MILAN HISTORY Ancient Mediolanum is believed to have been founded by a Celtic people. Captured by the Romans in 222 BC, it flourished under the Roman Empire and became the residence of the emperors of the West in the 4th century AD . The city was sacked by the Huns under Attila in about 450 and was destroyed by the Goths in 539. By the end of the 8th century the city had begun to prosper again. During the Middle Ages, Milan was governed by a number of archbishops, under whom the city had a certain degree of independence. The archbishops, however, gradually lost their temporal power to the lower feudal nobility, who transformed Milan into a prosperous commune in the 11th century. In 1162 Milan was razed by troops under Emperor Frederick I. The city recovered sufficiently to help secure the victory (1176) of the Lombard League over Frederick near Legnano. The victory opened a new period of prosperity. In 1277 a noble family, the Visconti, succeeded in wresting control of the city from the ruling Della Torre family; the Visconti ruled until 1447. The reign of Gian Galeazzo Visconti, 1st duke of Milan (1351-1402), was a particularly prosperous period and was regarded as a golden age. In 1450 the Italian soldier Francesco Sforza seized power and founded a line that remained firmly in control of Milan until 1500, when the city was conquered by France. The Sforzas continued to rule as puppets of successive foreign invaders, including the French, the Swiss, and the Austrians. The Sforza line died out in 1535, and soon thereafter Milan came under the rule of Spain. Spain ruled until 1713, when the city was ceded to Austria by the terms of the Peace of Utrecht. Napoleon ousted the Austrians in 1796 and made Milan the capital of the Cisalpine Republic. Restored to Austria in 1815, Milan became a center of Italian patriotic resistance, and in 1848 it briefly expelled the Austrians. In 1859, the Italians, aided by the French, freed Milan from Austrian control. In 1861 Milan joined the kingdom of Italy and subsequently prospered. During World War II it was heavily bombed. In the postwar period Milan experienced great commercial expansion and urban renewal. Population (1997 estimate) 1,301,152. Visconti Visconti (Italian, "viscounts"), Italian family that ruled Milan and the surrounding region from the 13th century until 1447. The family assumed importance in the city when Pope Urban IV made Ottone Visconti (circa 1207-95) archbishop of Milan in 1262. After defeating the dominant Della Torre family in 1277, Ottone held de facto power. His grandnephew, Matteo I (1250-1322), established himself as ruler of Lombardy (Lombardia) as well, and his successors continued to increase their power. Galeazzo II ( 1320-78) was an important patron of the arts and letters, a friend of the poet Petrarch, and founder of the University of Pavia; he shared sovereignty with his brother, Bernabò (1323-85). Gian Galeazzo Visconti (1351-1402), the first duke of Milan, extended his rule farther than any other of his family. The son and successor of Galeazzo II, he deposed and imprisoned his uncle Bernabò, seized his lands, and united all the territory he then held into one state; to that he later added other lands until he ruled most of north and central Italy. Holy Roman Emperor Wenceslas created him duke of Milan in 1395. Gian Galeazzo founded the cathedral of Milan, built the Certosa at Pavia, and married his daughter to Louis I, duc d'Orléans, thus providing the French with a claim to the duchy. Two of his sons ruled after him until 1447. The Italian film and opera director Luchino Visconti (1906-76) was a modern descendant of the family. Italian ducal family that ruled Milan from 1450 to 1535. Of peasant origin, the family was founded by Giacomuzzo Attendolo (1369-1424), who became a successful condottiere (see condottieri) and adopted the surname Sforza ("force"). He fought in the defense of Milan, Florence, and other Italian states, winding up in the service of Naples. His son, Francesco, served the Visconti family of Milan and married the duke's daughter; he won control of the city and assumed the ducal title in 1450. Francesco was succeeded by two of his sons, Galeazzo Maria and Ludovico. The latter, a usurper, had a stormy reign that ended with the capture of Milan by the French in 1499-1500. His son, Massimiliano (1493-1530), won the city back with the help of Swiss troops in 1512 but was driven out again three years later. Holy Roman Emperor Charles V restored the dukedom to Massimiliano's brother, Francesco Maria (1495-1535), in 1522. He was the last Sforza to rule Milan. After his death without heirs in 1535, control of the city reverted to Charles V. Sforza rule of Milan was personal and autocratic, much like that of the Medici in Florence, with which the family was linked by marriage. The Sforzas were patrons of such artists as the architect Bramante and the painter-inventor Leonardo da Vinci; many were able rulers, and the city flourished under their guidance. Lombard League Lombard League, military alliance in the 12th and 13th centuries formed by cities in northern Italy, mainly in the Lombardy (Lombardia) region, to resist the imperialistic aims of Holy Roman Emperor Frederick I, known as Frederick Barbarossa. Cremona, Mantua (Mantova), Bergamo, and Brescia formed the league in March 1167. Later, Parma, Padua (Padova), Milan, Verona, Piacenza, and Bologna entered the league. The Lombard League was victorious over Barbarossa at Legnano in 1176. This battle marked the first time that a major defeat of feudal cavalry, the basic military arm of the nobility, was accomplished by infantry, the basic military arm of the towns. The league, renewed in 1226 to combat Emperor Frederick II, grandson of Barbarossa, was defeated in 1237. In the 1980s the league was revived as a political party, advocating the division of Italy into federated republics. Renamed the Northern League in 1991, it capitalized on the political turmoil and scandal in Italy and was swept to power in the March 1994 elections in alliance with two other right-wing parties.
Saint Ambrose Saint Ambrose is often identified in art by the whip with which he put to flight the enemies of Milan. Here Ambrose is depicted, third from left, with Saints Jerome, Gregory the Great, and Augustine—the other three Fathers of the Western Church—in Madonna and Child Enthroned, by Venetian painters Antonio Vivarini and Giovanni d'Alemagna. Scala/Art Resource, NY foto LEONARDO
Print section About 1482 Leonardo entered the service of the duke of Milan, Ludovico Sforza, having written the duke an astonishing letter in which he stated that he could build portable bridges; that he knew the techniques of constructing bombardments and of making cannons; that he could build ships as well as armored vehicles, catapults, and other war machines; and that he could execute sculpture in marble, bronze, and clay. He served as principal engineer in the duke's numerous military enterprises and was active also as an architect. In addition, he assisted the Italian mathematician Luca Pacioli in the celebrated work Divina Proportione (1509). Evidence indicates that Leonardo had apprentices and pupils in Milan, for whom he probably wrote the various texts later compiled as Treatise on Painting (1651; translated 1956). The most important of his own paintings during the early Milan period was The Virgin of the Rocks, two versions of which exist (1483-1485, Louvre, Paris; 1490s to 1506-1508, National Gallery, London); he worked on the compositions for a long time, as was his custom, seemingly unwilling to finish what he had begun. From 1495 to 1497 Leonardo labored on his masterpiece, The Last Supper, a mural in the refectory of the Monastery of Santa Maria delle Grazie, Milan. Unfortunately, his experimental use of oil on dry plaster (on what was the thin outer wall of a space designed for serving food) was technically unsound, and by 1500 its deterioration had begun. Since 1726 attempts have been made, unsuccessfully, to restore it; a concerted restoration and conservation program, making use of the latest technology, was begun in 1977 and is reversing some of the damage. Although much of the original surface is gone, the majesty of the composition and the penetrating characterization of the figures give a fleeting vision of its vanished splendor. During his long stay in Milan, Leonardo also produced other paintings and drawings (most of which have been lost), theater designs, architectural drawings, and models for the dome of Milan Cathedral. His largest commission was for a colossal bronze monument to Francesco Sforza, father of Ludovico, in the courtyard of Castello Sforzesco. In December 1499, however, the Sforza family was driven from Milan by French forces; Leonardo left the statue unfinished (it was destroyed by French archers, who used the terra cotta model as a target) and he returned to Florence in 1500.
Manzoni
La Scala, opera house in Milan, Italy. Officially called Teatro alla Scala, it was built by command of Maria Theresa, archduchess of Austria, after a fire destroyed the old ducal theater in 1776. The site had been occupied by a church, Santa Maria della Scala, built by a member of the della Scala family, former rulers of Verona. The new opera house was opened on August 3, 1778, with a performance of L'Europa Riconosciuta by Antonio Salieri. The building was remodeled in 1867 and thoroughly modernized in 1921. Severely damaged in World War II, it was rebuilt and reopened in 1946. The theater has a seating capacity of 3600. The building also contains a small, secondary theater known as Piccola Scala, for the performance of chamber operas, and an opera museum. Many notable world premieres have been given at La Scala.
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