Milan

An important Italian city since Roman times, Milan emerged in the early Renaissance as one of the five major powers in Italy. During this time the political and economic influence of the Milanese city-state could be felt throughout Europe. But the power and prestige of Milan faded in the 1500s, when it became part of the Habsburg empire.

Society and Economy. Located in the fertile Po Valley, Milan occupied a strategic position between Italy and northern Europe. Agriculture played an important role in the city's economy, but commerce brought it prosperity. Milan gained fame for the arms and armor it produced, as well as for luxury goods such as silk, satin, and velvet.

Throughout the 1300s, members of the Visconti family shared control of the region. Giangaleazzo Visconti came to power in 1378 and soon turned Milan into a city of great wealth and power. As lord and duke, he enlarged the Milanese state considerably. However, he died of the plague* in 1402, and the years after his death were marked by conflict.

Francesco Sforza returned Milan to its greatness when he became duke in 1450. He was a skilled statesman who formed profitable alliances with the Medici family of Florence, the king of Naples, and the kings of France. These unions enabled Sforza to rebuild the administrative and military power of the state.

Culture and the Arts. Although other cities enjoyed greater renown in the arts, Milan was identified with some of the leading literary and artistic figures of the Renaissance. The poet and scholar Petrarch spent time at Milan's court when the Visconti family began assembling a great library in the 1300s. Milan was also a major musical center during this time. The dukes supported a famous choir, which attracted important composers and singers from across Europe.

Milan became an attractive place for artists as well. The cathedral of Milan, begun in 1386, was Milan's largest and most important center of artistic activity. Because city officials wanted the cathedral to be the finest in Europe, they hired many famous sculptors and architects to work on its statues and stained-glass windows.

The Italian painter Leonardo da Vinci spent most of the 1480s and 1490s in Milan. He painted The Last Supper, one of the world's great frescoes*, on the walls of a Milanese convent. He also entered a competition to design the dome for the cathedral of Milan but withdrew before the judges reached a decision.

In the late 1500s, Milan emerged as a center of the Catholic Reformation in Italy. The bishop of Milan, St. Charles Borromeo, emphasized preaching, religious instruction, and education for the people of Milan.

(See alsoArt in Italy; Catholic Reformation and Counter-Reformation; Italy. )

* plague

highly contagious and often fatal disease that wiped out much of Europe's population in the mid-1300s and reappeared periodically over the next three centuries; also known as the Black Death

* fresco

mural painted on a plaster wall