Milan, Italian Milano, city, capital of Milano province (Provincia) and of the region (regione) of Lombardy (Lombardia), northern Italy. It is the leading financial center and the most prosperous manufacturing and commercial city in Italy.
The destiny of Milan, like that of many of the world’s great cities, remains something of a historical paradox. There are powerful factors supporting the argument that Milan should have become the capital of a unified Italy, and this is the belief of many Milanese, in spite of the fact that the unity of Italy was actually born in Turin, rather than in Milan, in 1870. Milan, nevertheless, is the most industrious and vital city to have achieved prominence since the ancient land of Italy became aware of itself as a modern nation-state. Area city, 70 square miles (182 square km); province, 765 square miles (1,980 square km). Pop. (2001) city, 1,256,211; province, 3,707,210; (2007 est.) city, 1,303,437; province, 3,884,481.