Milano 2008

The Teatro degli Arcimboldi is a theatre and opera house in Milan which was built over a twenty-seven month period in anticipation of the closure and subsequent nearly three-year long renovation of Milan's La Scala opera house in December 2001. It is located 4.5 miles from the city centre in an abandoned Pirelli tire factory, in an area known as Bicocca.

Designed by Vittorio Gregotti working with architects Mario Botta and Elisabetta Fabbri, the fan-shaped 2,375 seat auditorium, created on two levels, was planned to allow for the continuation of La Scala's 2001/2002 opera season and it was inaugurated with a performance of Verdi's La traviata on 19 January 2002.

An unfortunate accident closed the theatre for seventeen days in February 2001, but it re-opened and became the La Scala company's venue until the renovated opera house re-opened on its traditional day, 7 December, in 2004.

Performances of many different types of music are still given at the Arcimboldi.

Milan (Western Lombard language: [miˈlan]; Italian: Milano [miˈlaːno] ( listen)) is the second-largest city in Italy and the capital of Lombardy as well as of the province of Milan. The city proper has a population of about 1.3 million, while its urban area is the 5th largest in EU and the largest in Italy with an estimated population of over 4.3 million. The growth of many suburbs and satellite settlements around the city proper following the economic miracle of 1950s–60s and massive commuting flows suggest that socioeconomic linkages have expanded well beyond the boundaries of its administrative limits and its agglomeration, creating a metropolitan area of 7.4 million population expanded all over the central section of Italy . It has been suggested that the Milan metropolitan area is part of the so-called Blue Banana, the area of Europe with the highest population and industrial density.

Milan was founded by the Insubres, a Celtic people. The city was later captured by the Romans in 222 BC, and later was the capital of the Western Roman Empire from 286 until 402 AD. Milan became one of the most prosperous Italian cities during the High Middle Ages, playing a primary role in the Lombard League. Later Milan became the capital of the Duchy of Milan, being ruled by the Visconti, the Sforza, the Spanish and the Austrians. In 1796, Milan was conquered by the French troops of Napoleon, only to be given again to the Austrian Empire at the Congress of Vienna of 1815. In 1859 the city was eventually annexed to the House of Savoy, and soon started to lead the industrialization process of the new Kingdom of Italy. During World War II, the city was badly affected by Allied bombings, and after German occupation in 1943, Milan became the main center of the Italian resistance movement. In post-war years, Milan enjoyed a prolonged economic boom, attracting large flows of immigrants from Southern Italy. During the past three decades, the city has seen a dramatic rise in the number of international migrants, and today 15.2% of Milan's population is foreign born.