milan

Milan (Italian: Milano, listen (help·info) Italian pronunciation: [miˈla(ː)no]; Western Lombard: Milan, listen (help·info)) is a city in Italy and the capital of the region of Lombardy and of the province of Milan. The city proper has a population of about 1,300,000, while the urban area is the first in Italy and the fifth largest in the European Union with a population of 4,345,000 over an area of 2,370 km2 (915 sq mi).[2] The Milan metropolitan area, by far the largest in Italy, is estimated by the OECD to have a population of 7,400,000.[3]

The city was founded under the name of Medhlan[4] by the Insubres, a Celtic people. It was later captured by the Romans in 222 BC, and the city became very successful under the Roman Empire. Later Milan was ruled by the Visconti, the Sforza, the Spanish in the 1500s and the Austrians in the 1700s. In 1796, Milan was conquered by Napoleon I and he made it the capital of his Kingdom of Italy in 1805.[5][6] During the Romantic period, Milan was a major cultural centre in Europe, attracting several artists, composers and important literary figures. Later, during World War II, the city was badly affected by Allied bombings, and after German occupation in 1943, Milan became the main hub of the Italian resistance.[5] Despite this, Milan saw a post-war economic growth, attracting thousands of immigrants from Southern Italy and abroad http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milan