invoked “laicality” or secularisation in regard to the private Islamic schools.

ECONOMY

In the late 12th century the arts flourished and the making of armour was the most important industry. This period saw the beginning of those irrigation works which still render the Lombard plain a fertile garden. The development of the wool trade subsequently gave the first impetus to the production of silk.

As in Venice and Florence, the making of luxury goods was an industry of such importance that in the 16th century the city gave its name to the English word “milaner” or “millaner”, meaning fine wares like jewellery, cloth, hats and luxury apparel. By the 19th century, a later variant, “milliner”, had come to mean one who made or sold hats.

The industrial revolution in Northern Europe gave a new prominence to the area north of Milan. It sat on the trade route for goods coming over the Alps, and built mills powered by water from the many rivers and streams. In the mid-19th century cheaper silk began to be imported from Asia and the pest phylloxera damaged silk and wine production. More land was subsequently given over to industrialisation. Textile production was followed by metal and mechanical and furniture manufacture.

Factories and factory towns soon developed on the edge of the city. After the unification of Italy growth continued at a rapid pace with the south of Italy still impoverished.

POPULATION

The population of Milan in 2003 was 1,271,898, a drop of 460,000 from the all-time high recorded in 1971.

The foreign population is officially 117,691. The number of illegal or clandestine residents is approximate and in truth, with the exception of a small Chinese population dating back to the 1930s, there was little immigration until the 1980s.

The largest community is the Filipino at 24,000, followed by the Chinese at 11,500, the Moroccan at 5,300, the Rumanian at 4,600, the Albanian at 3,666, the Ukrainian at 2,000 and the Senegalese at 1,700