Estelle Milano, age 11, of Mesa, Ariz., for her question:
HOW OLD IS MILAN, ITALY?
Milan is the second largest city in all of Italy. Only Rome is larger. The Celts, a people of western Europe, founded a town on the site of what is now Milan around 400 B.C.
In 222 B.C., the Romans conquered the town, and they named it Mediolanum. Mediolanum, later changed to Milan, became a Roman military base and also a center of trade between Rome and central Europe.
By the A.D. 200s, Milan ranked as one of the largest cities in the Roman Empire. Barbaric tribes then invaded the city and other parts of Europe during the late 400s, and the empire fell in 476. The invasions ended trade and Milan became a small town.
During the 100s, Milan again regained its importance as a European trade and commerce center. From 1277 until 1535, Milanese nobles governed the city. They hired great artists who created beautiful buildings and fine works of art.
The Spanish Empire took over Milan in 1535 and Austria gained control of the city in 1714. French forces led by Napoleon conquered Milan in 1797, but Austria regained the city in 1815.
In 1859, Milan became part of the newly formed Kingdom of Italy. The city developed some of Italy's first modern industries during the late 1800s.
Benito Mussolini, who ruled Italy as dictator from 1922 to 1943, founded his Fascist movement in Milan in 1919.
Allied bombings damaged large parts of Milan during world war II but the Italian people living there have rebuilt their city.
During the 1950s and 1960s, great industrial growth came to Milan. Thousands of people arrived from southern Italy and they were employed in the city's factories. The resulting increase in population led to a severe housing shortage. But then in the 1970s, the city helped finance the construction of hundreds of new apartment buildings to ease this shortage.
Milan covers 70 square miles. A large Gothic cathedral stands in the heart of the city and nearby are many cultural attractions. Music lovers from many parts of the world hear concerts at La Scala, one of the world's greatest opera houses. The Ambrosian Library is one of Europe's best. It houses many important rare books and ancient manuscripts.
Masterpieces of Italian painting hang in many fine art museums.
Standing near the cathedral is a favorite gathering place of the citizens of Milan. It is the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II, a large, glass roofed building that includes many restaurants and shops. The Galleria is often called the "living room of Milan."
Two major universities can be found in Milan and the city also has a number of excellent technical institutes.
The Milan cathedral, third largest in Europe, had its foundation laid by Gian Visconti in 1385. From 1805 to 1813 it was completed by order of Napoleon