The city of Milan, located in northern Italy, is the second-largest city in the country (after Rome), with more than 1.3 million people. It is the capital of the Italian administrative region of Lombardy and has the third-largest economy of any European city (after Paris and London). Probably more than any other Italian city, Milan is celebrated for its modern-day cultural accomplishments, particularly in the areas of fashion and design. But, like other Italian cities, it has a long and sometimes illustrious history of its own.

Milan is thought to have been founded around 600 BC by a group composed of members of Gaulish tribes, who called their settlement Mediolanon ("in the middle of the plain"). The city was captured in 222 BC by Romans, who "Latinized" the city's name to Mediolanum. In 286 AD, the capital of the Western Roman Empire was moved to Mediolanum by the Emperor Diocletian, and two emperors later, in 313, the Emperor Constantine issued an edict from the city, known as the Edict of Milan, which granted tolerance to all religions (including Christianity), setting the stage for everything that was to follow.

For Milan, much of what followed over the ensuing centuries wasn't pretty at all. They were overrun and sacked by a succession of invaders, including Visigoths (402), Huns (Attila himself, 452), Ostrogoths (539), Lombards (569), Franks (led by Charlemagne, 774) and Germans (Frederick Barbarossa, 1162).


A period of relative peace followed, and the city became a prosperous center of trade, due partly to its location. The city became a duchy in 1183, and was ruled by a series of lords and dukes. In 1277, Ottone Visconti became Lord of Milan, beginning the Visconti dynasty in the city. The Viscontis established territorial expansion as a priority, and over time increased the size of their domain to a point where it included most of northern Italy. Skipping ahead to 1447, Ottone's descendant Filippo ended the dynasty by dying without a male heir. Milan tried to become a republic, called the Ambrosian Republic (after St. Ambrose, patron saint of the city), but this experiment didn't last long, as difficulties in defense against neighboring states and an eventual famine made the republic unpopular with the citizenry. In 1450, Francesco Sforza, a military leader, or condottiere, who also happened to be married to Filippo's illegitimate daughter and sole surviving offspring Bianca, was named the new Duke of Milan, beginning Milan's ruling House of Sforza.



The House of Sforza ruled Milan from 1450 until 1535, with a couple of breaks during which the city was occupied by French troops, and is credited with bringing Milan into the Renaissance. In this respect the Sforzas had a relationship with their city similar to that of the Medici family to the city of Florence. The two families also had a relationship with each other. In 1482, Lorenzo de' Medici, in an act of diplomacy, had a silver lyre sent to Ludovico Sforza (also known as Ludovico il Moro), who was ruling Milan at the time as regent for his nephew Gian Galeazzo. Along with the lyre, Lorenzo also sent its creator, a 30-year-old Leonardo da Vinci. Leonardo, sensing an opportunity for regular work, wrote Ludovico a letter describing many engineering projects he could achieve for Milan, and also mentioned that he could paint. Leonardo ended up staying in Milan until 1499, working on many projects for Ludovico, the most well-known of which is a fresco done in the dining hall of the monastery of Santa Maria delle Grazie, a fresco known as The Last Supper.


In 1535, the Sforza dynasty ended and Milan came under the power of Charles V's Habsburg Spain. In 1706, during the War of the Spanish Succession, Milan was taken over by the Austrian Habsburgs and became part of the Holy Roman Empire. During Milan's time under Austrian rule, a theater called Teatro alla Scala was built according to plans approved by Empress Maria Theresa herself. It didn't take long for this theater to greatly enhance the cultural reputation of the city, as it became arguably the center of the operatic universe. Over the next century or so, the theater, commonly referred to as La Scala, hosted the premieres of several operas composed by opera heavyweights such as Rossini, Verdi and Puccini, and continues to host prestigious operas to this day.


Milan remained part of Austria-Hungary until 1859, except for a break during the Napoleonic era, when the French controlled things. In 1859, Sardinia and France combined to defeat Austria in the Battle of Solferino, and Milan briefly became part of the Kingdom of Sardinia, until the unified Kingdom of Italy was created in 1861. Milan quickly became Italy's top banking and industrial center, as well as a major transportation hub. During World War I, Italy remained neutral for a year but eventually entered the war as one of the Allied powers, doing its fighting primarily against Austria-Hungary. This fighting was eventually successful, with Italy playing a principal role in the defeat of the Empire. But there remained a considerable amount of social unrest in Italy and in Milan in particular, and Milan became the nucleus for the rise of the new fascism movement, as espoused by Benito Mussolini.

As is well-documented, the movement spread to Rome and became a dictatorship, eventually leading to Italy's participation in World War II as one of the Axis powers. Also well-documented is the fact that the war worked out badly for the Axis powers.

In Italy, the dwindling Fascist supporters were backed up into the north, and in April of 1945, while Mussolini and his entourage were trying to escape to Switzerland (and eventually to fascist Spain) they were captured by communist partisans and executed by firing squad. Their bodies were returned to Milan, where they were hung upside-down in a piazza and stoned and otherwise abused by civilians.

Things today in Milan are rather more cheerful. Nobody is hung up in piazzas anymore. The rubble from the Allied bombing has been swept up, and the damaged buildings have been repaired or replaced. New buildings have gone up, new infrastructure has been added, and the city is fully 21st Century. As stated earlier, the city has become a center of the fashion world, and there are designer stores everywhere. The food is excellent, and reasonably priced. And there is much for visitors to see and do, as you'll see. But you have to get there first.

We needed to get there from Switzerland, and our plan was to do it by train. This was why we found ourselves, along with our luggage, hanging out at the Lauterbrunnen train station.


Eventually a train came and got us, and we followed the Weisse Lütschine River north to Interlaken.


At this point we switched trains, and settled in for a nice long train ride across the mountains to Milan. Eventually we found ourselves in Milan's main train station, where we switched to a Milan Metro train that took us to the Hotel Cusani, near the Cairoli station. After a short rest, we went out looking for food and found it on the next block over. Then, in the remaining daylight, we headed toward the Piazza del Duomo. On the way we noticed a number of temporary tentlike structures being set up. As it turned out, these were going to be used for Fashion Week, which would be coming up in a few days to showcase spring/summer collections for the following year.

But we were going to miss this event, with our flight out scheduled for a couple of days before the festivities. Nella didn't seem too unhappy about this, and I was managing to contain my disappointment. We continued to the piazza, where we found what we were looking for – the Duomo, or Cathedral of Milan, probably the city's most prominent landmark.

But it was late, and the place was closed for the day. We resolved to return the following day, for a close examination. But first we would have to return to our hotel and get a good night's sleep. And there was a matter of a walking tour we'd scheduled for the next morning. A tour that would start at the monastery of Santa Maria delle Grazie.