Population: 1.3 million
(including surrounding metropolitan area 4 million)
Country: Italy
Region: Lombardy
Language: Italian
Time: GMT +1 (Summer Time +2)

Milan  

Milan, the capital of Lombardy, has a population of 1.25 million people. It is the biggest industrial city of Italy with many different industrial sectors. It is a melting and meeting point for designers, artists, photographers and models. Milan has a fair share of historical buildings and museums. The city has a rich history from pre-roman times up to the present. It maybe relatively small compared to other cosmopolitan European cities, but the city offers the sense of a small village feel. Very comfy, which made many expatriates to stay longer… 

CityClimate

Italy's climate is predominantly Mediterranean, Milan, is located in the middle of a huge plain surrounded by mountains from the south and the north making it very warm to very hot during the summer months as the city is being “fried”, but cool air blows from the northern part as it is hedged against the Italian-Switzerland Alps. Winter in Milan is relatively mild but foggy, with temperatures ranging from zero to 8 degrees Celsius. Summer can be very humid with brief thunderstorms; temperatures range from 14 to 36 degrees. From March through April temperatures range from 6 to 18 degrees. From October through November they range from 6 to 17 degrees.

CityHistory

Milan’s origin goes back to  around 390 B.C., when Gauls invaded and defeated the original inhabitants, the Etruscans.
In 225 B.C. the city was conquered by Romans and was annexed to the Roman Empire. After 313 A.D., the year of the Edict of Tolerance towards Christianity, many churches were built and the first bishop was appointed: Ambrogio was such an influential person that the church became the Ambrosian Church (7 December is a holiday to honour Sant’Ambrogio). In 1300 the Visconti family which are the noblemen from the Bergamo, Cremona, Piacenza, Brescia and Parma ruled and brought a period of glory and wealth to the city. The Duomo was built in 1386 and became the symbol of Milan.

The Sforza family assumed the Castle and the power of the Visconti family and finally Milan got peace after many years of war against Venice and Florence. Under the Sforza duchy the city began the development of sciences, art and literature. Ludovico il Moro (Ludovico Sforza) called Leonardo da Vinci and “il Bramante” to his court. 

CityArt & Culture

Milan has been a rich and important city, it has been always was a place for famous artists from the various eras and offered a particular assortment of churches, buildings and monuments. There has been a change of culture and art in the Renaissance with big contributions in the period of the neoclassicism.

It is entirely made of marble, with immense statues, arches, pillars, pinnacles. From the roof you can get a beautiful overview of the city. Santa Maria delle Grazie was built between 1466 and 1490 and modified by Bramante. In the Refectory there is one of the most famous paintings of Leonardo da Vinci: the “Last Supper”. Milan has many historic palazzos like the Palazzo Reale (Royal Palace) which is situated in the south side of Piazza Duomo. The Sforza Castle is one of the symbols of Milan together with the Madonnina and the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II.  

Economy

The city of Milan is the centre of many financial businesses, and its so called hinterland is an avant-garde industrial area.
Fiera Milano, the city's Exhibition Center and Trade Fair complex is one of the most important in the world. The new fairground, in the north-western suburb of Pero and Rho (opened in April 2005) is Europe's largest open construction project and makes Fiera Milano the largest trade fair complex in the world. Newly constructed just outside the city and very modern in design and facilities.

City Festivals and Other Events

The Festival of Sant’Ambrogio (Saint Ambrose) takes place once a year, on 7 December. Milan celebrates its patron Saint Ambrose (Sant’Ambrogio). To this day, the day of Saint Ambrose, there is the fair called “O bei! O bei!”

The festival overlaps the opening of the opera season at the Scala, the grand Milanese opera house. The famous Carnival Ambrosiano is another event with a typical costume. There are also festivals like the Corteo dei Re Magi on 6 January, Tredesin de mars on 13 March or the Fair of Flowers.  

Some Famous People

Palazzo Reale
Piazza Duomo 12 • MM1, MM3 Duomo. This is the building infront of the Scala Theatre
Open: Mon 14.30-19.30; Tues–Sun 9.30-19.30; Thurs 9.30-22.30.

Tickets: €9/4.50 + €1.50 fee for online reservations. The ticket office closes one hour before exhibition closing time. For reservations visit www.ticket.it.

Open: Mon 14.30-19.30; Tues–Sun 9.30-19.30; Thurs 9.30-22.30.

Tickets: €9/4.50 + €1.50 fee for online reservations. The ticket office closes one hour before exhibition closing time. For reservations visit www.ticket.it.

Until 6 September: Peter Greenaway.

Peter Greenaway was born in Newport, Monmouthshire, Wales, and grew up in Essex, England, where he attend the prestigious Forest School in North-East London. His family left South Wales when he was three years old (they had moved there to begin with to avoid The Blitz). At an early age Greenaway decided on becoming a painter. He became interested in European cinema, focusing first on that of Bergman, and then on French Nouvelle Vague film-makers such as Godard, and most especially Resnais.

Leonardo’s Last Supper. Using a combination of sophisticated digital technology and crafts skill, Greenaway has created a perfect copy of the Last Supper, a clone of the same size and characteristics. Projections will take place every 30 minutes on Mon, Tues, Wed and Sun from 14.30 to 19.30, and on Thurs, Fri and Sat from 14.30 to 22.30. Entrance €4/5.

Triennale

Born as a panorama of modern decorative and industrial arts, with the purpose of stimulating the relationship between industry, the manufacturing sectors and applied arts, the Triennial quickly revealed itself as a mirror of the artistic and architectural culture in Italy and one of the main centres of confrontation for emerging trends.

The desire to assert the unity of the arts and the privileged role of figurative arts in communication with society was expressed in the presentation of a series of large murals (by De Chirico, Sironi, Campigli, Carrà and others), mosaics and sculptures at the 5th Triennial of 1933. In the course of the following decades this relationship was repeatedly emphasised, thanks to works by artists like Fontana, Baj, Martini, Pomodoro, De Chirico, Burri and, more recently, Merz, Paolini and Pistoletto.

Immediately after the war the Triennale, under the guidance of Bottoni, tackled with great determination the very topical question of reconstruction, promoting the creation of an experimental district on the outskirts of Milan, known as the QT8, which represented, in the sector of council-house building, a summary of the results gathered both in the architectural and town-planning fields in Italy and abroad. The town-planning schemes and the technological innovations applied to the building industry remained the key theme of the Trienniale for the entire 1950s period.

The theme of industrial design, launched in 1940 with the International Exhibition of Serial Production, was tackled in an organic and articulate way in subsequent editions, through reviews dedicated exclusively to the theme, through the international convention of 1954 (the first in Italy on the subject) and through the 'Golden Compass' exhibitions. In the same period, the Triennial encouraged the emergence of international phenomena such as Scandinavian and Japanese design, which were able to introduce and express themselves through national departments of great interest, organised by leading figures.

From 1960 onwards the Triennial focused, through the expressive tools of exhibition, on the problems imposed by the economic development and social transformation taking place in the world: Home and School (1960), Free Time (1964), Large Numbers (1968), The Cities of the World and the Future of the Metropolis (1988), Life in Terms of Things and Nature - Design and the Environmental Challenge (1992), Identity and Difference - Integration and Plurality in the Forms of Our Time - Cultures in Terms of the Ephemeral and the Lasting (1996).

More recently, the Trienniale extended its own competence to fashion and audio-visual communication and, since becoming a foundation in 1999, it has redefined its own aims. Today's activities are direct towards research and exhibitions about architecture, town planning, decorative and visual arts, design, handcraft, industrial production, fashion and audio-visual communication.

Lombardia 100% Design
L'eccellenza dell'artigianato lombardo al servizio del design Made in Italy

FESTIVAL Festival di tutti i Festival 16 September - 30 September 08

Triennale Design Museum .- Dal 7 dicembre 2007


20 September - 19 October 08
Viale Alemagna 6 • MM1/2 Cadorna.
Open: Tues-Sun 10.30-20.30, Mon closed. Info 02.724341, 02.8052.263se of the tower for chic aperitifs.

Until 6 September: “Save As...”  

Turkish contemporary art. A group show dedicated to this lively, growing area of culture, and a tribute to the country that competed unsuccessfully with Italy for the assignment of Expo 2015

Rotonda della Besana
Via Enrico Besana 12
Admission €2–5. Open: Mon 14.30-9.30, Tues-Sun 9.30-19.00, Wed until 22.30.

Until 28 September:

Conrad Marca-Relli. Retrospective. Paintings and collages by this important American Abstract Expressionist artist.

Museo Poldi Pezzoli
Via Alessandro Manzoni 12 • MM3 Montenapoleone.
www.museopoldipezzoli.it
Open Tues-Sun 10.00-18.00. Closed Mon. Admission €8.

Until 3 October

Paliotto del Pellicano. Once again on show after meticulous restoration. A precious, handmade textile wall hanging, embroidered over a period of 300 years: from the 1500s to the 1800s.

Until 12 October: 

The hunting carpet and other stories. A fragment of a 16^th century Persian carpet, rediscovered in the Quirinale in Rome, and recently restored.

Biblioteca di Via Senato

Via Senato, 14 • MM1 San Babila  

Until 21 September: Masked Books. 

 A tribute to the book by Christo, Fortunato, Depero, Emilio Isgrò, Federica Marangoni, Filippo Tommaso Marinetti, Bruno Munari, Luigi Serafini, and Emilio Vedova.  

Giò Marconi
Via Tadino, 15 • MM1 Porta Venezia
Open Mon-Fri 10.30-12.30, 15.30-19.30  

Until 15 September: Tal R: 

“You laugh an ugly laugh”, solo show. 15 new works expressly made for the show, wooden sculptures and large paintings.

Until 29 September: 

Luca Trevisani, solo show. One of the most interesting young Italian artists.

Galleria Grazia Neri
Via Maroncelli 14 ● MM2 Garibaldi tram 3, 4, 7
Open Mon-Fri 9.00-13.00, 14.30-18.00; Sat 10.00-12.30, 15.00–17.00.  Admission free.

Galleria Carla Sozzani
Corso Como 10
Open: Mon 15.30-19.00, Tues, Fri-Sun 10.30-19.30, Wed-Thurs 10.30-21.00.

From 7 September until 19 October: 

Photos by Molteni & Motta

From 7 September until 19 October: 

Immaculate, Mother & Daughter, The New Life. A series of photos by French artist Lise Sarfati.

Fondazione Stelline
Chiostro della Magnolia, corso Magenta 61 • MM1 Cadorna  

Until 16 October. Dreams of a Possible City, 

Noted artist work on display,"Tending towards infinity, by Massimo Uberti. An artistic light installation, 27 metres in diameter, 14 metres high. In partnership with Genworth Financial. Something you shouldn't miss!  

Until 26 October. Eugenio Quarti.

 The “prince of cabinet-makers”. In the Sale Viscontee and courtyards. Admission included in Museum ticket (€3). Open Tues-Sun 9.00-17.30.

Church of Santa Maria Annunciata in Chiesa Rossa
Via Neera 24 ● MM2 Abbiategrasso tram 3 - 15
Open every day 9.00-12.00, 16.00-19.00

Until 19 October.

 “Light” by Pino Pedano. 12 wooden sculptures. This church way out in the suburbs is famous for its coloured neon lighting installation by Dan Flavin.

Bel Art Gallery
Via Pasquale Sottocorno, 7 • Tram 9/30, 20, Bus 60, 62
Admission free. Open: Tues-Sat 11.00-19.30

Until 15 September: Vesna Pavan. 

“Dream of the line”. Solo show. Pop art.

Spazio Oberdan
Viale Vittorio Veneto 2 • MM1 Porta Venezia.
Open Tues-Sun 10.00-19.30, Tues and Thurs open until 22.00, Mon closed. Entrance €2.50/4

Until 14 September.

 Beatles 1968. In the 40^th anniversary year of 1968, year of student protests in Italy, a show on the Beatles, presenting their history, their transformations, and the signs that seemed to foreshadow their break-up. The history of the Beatles thus becomes a metaphor for changes in society.

Grossetti Arte Contemporanea
Via di Porta Tenaglia, 1/3
Open Tues-Fri 11-19, Mon 15-19. Entrance free.

Until 12 September. 

Rossella Bellusci. A solo show by the artist who uses light as her medium, exploring the fundamental principles of photography and taking them to their extreme consequences.

The Studio
Via Francesco Sforza, 49
Open Tues-Sat 11-19,30, by appointment.

Until 10 September. 

Simon Haddock and Stuart Chubb. We're In Construction! A site-specific installation. The environmental works in the show were entirely made with panels generally used as supports in "blockbuster" exhibitions.

Fabbrica Eos
Piazza Baiamonti, 6 · MM2 Moscova
Open Tues-Sat 10.00-13.00, 16.00-19.00. Entrance free.  

Until 15 September: Fresco di Fabbrica. 

Paintings and sculpture by three young artists, Cariati, Riga and Di Luca. Three ways of depicting contemporary reality.

Dieci.Due!
Largo Isabella d’Aragona 1, corner of Via Bocconi, 1
Open: Tues-Fri 15.30-19. Entrance free.

Until 5 September: 

Eva. Daniele Veronesi solo show. Sculpture, with preparatory drawings and sketches.

Forma Centro Internazionale di Fotografia
Piazza Tito Lucrezio Caro 1 • trams 3, 15, 15/.
Admission € 6.50. Open Tues-Sun 10.00-20.00, Thurs 10.00-22.00, Mon closed.

Until 7 September: Josef Koudelka. 

'Invasion, Prague 1968''. 40 years on from those events, photographs documenting the Russian invasion of Czechoslovakia.

Until 7 September: Marco Zanta ORMA Centro Internazionale di Fotografia
Piazza Tito Lucrezio Caro, 1, 20136 Milano
Italy
Phone: +39 02.58118067
Tue-Sun 11-21, Thu 11-23

Corso Venezia 22, 20123 Milano
Italy
Phone: +39 02.784100
Tue-Sat 15-20

''Urbaneurope''. Photographic analysis of a series of architectural designs.

Until 12 October: Unknown Weegee.

 “American chronicles”. 100 images of New York and its citizens in the 1930s: racial tension, economic problems, wartime rationing, and Hollywood glamour.

Our image of Weegee is that of the prototypical New York tabloid news photographer: tough, garrulous, and on the scene, ready to cover two murders in one night. But the inventive Jewish immigrant Arthur Fellig (1899–1968), who assumed the self-mocking nickname Weegee, was also one of the most original and creative photographers of the twentieth century. His images of the masses at Coney Island, the confrontation of wealth and poverty at the opening night at the opera, and the aftermath of brutal crime scenes are, by now, classics. But beyond the iconic images that have been so widely circulated, what do we know of Weegee the photographer—his history, his methods, his meaning? Drawing on ICP's unique archive of nearly 20,000 prints by this celebrated master, Unknown Weegee presents approximately 120 photographs that have never been made available to the public, as well as other significant documents and publications. These surprising and little-known materials will show Weegee to be a politically astute and witty social critic, and will attest to the seriousness and self-consciousness of his photographic endeavors.

Galleria Rubin
Via Bonvesin de la Riva 5 · tram 12
Open Mon-Sat 14.30-19.30. Admission free

Until 13 September. Summer Group Show. 

Gehard Demetz, Wynne Evans, Massimo Giannoni, Stefan Hoenerloh, Paolo Iacchetti, Maria Morganti, Tommaso Ottieri, Luca Reffo, Sean Shànahan, Ilir Zefi.  

From 20 September until 30 October. Small Forms, Great Attitudes. 

A group show of sculpture by international artists. Gehard Demetz, Bahk Seon-Ghi, Herbert Hamak, Maurice Joosten, Julia Mangold, Paola Margherita, Peducci and Savini, Perino & Vele, Paolo Schmidlin, Fabio Viale.

Studio d’Arte Cannaviello
Via Stoppani 15 · filobus 92; tram 23; autobus 60 www.cannaviello.net  

Until 17 September. Group show. 

10 canvases by Gabriele Brucceri and others by Enrico Minguzzi.

Casa di Tolleranza
Via Francesco Ingegnoli 17 ·  

Until 28 September. 

Paola Blasi, solo show. “Beyond the sky”. Oil on canvas.

Paola Blasi è nata il 3 gennaio 1973 a Somma Lombardo (VA) e abita a Cernusco sul Naviglio, in provincia di Milano.
Dopo la maturità artistica, si è diplomata in pittura all’Accademia di Belle Arti di Brera.
Utilizza varie tecniche pittoriche: colori ad olio e carboncino per nudi e ritratti, la tecnica dell’acquarello per atmosfere e paesaggi ed il colore acrilico per l’esecuzione di trompe l’oeil.
Realizza inoltre oggetti in vetrofusione, ceramica raku, mosaico di vetro e decoupage.
Ha partecipato a varie mostre estemporanee e concorsi di pittura, raccogliendo notevoli apprezzamenti.

Galleria Silvano Lodi
Via San Primo, 6 · MM1/3 Duomo
Open: Mon-Wed 10.00-19.00, Fri 10.00-13.00, Sat by appointment. Admission free.

Until 25 October: Red and Black. 

The history of Italy’s 1970s in a group show featuring 21 artists. Alberto Burri, Renata Boero, Alessandro Busci, Rosalinda Celentano, Raffaele Cioffi, Roberto Coda Zabetta, Francesca Crocetti, Leonida De Filippi, Mimmo Di Marzio, Enzo Esposito, Giovanni Frangi, Luciana Gallo, Jonathan Guaitamacchi, Federico Guida, Paolo Manazza, Alberto Martini, Michelangelo Jr., Barbara Nahmad, Davide Nido, Luca Pignatelli, Michela Pomaro, Alessandro Spadari, Alessandro Verdi, Dany Vescovi.  

Museo Nazionale della Scienza e della Tecnologia Leonardo da Vinci

http://www.museoscienza.org/english/

Founded in 1953, we are now the largest science and technology museum in Italy.

The Museum is housed in an early 16th century Olivetan monastery and is named after Leonardo da Vinci, the extraordinary Renaissance intellect who mastered art, science and technology. Through the years we have collected and exhibited objects, machinery and evidence that retrace the key phases of our country’s scientific and technological evolution.
The educational activities developed in our collections and interactive labs (i.labs) engage visitors in exciting experiences that lead to the discovery and exploration of science. Our aim is to help people develop an interest in technology, share a passion for science and discover the fascinating nature of the past. We are a centre for debate and research, a lively meeting place and an active laboratory where innovative cultural projects and management methodologies are constantly investigated.

Via San Vittore 21 · MM2 Sant’Ambrogio, bus 50, 58, 94
Open: Tues-Fri 9.30-17.00, Sat and Sun 9.30-18.30. NB the museum reopens on 16 September, after having been closed for renovation. Entrance €3-8

Permanent exhibition: the submarine Enrico Toti. 

Entrance €8-13

From 16 September until 15 September 2009: 

Billboard Project: talking about science and technology by French artist Patrick Mimran.

Instituto Cervantes

The Cervantes Institute is a worldwide non-profit organization created by the Spanish government in 1991.^[1] It is named after Miguel de Cervantes (1547–1616), the author of Don Quixote and perhaps the most important figure in the history of Spanish literature. The Cervantes Institute, a government agency, was modeled on the British Council and the German Goethe Institute, and is the largest organization in the world responsible for promoting the study and the teaching of Spanish language and culture.

This organization has branched out in over twenty different countries with 54 centres devoted to the Spanish and Hispanic American culture and Spanish Language.^[2][3]. The Article 3 of Law 7/1991, created by Institute Cervantes in March 21, explains that the ultimate goals of the Institute Cervantes are to promote the education, the study and the use of Spanish universally as a second language, to support the methods and activities that would help the process of Spanish language education, and to contribute to the advancement of the Spanish and Hispanic American cultures throughout non-Spanish speaking countries[2]. The creation of the Cervantes Institute is viewed as one of the most interesting cultural initiatives[3]

(Sala mostre), Via Dante 12 • MM1 Cairoli.
Open Mon-Fri 16.00-20.00, Sat and Sun closed. Info 02.7202.3450. Admission free.

From 4 September until 26 September. Cálidos acopios. One-man show. Drawings by Manolo Dimas.

Galleria Raffaella Cortese
Via Stradella, 7 • MM1 Porta Venezia
Open Tues-Sat 15-19,30  

From 19 September until 8 November. Video and photos by Yael Bartana. Solo exhibition by this Israeli artist.

Museo d’Arte e Scienza
Via Quinto Sella 4, right across from the Castello Sforzesco • MM1 Cordusio
Open Mon-Fri 10.00-18.00, Sat 10.00-14.00. Admission: €6. www.museoartescienza.com