Milan

Today Milan is Italy’s second largest city after Rome and its economic heart.

It is the commercial, financial and manufacturing center of intellectual and artistic life. Manufactures include textiles, clothing, machinery, chemicals, electric appliances, printed materials, motor vehicles, airplanes, and rubber goods. The city has a large construction industry, and it is one of the most important silk markets in Europe.

The most striking feature of the city is Duomo, the large, white-marble cathedral(1386/1813), which shows traces of many styles(especially Gothic). It is elaborately ornamented, with 135 pinnacles and more than 200 marble statues. Other points of interest in Milan include Brera Place and Picture Gallery (17^th cent.), which includes major works by Mantegna, Bellini, Piero Della Francesca, and Raphael; the Castello Sforzesco (15^th cent., with 19^th century additions), which houses a museum of art; the Church of Santa Maria Delle Grazie (1465/90), containing the famous fresco, the last supper, by Leonardo Da Vinvi; the Basilica of Sant’Ambrogio; the Leonardo Da Vinci museum of Science and Techonology; the gallery of modern art.

Long a center of music, Milan has a conservatory and a famous opera house, Teatro alla Scala (opened in 1778). Between the Duomo and La Scala is the 130 year old Gallaria, an enclosed four-story glass-roofed arcade that contains shops and eateries and is a popular gathering place.

The city also has three universities and a polytechnic institute.