Gallarate is a city and comune of Alto Milanese of Lombardy and of Milan metropolitan area, northern Italy, in the Province of Varese. It has a population of some 54,000 people.

The Milan metropolitan area, also known as Grande Milano, is the largest metropolitan area in Italy and the 54th largest in the world. It is the largest transnational metropolitan area in the EU. The metropolitan area described in this article is strictly statistical and, contrary to the administrative Metropolitan City of Milan, a provincial-level municipality, does not imply any kind of administrative unity or function.