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MILANO
General Milan
Milan has
about 1,340,000 inhabitants, but every weekday more than 500,000 people come
into the city for study or work.Milan
is a modern and cosmopolitan city, it brings togheter the best of two world: the
business world and the art world.Industries
are located around the outskirts of the city and in nearby satellite town.Milan
has five universities, the theatres, museums, libraries, and publishing
companies.The
origin of the city is lost in history and legends. It is said to have been
founded by Belloveso, the chief of the cisalpino gauls, around 500 bc.In 222 bc,
however, it was conquered by the Romans and they gave it the name of
Mediolanum.In
1162, Frederick I the “Barbarossa” razed the city to the ground, dispersing
the popolation.In the 14th and 15th centuries, under the
rule the Visconti and Sforza families, the city became the capital of a vast
feudal estate and later of Dukedom.The Austrians took over from the Spanish and
ruled the city between 1706 and 1859, interrupted only by Napoleon when Milan
became capital of the kingdom of Italy.Nowadays
it is the financial capital of Italy.
Written
by
TEMPERA FABIO and CISARI CLAUDIO
Castello
Sforzesco
By
Marco Laghezza
The
Castello is the former castle of the Sforza and Visconti families. Originally it
was known as the Castello di Porta Giovia, after a small gate into the medieval
city wall that was later built into the castle walls. The western section, or
Rocchetta, was laid out as a fortress in 1368 by Galeazzo II Visconti; it was
partially destroyed by the people of Milan during the riots that followed the
death of the last Visconti in 1447, but it was rebuilt by Francesco Sforza from
1450 onwards.
The
construction work was supervised by Giovanni da Milano.Ludovico il Moro
commissioned artists such as Leonardo da Vinci and Bramante to do further work
on the Castello.In 1521 an explosion caused by gunpowder destroyed Filarete's
gate-tower leading to the Cortile delle Milizie.From
the Spanish occupation onwards the castle was used as a fortress; its
fortification were razed by Napoleon I. In 1893 the City of Milan had the castle
restaured in the 15th century style by Luca Beltrami; after the World
War the restaured again.The Musei del Castello Sforzesco can be found in the
former Corte Ducale and in the Rocchetta. At the centre of the facade on the
Piazza Castello is the huge Torre dell' Orologio.
A
broad staircase leads to the other room wich contains the most unfinished Pietà
Rondaini, Michelangelo's last work
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