It is presumed Milan was originally founded by the Celts of Northern Italy around 600 BC and was conquered around 222 BC by the Romans, who gave it the name of Mediolanum. In the 4th century, at the time of the bishop Saint Ambrose and Emperor Theodosius I, the city was briefly the capital of the Western Roman Empire. At that time Milan was the second largest city in Europe, with more than 300,000 inhabitants. St Ambrose is now the Patron Saint of the city.
With the Visigoth menace mounting, Milan lost its capital role to Ravenna in 402. Attila plundered the city in 452 during his invasion of Italy, then the Ostrogoths of Uraia ravaged it in 541, during the disastrous Greco-Gothic war. The ghost of a city was then taken by the Lombards in 569; the main Byzantine officials, both civilian and religious, fled to Genoa for safety. The Lombards made Milan capital of one of their main duchies, and the city slowly but surely recovered a role, if overshadowed by neighbouring Pavia and Monza.

In the eleventh century the city regained its importance and began to impose its power. Milan became a prosperous, if seldom quiet, comune. The eleventh century saw the birth and growth of several papal and church reform movements, such as the Peace and Truce of God and the Gregorian reforms. Milan itself, the powerful but corrupt church was put under siege by the reformers of the so-called pataria, a local movement led by both religious and secular figures. In the latter half of the century, Milan and its province suffered ecclesiastical schism and confusion as well as violence and war as the patarini struggled to reform the clergy. With peace and order attained in the early 1090s, Milan enterred the wider struggle between the power of the popes and the emperors. In the twelfth century, she led the other Italian cities in gaining semi-independence from the Holy Roman Empire in the wars of the Lombard League against Frederick Barbarossa, culminating in the glorious Battle of Legnano (1176). Thus, during the Middle Ages Milan became one of the most rich and powerful cities of Europe (due to its commerce and industries) conquering and influencing at times great part of northern Italy. It is estimated that at the start of 14th century the city may have touched the number of 200,000 inhabitants. During the Plague of 1349 Milan was one of the few places in Europe that was spared by the epidemic, but it was deeply affected by the plagues of 1402 (50,000 deaths), 1542 (80,000), 1576 (17,000) and 1629 (also known as Great Plague of Milan, 70,000 deaths). In the emantime its power was checked by Florence and Venice; thus last city conquered eastern Lombardy after the battle of Maclodio and kept it for centuries. During the Renaissance Milan was ruled by dukes of the Visconti (1272-1447) and later Sforza (1449-1499, 1512-1515, 1521-1535) families, who had great artists like Leonardo da Vinci and Bramante at their service. After trying to conquer the rest of northern Italy in the late 14th and 15th century, Milan was conquered by France, and then later on by emperor Charles V, who took it in 1535 as a dependancy of his Spanish possessions. The Spanish domination (up to 1700) is remembered as an epoch of bad rule and decline, but this is debatable, since the economy still flourished and textile industry kept growing in the countryside around the city.

In the 18th century Austria replaced Spain as Milan's overlord, because the Spanish line of Habsburgs had died out: the Austrians provided a sound administration who did much to help the city. But the French Revolution and the Napoleonic Wars saw the city annexed into the French satellite states of the Cisalpine Republic, which later became the Kingdom of Italy. After this period, Milan was part of the Kingdom of Lombardy-Venetia under Austrian rule. By this time nationalism and liberalism were on the rise, and the Austrians were no more welcome. Milan eventually became one of the main centers of the Risorgimento, with notable moments as the Cinque Giornate, a victorious revolt against the Austrian garrison in 1848.

In 1859 (after the second of the Wars of Italian Independence) Austrian rule was ended by the Kingdom of Sardinia (which transformed into the kingdom of Italy in 1861). The newly formed Savoy monarchy encouraged the use of the Neo-Renaissance style as a way to express patriotism, an excellent example of which is the Bagatti Valsecchi Museum in via Gesù, 5, *. The city began a steady growth in population and industrial output, soon gaining unrivalled leadership in Italy.

See also: Rulers of Milan.

As a critical industrial center of Italy, Milan was the target of continuous carpet bombing during World War II. The city was bombed even after Pietro Badoglio surrendered to the allied forces in 1943 - Milan was part of Mussolini's Italian Social Republic puppet state, and an important command centre of the German Army stationed in Italy. When war in Italy was finally over, April 25 1945, Milan had been heavily damaged and entire neighborhoods such as Precotto and Turro were destroyed. After the war, the city was reconstructed and has again become an important financial and industrial centre of Italy. More than the 30% of the buildings were completely destroyed and another 30% were so heavily damaged that they were demolished in the first years after the war. Most of those buildings are located in the city centre. Hundreds of buildings built in the last 1,000 years were lost.

Milan is one of the most important railway hubs of Italy, and the five major stations of Milan are among Italy's busiest:

Milano Centrale (passenger station - the second busiest Italian station)

Milano P.ta Garibaldi (passenger station)

Milano Lambrate (passenger station)

Milano Rogoredo (passenger station and cargo station)

Milano Greco (passenger station)

Milano San Cristoforo (passenger and cargo station)

Milano Porta Romana (passenger and cargo station)

Milano Certosa (passenger station)

Milano Villapizzone (passenger station)

Milano Lancetti (passenger station)

Milano Repubblica (passenger station)

Milano Porta Venezia (passenger station)

Milano Dateo (passenger station)

Milano Porta Vittoria (passenger station)

Milano Smistamento/Scalo Farini (cargo-trains)

Milano Romolo (passenger station).

Milano Tibaldi

Milano/Rho Fiera

Milano Rogoredo (for the south)

Milano Certosa and Milano/Rho Fiera (for the west)

Milano Pioltello