The gate
A "Porta Lodovica", roughly facing the same direction as that of the Spanish walls of Milan, was already part of the city's Medieval walls. It was located by the postern of Saint Euphemia. The gate was named after Ludovico Sforza because he had the idea of enlarging the former "Porta di Sant'Eufemia" to facilitate access to the Santa Maria presso San Celso sanctuary, which was visited by many pilgrims. An inscription on the medieval Porta Lodovica read: "Ludovico Maria Sforza perché quel religioso acorrere dei suoi cittadini alla casa di Maria, madre di Dio fosse più comodo e breve questa porta, Lodovica dal suo nome con la sposa Beatrice aperse". [1]
A postern is a secondary door or gate in a fortification such as a city wall or castle curtain wall. Posterns were often located in a concealed location which allowed the occupants to come and go inconspicuously. In the event of a siege, a postern could act as a sally port, allowing defenders to make a sortie on the besiegers.
Santa Maria dei Miracoli presso San Celso is a church and a sanctuary in Milan, Lombardy, northern Italy.
When the medieval walls were replaced by the Spanish walls, the old Porta Lodovica was demolished and the new one was built.
In the late 19th century, when new districts developed in the periphery of Milan, several gates and several traits of the city walls were demolished to make traffic easier. Porta Lodovica and Porta Ticinese followed this destiny in 1905.
Porta Ticinese is a former city gate of Milan, Italy. The gate, facing south-west, was first created with the Spanish walls of the city, in the 16th century, but the original structure was later demolished and replaced in the early 19th century. The name "Porta Ticinese" is used both to refer to the gate proper and to the surrounding district, part of the Zone 6 administrative division. In the same district there is also a homonymous medieval gate, although in common speech the name "Porta Ticinese" is usually assumed to refer to the 19th century gate.
Sforza Castle is in Milan, northern Italy. It was built in the 15th century by Francesco Sforza, Duke of Milan, on the remnants of a 14th-century fortification. 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 city's museums and art collections.
Agnese del Maino was a Milanese noblewoman and the mistress of Filippo Maria Visconti, the last legitimate Duke of Milan of the Visconti dynasty. Agnese was the mother of Bianca Maria Visconti, who succeeded to the title of Duchess of Milan in 1450, despite her illegitimacy.
Corso Buenos Aires is a major street in north-eastern Milan, Italy. With over 350 shops and outlets, it features the highest concentration of clothing stores in Europe. The architecture of the area is mostly late 19th- and 20th-century style; the street and its surroundings are pointed with several neo-classical and art nouveau buildings.
Porta Tenaglia was one of the gates of the old Spanish walls of Milan, Italy. It owes its name to the so-called "Tenaglia" (pincer), a fortified walls system that embraced the north-west side of the Sforza Castle. The gate was demolished in the 16th century. Today, the phrase "Porta Tenaglia" is still in use to refer to the district ("quartiere") where the gate used to be, including the Piazzale Biancamano square and part of the Simplon Park. The Porta Tenaglia neighbourhood is part of the Zone 1 district.
Porta Venezia is one of the historical gates of the city of Milan, Italy. In its present form, the gate dates back to the 19th century; nevertheless, its origins can be traced back to the Medieval and even the Roman walls of the city.
Porta Monforte is a district ("quartiere") of Milan, Italy, located within the Zone 3 administrative division. It is named after the eponymous city gate, which was added in the 1890s to the existing Spanish walls of the city. The gate was meant to serve as a customs office; the tax booths were designed by Luigi Tormenti and completed in 1889. While the addition of the Monforte city gate was intended to absorb part of the traffic going through Porta Venezia and Porta Vittoria, Porta Monforte remained a minor gate. The gate itself has since been demolished; it was located in what is now Piazza del Tricolore.
Porta Vittoria was a city gate in the Spanish walls of Milan, Italy. While the walls and the gate have been demolished, the name "Porta Vittoria" has remained to refer to the district ("quartiere") where the gate used to be. This district is part of the Zone 4 administrative division of Milan.
Porta Romana is a former city gate of Milan, Italy. In its present form, the gate dates back to the 16th century Spanish walls of Milan; its origins can be traced further back to the Roman walls of the city, which had a corresponding "Roman Gate" roughly in the same area. Porta Romana was the first and the main imperial entrance of the entire city of Milan, as it was the starting point of the road leading to Ancient Rome.
Porta Vigentina was one of the city gates in the Spanish walls of Milan, Italy; the gate has since been demolished, but the phrase "Porta Vigentina" is still used to refer to the district ("quartiere") where the gate used to be. The area is part of the Zone 5 administrative division of Milan.
Morivione is a district ("quartiere") of the city of Milan, Italy, part of the Zone 5 administrative division, located south of the city centre. It is informally defined as the area enclosed within four streets, namely Viale Toscana, Via Ripamonti, Via Antonini and Via Bazzi. The district is especially associated to the celebrations in honour of Saint George, where Milanese people would traditionally drink milk and eat a kind of sweet called pan de mein.
Porta Genova is a neighborhood ("quartiere") of Milan, Italy, located within the Zone 6 administrative division. The name "Porta Genova" means "Genoa gate"; the district is named after a city gate of the old Spanish Walls of Milan, namely that leading to Genoa, that used to be in what is now Piazza Cantore. The only remnants of the old gate are the small buildings that used to house the customs offices, which replaced the Spanish gate in the 19th Century.
Porta Magenta, formerly known as Porta Vercellina, was one of the city gates of Milan, Italy. The gate was established in the 9th century, with the Roman walls of the city; it was moved with the medieval and Spanish walls, and was finally demolished in the 19th century. The phrase "Porta Magenta" is now used to refer to the district ("quartiere") where the gate used to be; the district is part of the Zone 7 administrative division of Milan, west of the city centre.
Porta Volta is a former city gate of Milan, Italy, part of the Spanish walls. Nowadays, the name "Porta Volta" is most commonly used to refer to the surrounding district ("quartiere"), part of the Zone 8 administrative division of the city.
The city Milan, Italy, has had three different systems of defending walls. The oldest, Roman walls were developed in two stages, the first in the Republican and the second in the Imperial era. The second wall system was realized in the Middle Ages, after the destruction of the city by Frederick I Barbarossa. Finally, the latest wall system was built by the Spanish rulers. While very little remains of these walls, their structure is clearly reflected in the urbanistic layout of the city. In particular, modern Milan has two roughly circular rings of streets, namely the "Cerchia dei Navigli" and the "Cerchia dei Bastioni", which essentially correspond to the Medieval and Spanish walls, respectively.
Milan, capital of the region of Lombardy, Italy, has 23 railway stations in use today; 17 are managed by RFI, while the remaining 6 are operated by FERROVIENORD. 4 more stations are currently in the planning stage for the city area: Canottieri, Dergano, Tibaldi and Zama.
The Zone 1 of Milan is one of the 9 administrative zones of Milan, Italy.
Viale Pasubio is an avenue in Milan, Italy. It is part of the circonvallazione interna ring road, a major traffic route that runs along the former Spanish walls of Milan. The street is 350 m long and connects two former city gates, namely Porta Garibaldi and Porta Volta. The street was formerly known as "Viale di Porta Garibaldi", and was renamed after World War I in remembrance of the fightings on the Pasubio massif (Dolomites) that occurred during the war.
The Visconti Park or Parco Visconteo is an area in Lombardy, northern Italy, between Pavia and Certosa di Pavia of about 2,200 hectares (22 km2) corresponding to what was once the private park of the Visconti family, lords and dukes of Milan.
