Milan

(me'lan,) (anc. Mediolanum,) a magnificent city of N. Italy, C. of a p. of same name, and former metropolis of Lombardy, 79 m. E.N.E. of Turin. Architecturally speaking, this is one of the most imposing of European cities, its chief ornament being the famous Gothic Cathedral. M. is a great commercial emporium; the centre of the N. Italian silk-trade, and, after Venice, the principal publication market in the kingdom. This city is of supposed Gallic foundation, and became incorporated with the Roman power, B. c. 191. Its subsequent history is intimately a ociated with that of Lombardy (q. v.). Pop. 196,109. [s. 601]