1.
Zone 1 of Milan
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The Zone 1 of Milan is one of the 9 administrative zones of Milan, Italy. The zone includes the center of the city. It is the least populated of the zones and one of the smallest by area, a significant part of which is occupied by the Piazza del Duomo. Much of the remainder of the zone is dedicated to museums, the main landmark of this area is the Sforza Castle, which dominates the Simplon Park, the largest and most important city park in the centre of Milan. The park houses other renowned monuments and places of interest, such as the Branca Tower, the Palazzo dellArte, sculptures by Giorgio de Chirico, thanks to its central position, the Zona 1 houses some prominent educational institutions. In this area there are the buildings of two universities, University of Milan, founded in 1924, is located not so far from the Piazza del Duomo. At the end of the Second World War, the old Ospedale dei Poveri building, known as la Cà Granda, was assigned to the University. The building, one of the first Italian examples of civil architecture - commissioned in the 15th century by the Sforza family, the dukes of Milan - was seriously damaged by the bombings of 1943. In 1958, after a series of reconstruction and renovation works, it became home to the University Rectors Office, the administrative offices. Brera Academy of Fine Arts, founded in 1776 by Maria Theresa of Austria, is located in the Brera district. These were housed in the Palazzo Brera, which was built in about 1615 to designs by Francesco Maria Richini and until the suppression of the Jesuits in 1773 had been a Jesuit college. Stations of Milan Metro in the Zona 1, Cadorna, Cairoli, Cordusio, Duomo, Palestro, Porta Venezia, San Babila, Cadorna, Lanza, Moscova, Crocetta, Duomo, Missori, Montenapoleone, Porta Romana, Turati. The ZTL encompasses about 8.2 km2 and 77,000 residents, the area is accessible through 43 gates, monitored by video cameras. Area C started as an 18-month pilot program based on the implementation of the results of a referendum that took place on June 2011. Area C was definitively approved as a permanent program on 27 March 2013, media related to Zone 1 of Milan at Wikimedia Commons Zone 1 of Milan
2.
Italy
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Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a unitary parliamentary republic in Europe. Located in the heart of the Mediterranean Sea, Italy shares open land borders with France, Switzerland, Austria, Slovenia, San Marino, Italy covers an area of 301,338 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate and Mediterranean climate. Due to its shape, it is referred to in Italy as lo Stivale. With 61 million inhabitants, it is the fourth most populous EU member state, the Italic tribe known as the Latins formed the Roman Kingdom, which eventually became a republic that conquered and assimilated other nearby civilisations. The legacy of the Roman Empire is widespread and can be observed in the distribution of civilian law, republican governments, Christianity. The Renaissance began in Italy and spread to the rest of Europe, bringing a renewed interest in humanism, science, exploration, Italian culture flourished at this time, producing famous scholars, artists and polymaths such as Leonardo da Vinci, Galileo, Michelangelo and Machiavelli. The weakened sovereigns soon fell victim to conquest by European powers such as France, Spain and Austria. Despite being one of the victors in World War I, Italy entered a period of economic crisis and social turmoil. The subsequent participation in World War II on the Axis side ended in defeat, economic destruction. Today, Italy has the third largest economy in the Eurozone and it has a very high level of human development and is ranked sixth in the world for life expectancy. The country plays a prominent role in regional and global economic, military, cultural and diplomatic affairs, as a reflection of its cultural wealth, Italy is home to 51 World Heritage Sites, the most in the world, and is the fifth most visited country. The assumptions on the etymology of the name Italia are very numerous, according to one of the more common explanations, the term Italia, from Latin, Italia, was borrowed through Greek from the Oscan Víteliú, meaning land of young cattle. The bull was a symbol of the southern Italic tribes and was often depicted goring the Roman wolf as a defiant symbol of free Italy during the Social War. Greek historian Dionysius of Halicarnassus states this account together with the legend that Italy was named after Italus, mentioned also by Aristotle and Thucydides. The name Italia originally applied only to a part of what is now Southern Italy – according to Antiochus of Syracuse, but by his time Oenotria and Italy had become synonymous, and the name also applied to most of Lucania as well. The Greeks gradually came to apply the name Italia to a larger region, excavations throughout Italy revealed a Neanderthal presence dating back to the Palaeolithic period, some 200,000 years ago, modern Humans arrived about 40,000 years ago. Other ancient Italian peoples of undetermined language families but of possible origins include the Rhaetian people and Cammuni. Also the Phoenicians established colonies on the coasts of Sardinia and Sicily, the Roman legacy has deeply influenced the Western civilisation, shaping most of the modern world
3.
Sforza Castle
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Sforza Castle is in Milan, northern Italy. It was built in the 15th century by Francesco Sforza, Duke of Milan, later renovated and enlarged, in the 16th and 17th centuries it was one of the largest citadels in Europe. Extensively rebuilt by Luca Beltrami in 1891–1905, it now houses several of the citys museums, the original construction was ordered by local lord Galeazzo II Visconti in 1358–c. 1370, this castle was known as Castello di Porta Giova, the castle was the main residence in the city of its Visconti lords, and was destroyed by the short-lived Golden Ambrosian Republic which ousted them in 1447. In 1450, Francesco Sforza, once he shattered the republicans, in 1452 he hired sculptor and architect Filarete to design and decorate the central tower, which is still known as Torre del Filarete. After Francescos death, the construction was continued by his son Galeazzo Maria, the decoration was executed by local painters. In 1476, during the regency of Bona of Savoy, the tower with her name was built, in 1494 Ludovico Sforza became lord of Milan, and called numerous artists to decorate the castle. These include Leonardo da Vinci and Bramante, who painted frescoes in the Sala del Tesoro, around 1498, Leonardo worked at the ceiling of the Sala delle Asse, painting decorations of vegetable motifs. In the following years, however, the castle was damaged by assaults from Italian, French and German troops, after the French victory in the 1515 Battle of Marignano, the defeated Maximilian Sforza, his Swiss mercenaries, and the cardinal-bishop of Sion retreated into the castle. However, King Francis I of France followed them into Milan, in 1521, in a period in which it was used as a weapons depot, the Torre del Filarete exploded. When Francesco II Sforza returned briefly to power in Milan, he had the fortress restored and enlarged, under the Spanish domination which followed, the castle became a citadel, as the governors seat was moved to the Ducal Palace. Its garrison varied from 1,000 to 3,000 men, in 1550 works began to adapt the castle to modern fortification style, as an hexagon -shaped star fort, following the addition of 12 bastions. The external fortifications reached 3 km in length and covered an area of 25.9 hectares, the castle remained in use as a fort also after the Spaniards were replaced by the Austrians in Lombardy. Most of the fortifications were demolished during the period of Napoleonic rule in Milan under the Cisalpine Republic. The semi-circular Piazza Castello was constructed around the city side of the castle, the area on the country side of the castle was laid out as a 700-by-700-metre square parade ground known as Piazza dArmi. After the unification of Italy in the 19th century, the castle was transferred from military use to the city of Milan, parco Sempione, one of the largest parks in the city, was created on the former parade grounds. The government of Milan undertook restoration works, directed by Luca Beltrami, the Via Dante was cut through the medieval street layout in the 1880s to provide a direct promenade between the castle and the Duomo on axis with the main gate. The central tower, known as the Torre Filarete, above the city entrance was rebuilt, on the basis of 16th-century drawings
4.
Porta Sempione
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Porta Sempione is a city gate of Milan, Italy. The name Porta Sempione is used both to refer to the proper and to the surrounding district, a part of the Zone 1 division. The gate is marked by a triumphal arch called Arco della Pace, dating back to the 19th century. A gate that roughly corresponds to modern Porta Sempione was already part of Roman walls of Milan and it was called Porta Giovia and was located at the end of modern Via San Giovanni sul Muro. At the time, the gate was meant to control an important road leading to what is now Castelseprio, in the Middle Ages, part of the Roman walls in the Porta Sempione area were adapted as part of the new walls. The gate itself was moved north, in a place that is now occupied by the Sforza Castle, the Castle itself was completed in the 15th Century, under Duke Filippo Maria Visconti, and the gate itself became part of the Castle. In 1807, under the Napoleonic rule, the Arch of Peace was built by architect Luigi Cagnola and this new gate marked the place where the new Strada del Sempione entered Milan. This road, which is still in use today, connects Milan to Paris through the Simplon Pass crossing the Alps, at the time, the gate was still called Porta Giovia. When the Napoleonic Kingdom of Italy fell and Milan was conquered by the Austrian Empire, the gate was not yet completed, and the construction was abandoned for a while. The construction of the Arch was resumed, again by Cagnola, in 1826, for Emperor Francis II, when Cagnola died in 1833, his project was taken over by Francesco Londonio and Francesco Peverelli, who brought it to completion in 1838. The gate was the scene of prominent events in the Milanese history of the 19th century. On 22 March 1848, the Austrian army led by marshal Josef Radetzky escaped from Milan through Porta Giovia after being defeated in the Five Days of Milan rebellion. On 8 June 1859, four days after the Battle of Magenta, Napoleon III, the Simplon Gate is located at the center of a wide round square known as Piazza Sempione. It is adjacent to the Simplon Park, the city park of Milan. It is neoclassical triumphal arch,25 m high and 24 m wide, decorated with a number of bas-reliefs, statues, bas-reliefs and statues are made of a variety of materials, including marble, bronze, wood, and stucco. Other decorations have classical mythology subjects such as Mars, Ceres, Minerva, Apollo, there are also a group of statues that are allegories of major rivers in North Italy such as the Po, the Adige and the Ticino. At the sides of the Arch of Peace there are two rectangular buildings that used to be the customs office. The area surrounding Porta Sempione is a prominent historic district of Milan, the district also includes part of Corso Sempione, a large avenue leading to Porta Sempione from the northwest
5.
Civic Aquarium of Milan
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The Civic Aquarium of Milan is an aquarium in Milan, Italy, and the third oldest aquarium in Europe. Built in 1905 on the occasion of the Milan Worlds fair, the facade of the aquarium includes a Neptune statue, the Roman god of water and the sea, created by sculptor Oreste Labò. The aquarium library, which is open to the public, has one of Italy’s most prestigious collection of marine biology publications, media related to Civic Aquarium of Milan at Wikimedia Commons
6.
Arman
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Arman was a French-born American artist. Born Armand Fernandez in Nice, France, Arman was a painter who moved from using objects for the ink or paint traces they leave to using them as the painting itself and he is best known for his accumulations and destruction/recomposition of objects. Armans father, Antonio Fernandez, a dealer from Nice, was also an amateur artist, photographer. From his father, Arman learned oil painting and photography, after receiving his bachelors degree in philosophy and mathematics in 1946, Arman began studying at the École Nationale des Arts Décoratifs in Nice. He also started judo at a school in Nice where he met Yves Klein. The trio bonded closely on a subsequent hitch-hiking tour around Europe, completing his studies in 1949, Arman enrolled as a student at the École du Louvre in Paris, where he concentrated on the study of archaeology and oriental art. In 1951, he became a teacher at the Bushido Kai Judo Club in Madrid, during this time he also served in the French military, completing his tour of duty as a medical orderly during the Indo-China War. Early on, it was apparent that Armans concept of the accumulation of vast quantities of the objects was to remain a significant component of his art. Ironically, he had focused more attention on his abstract paintings. Only when he witnessed viewer reaction to his first accumulation in 1959 did he fully recognize the power of such art, in 1962, he began welding together accumulations of the same kinds of metal objects, such as axes. Inspired by an exhibition for the German Dadaist Kurt Schwitters in 1954, Arman began working on Cachets, at his third solo exhibition held in Pariss Galerie Iris Clert in 1958, Arman showed some of his first 2D accumulations he called cachets. These stamps on paper and fabric proved a success and provided an important change of course for the artists career. At the time, he was signing with his first name as an homage to Van Gogh, and, thus, in 1957, Arman chose to change his name from Armand to Arman. On January 31,1973, upon becoming a citizen of the United States, he took the American civil name, nevertheless, he continued to use Arman as his public persona. From 1959 to 1962, Arman developed his most recognizable style, accumulations were collections of common and identical objects which he arranged in polyester castings or within Plexiglas cases. His first welded accumulations were created in 1962, the Poubelles were collections of strewn refuse. In 1960, he filled the Galerie Iris Clert in Paris with garbage and these works began to garner the attention of the European art community. Joined later by Cesar, Mimmo Rotella, Niki de Saint Phalle, and Christo and they were reassessing the concept of art and the artist for a 20th-century consumer society by reasserting the humanistic ideals in the face of industrial expansion
7.
Francesco Barzaghi
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Francesco Barzaghi was an Italian sculptor. Born in Milan, he had his training in the studios of Antonio Tantardini. He enrolled in the Accademia di Brera, among his colleagues was Vincenzo Vela. Barzaghi completed a number of monuments, including the bronze equestrian statued dedicated to Napoleon III and he also made monuments to Luciano Manara and Garibaldi
8.
Giorgio de Chirico
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Giorgio de Chirico was an Italian artist and writer. In the years before World War I, he founded the scuola metafisica art movement, after 1919, he became interested in traditional painting techniques, and worked in a neoclassical or neo-Baroque style, while frequently revisiting the metaphysical themes of his earlier work. De Chirico was born in Volos, Greece, to a Genoan mother and he entered the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich, where he studied under Max Klinger and read the writings of the philosophers Nietzsche, Arthur Schopenhauer and Otto Weininger. There, he studied the works of Arnold Böcklin. He returned to Italy in the summer of 1909 and spent six months in Milan and he also painted The Enigma of the Oracle while in Florence. In July 1911 he spent a few days in Turin on his way to Paris, De Chirico was profoundly moved by what he called the metaphysical aspect of Turin, especially the architecture of its archways and piazzas. De Chirico moved to Paris in July 1911, where he joined his brother Andrea. Through his brother he met Pierre Laprade, a member of the jury at the Salon dAutomne, where he exhibited three of his works, Enigma of the Oracle, Enigma of an Afternoon and Self-Portrait. During 1913 he exhibited paintings at the Salon des Indépendants and Salon d’Automne, his work was noticed by Pablo Picasso and Guillaume Apollinaire, in 1914, through Apollinaire, he met the art dealer Paul Guillaume, with whom he signed a contract for his artistic output. At the outbreak of World War I, he returned to Italy, upon his arrival in May 1915, he enlisted in the army, but he was considered unfit for work and assigned to the hospital at Ferrara. Here he met with Carlo Carrà and together founded the pittura metafisica movement. He continued to paint, and in 1918, he transferred to Rome, starting from 1918, his work was exhibited extensively in Europe. De Chirico is best known for the paintings he produced between 1909 and 1919, his period, which are characterized by haunted, brooding moods evoked by their images. In autumn,1919, De Chirico published an article in Valori Plastici entitled The Return of Craftsmanship, in which he advocated a return to traditional methods and iconography. In the early 1920s, the Surrealist writer André Breton discovered one of De Chiricos metaphysical paintings on display in Guillaumes Paris gallery, numerous young artists who were similarly affected by De Chiricos imagery became the core of the Paris Surrealist group centered around Breton. In 1924 De Chirico visited Paris and was accepted into the group, De Chirico met and married his first wife, the Russian ballerina Raissa Gurievich in 1925, and together they moved to Paris. His relationship with the Surrealists grew increasingly contentious, as they publicly disparaged his new work, by 1926 he had come to them as cretinous. They soon parted ways in acrimony, in 1928 he held his first exhibition in New York City and shortly afterwards, London
9.
Expo 2015
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Expo 2015 was a universal exposition hosted by Milan, Italy. It opened on May 1 at 10,00 CEST and closed on October 31, Milan hosted an exposition for the second time, the first was the 1906 Milan International. The Bureau International des Expositions general assembly in Paris decided in favour of Milan on March 31,2008, on November 23,2010, the event was announced by the BIE. Expo 2015s theme was Feeding the Planet, Energy for Life, Expo 2015s theme was Feeding the Planet, Energy for Life, encompassing technology, innovation, culture, traditions and creativity and how they relate to food and diet. Futuristic concerns about food security are compounded by forecasts of increasing uncertainty about the quantity of food which will be available globally.1 km2 and it is adjacent to the Fiera Milano fairgrounds, designed by Massimiliano Fuksas, which may be considered the cornerstone of the areas urban redevelopment. It had long been an industrial zone before its conversion to logistical and municipal services, the fairgrounds and the Expo site were connected by a pedestrian bridge adjacent to the Rho-Pero high-speed rail station. Originally-planned bicycle paths were never constructed, and several motorways were built to access to the site. The area is oblong in shape with a length of nearly 3 km. The design of pools and waterways in and around the Expo area was an element of primary importance and it was designed by a committee of four architects, Stefano Boeri, Richard Burdett, Mark Rylander and Jacques Herzog. The main idea was to trace two avenues, representing the ancient Roman layout of a cardo and a decumanus, the initial idea of a classical site composed of avenues and pavilions was replaced by the idea of a light Expo composed of exhibition areas arranged across the main boulevard. The exhibition areas, identical for each country, recreated the typical cycle of each nation from production to consumption. The centre of the avenue was occupied by a table in front of the country pavilions extending the length of the site, the area would be covered by large, tent-like structures to convey the idea of a global marketplace. A second idea was to build greenhouses on the site to reproduce the earth’s principal biomes. These would be thematic pavilions for the cultivation and production of foodstuffs used in the individual country pavilions. Each country would have a dedicated greenhouse in its exhibition area, in this version of the site, water remained an important element but was shifted toward the exterior as a large, navigable canal surrounding the site. A large lake was included in the design. The master plan for Expo 2015, coordinated by Stefano Boeri, was delivered to the BIE during its April 30,2010 registration ceremony in Paris, changes included, Each exhibiting country could rent areas ranging from 400 to 6,000 m2. Buildable areas were reduced to 30 percent of the assigned to each exhibitor
10.
Wireless
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Wireless communication, or sometimes simply wireless, is the transfer of information or power between two or more points that are not connected by an electrical conductor. The most common wireless technologies use radio waves, with radio waves distances can be short, such as a few meters for television or as far as thousands or even millions of kilometers for deep-space radio communications. It encompasses various types of fixed, mobile, and portable applications, including radios, cellular telephones, personal digital assistants. Somewhat less common methods of achieving wireless communications include the use of other wireless technologies, such as light, magnetic. The term wireless has been used twice in history, with slightly different meaning. It was initially used from about 1890 for the first radio transmitting and receiving technology, as in wireless telegraphy and this became its primary usage in the 2000s, due to the advent of technologies such as LTE, LTE-Advanced, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. Wireless operations permit services, such as communications, that are impossible or impractical to implement with the use of wires. The term is used in the telecommunications industry to refer to telecommunications systems which use some form of energy to transfer information without the use of wires. Information is transferred in this manner over both short and long distances, similar to free-space optical communication, the photophone also required a clear line of sight between its transmitter and its receiver. It would be decades before the photophones principles found their first practical applications in military communications. Marconi soon developed a system that was transmitting signals way beyond distances anyone could have predicted, guglielmo Marconi and Karl Ferdinand Braun were awarded the 1909 Nobel Prize for Physics for their contribution to this form of wireless telegraphy. Free space means the light travel through the open air or outer space. This contrasts with other technologies that use light beams traveling through transmission lines such as optical fiber or dielectric light pipes. The technology is useful where physical connections are due to high costs or other considerations. Sonic, especially ultrasonic short range communication involves the transmission and reception of sound, electromagnetic induction has short range communication and power. This has been used in situations such as pacemakers, as well as for short-range Rfid tags. Common examples of wireless equipment include, Infrared and ultrasonic remote control devices Professional LMR and SMR typically used by business, industrial, consumer Two-way radio including FRS Family Radio Service, GMRS and Citizens band radios. Consumer and professional Marine VHF radios, airband and radio navigation equipment used by aviators and air traffic control Cellular telephones and pagers, provide connectivity for portable and mobile applications, both personal and business
11.
Milan Cathedral
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Milan Cathedral is the cathedral church of Milan, Italy. Dedicated to St Mary of the Nativity, it is the seat of the Archbishop of Milan, the Gothic cathedral took nearly six centuries to complete. It is the largest church in Italy and the fifth largest in the world, the first cathedral, the new basilica dedicated to St Thecla, was completed by 355. It seems to share, on a smaller scale, the plan of the contemporaneous church recently rediscovered beneath Tower Hill in London. An adjoining basilica was erected in 836, the old octagonal baptistery, the Battistero Paleocristiano, dates to 335 and still can be visited under the Milan Cathedral. When a fire damaged the cathedral and basilica in 1075, they were rebuilt as the Duomo, in 1386, Archbishop Antonio da Saluzzo began construction of the cathedral. Before actual work began, three buildings were demolished, the palace of the Archbishop, the Ordinari Palace and the Baptistry of St. Stephen at the Spring. Maria Maggiore was exploited as a stone quarry, enthusiasm for the immense new building soon spread among the population, and the shrewd Gian Galeazzo, together with his cousin the archbishop, collected large donations for the work-in-progress. The construction program was strictly regulated under the Fabbrica del Duomo, Orsenigo initially planned to build the cathedral from brick in Lombard Gothic style. Visconti had ambitions to follow the newest trends in European architecture, in 1389, a French chief engineer, Nicolas de Bonaventure, was appointed, adding to the church its Rayonnant Gothic, a French style not typical for Italy. He decided that the structure should be panelled with marble. Galeazzo gave the Fabbrica del Duomo exclusive use of the marble from the Candoglia quarry and exempted it from taxes. Ten years later another French architect, Jean Mignot, was called from Paris to judge and improve upon the work done, Mignot declared all the work done up till then as in pericolo di ruina, as it had been done sine scienzia. In the following years Mignots forecasts proved untrue, but they spurred Galeazzos engineers to improve their instruments, work proceeded quickly, and at the death of Gian Galeazzo in 1402, almost half the cathedral was complete. John the Evangelist, by Cristoforo de Mottis, and Saint Eligius and San John of Damascus, in 1452, under Francesco Sforza, the nave and the aisles were completed up to the sixth bay. The exterior long remained without any decoration, except for the Guglietto dellAmadeo and this is a Renaissance masterwork which nevertheless harmonized well with the general Gothic appearance of the church. During the subsequent Spanish domination, the new church proved usable, even though the interior remained unfinished, and some bays of the nave. In 1552 Giacomo Antegnati was commissioned to build an organ for the north side of the choir
12.
Basilica of Sant'Ambrogio
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The Basilica of SantAmbrogio is a church in Milan, northern Italy. One of the most ancient churches in Milan, it was built by St. Ambrose in 379–386, the first name of the church was in fact Basilica Martyrum. When St. Ambrose arrived in Milan, the churches were in conflict with each other over the conflict between Arianism and the Nicene Creed as well as numerous local issues. He was firmly in support of the Nicene side of the conflict and he did this through both preaching and construction. He built three or four churches surrounding the city, Basilica Apostolorum, Basilica Virginum, and Basilica Martyrum, a fourth church, Basilica Salvatoris is attributed to him as well, but may not actually be from the 4th century. These churches were dedicated with anti-Arian language and as symbols of the wealth, initially, the basilica was outside the city of Milan, but over the following centuries, the city grew up around it. It became a center of life and a community of canons developed in the church. In 789, a monastery was established within the basilica grounds, the canons, however, retained their own community and identity instead of fading away. Two, separate, distinct religious communities shared the basilica, in the 11th century, the canons adopted orders and became Canons Regular. There were now two separate monastic orders following different rules living in the basilica, the canons were in the northern building, the cloister of the canons, while the monks were in the two southern buildings. The two towers symbolize the division in the basilica, the 9th century Torre dei Monaci tower was used by the monks to call the faithful to the monks mass. The monks supported themselves, partly, from the offerings given after mass, however, the canons did not have a bell tower and were not allowed to ring bells until they finished their own tower in the 12th Century. The monastery and church became a landholder in northern Italy. On 4 August 1528 it was the so-called Peace of St. Ambrose, in 1492 the Benedictines commissioned Donato Bramante, structural architect of St. Peters Basilica, to renovate the new rectory. In August 1943 the Allied bombings heavily damaged the basilica, in particular the apse, as a result of this a new building, painted in pink, was constructed to house the Abbotts offices and the museum. The church is built in brickwork of different origins and colors, with parts of stone. The current Romanesque church was begun around 1080, the nave dates to about 1128 and the rib vaults of the nave are from about 1140. The altar occupies about the place as in the time of St. Ambrose
Media related to Parco Sempione (Milan) at Wikimedia Commons
