Editing Lombardy (section)

==History==

===Prehistory and antiquity===
{{Further|Cisalpine Gaul}}
[[File:Scena di duello R6 - Foppe - Nadro (Foto Luca Giarelli).jpg|thumb|A couple in duel with a "symbol" in the middle depicted in the [[Rock Drawings in Valcamonica]]. The Rock Drawings in Valcamonica are the largest collections of prehistoric [[petroglyph]]s in the world.<ref name="unesco2"/>]]

From archaeological findings of ceramics, arrows, axes, and carved stones, the area of current-day Lombardy has been settled at least since the second millennium BC. Well-preserved [[Rock Drawings in Valcamonica|rock drawings]] left by ancient [[Camuni]] in the [[Valcamonica]] depicting animals, people, and symbols were made over 8,000 years before the [[Iron Age]],<ref name="adorno">{{cite book|last= Adorno|first= Piero|title=L'arte italiana|year= 1992|publisher= D'Anna|location= Firenze|volume=1|chapter=Mesolitico e Neolitico|page=16|language=it}} {{No ISBN}}</ref> based on about 300,000 records.<ref name=archeointro>{{cite web|url=http://www.archeocamuni.it/arte_rupestre.html|title=Introduzione all'arte rupestre della Valcamonica |website=Archeocamuni.it|access-date=11 May 2009|language=it}}</ref>

The many artefacts found in a [[necropolis]] near [[Lake Maggiore]] and the [[Ticino (river)|Ticino]] demonstrate the presence of the [[Golasecca]] [[Bronze Age]] culture that prospered in western Lombardy between the ninth and the 4th centuries BC. In the following centuries, Lombardy was inhabited by different peoples; the [[Etruscan civilization|Etruscans]] founded the city of [[Mantua]]<ref>{{cite book|last=Fagles|first=Robert|title=The Aeneid|year=2006|publisher=Penguin Group|isbn=0-670-03803-2}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Lucchini|first=Daniele|title=Rise and fall of a capital. The history of Mantua in the words of who wrote about it|year=2013|publisher=Finisterrae|isbn=978-1-291-78388-9}}</ref> and spread the use of writing. It was the seat of the Celtic [[Canegrate culture]] starting from the 13th century BC, and later of the Celtic [[Golasecca culture]]. From the 5th century BC, the area was invaded by more [[Celts|Celtic]] [[Gauls|Gallic]] tribes coming from north of the Alps. These people settled in several cities including Milan and extended their rule to the [[Adriatic Sea]]. Celtic development was halted by the [[Ancient Rome|Roman]] expansion in the Po Valley from the 3rd century BC. After centuries of struggle, at the end of the 2nd century B.C.,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.capiate.org/SitoEN/comata.htm|title=The Gallia Comata |access-date=31 January 2024|language=it}}</ref> the entirety of modern-day Lombardy became a Roman province called [[Gallia Cisalpina]]—"[[Gaul]] on the inner side (with respect to Rome) of the [[Alps]]".

The Roman culture and language overwhelmed the former civilisation in the following years, and Lombardy became one of the most developed and richest areas of Italy with the construction of roads and the development of agriculture and trade. Important figures were born here, such as [[Pliny the Elder]] (in [[Como]]) and [[Virgil]] (in Mantua). In [[late antiquity]] the strategic role of Lombardy was emphasised by the move of the capital of the [[Western Roman Empire|Western Empire]] to [[Mediolanum]] (Milan). Here, in 313 AD, Roman Emperor [[Constantine I|Constantine]] issued the famous ''[[Edict of Milan]]'', which gave freedom of confession to all religions within the Roman Empire.

===Kingdom of the Lombards===
{{Further|Lombards|Kingdom of the Lombards}}

[[File:Kingdom of Italy (HRE) - 962.png|thumbnail|The [[Kingdom of Italy (Holy Roman Empire)|Kingdom of Italy]] within the [[Holy Roman Empire]] in 962,]]

During and after the fall of the Western Empire, Lombardy heavily suffered from destruction brought about by a series of invasions by tribal peoples. After 540, [[Pavia]] became the permanent capital of the [[Ostrogothic Kingdom]], the fixed site of the court and the royal treasury.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.monasteriimperialipavia.it/pavia-citta-regia/?lang=en|title=Pavia Royal town|work=Monasteri Imperiali Pavia|access-date=29 July 2022|language=it}}</ref> The last and most effective invasion was that of the Germanic [[Lombards]] or Longobards, whose nation migrated to the region from the [[Carpathian basin]] in fear of the conquering [[Pannonian Avars]] in 568. The Lombards' long-lasting reign, with its capital in [[Pavia]], gave the current name to the region. There was a close relationship between the [[Franks|Frankish]], [[Duchy of Bavaria|Bavarian]] and Lombard nobility for many centuries.

After the initial struggles, relationships between the Lombard people and the [[Gallo-Roman culture|Gallo-Roman peoples]]<ref>[[#Pellegrini|Pellegrini]]: "L'Italia settentrionale nei secoli del tardo impero ed in quelli successivi sino al 1000 (forse anche dopo) risulta strettamente collegata con la Gallia sul piano politico e linguistico; si può parlare senza tema di errore di un'ampia 'Galloromania' che include non soltanto la Rezia ma anche la Cisalpina con buona parte del Veneto." [Northern Italy in the centuries of the Late Empire and in the following ones up to 1000 (maybe even later) is closely connected with Gaul on a political and linguistic level; one can speak without fear of error of a broad 'Galloromania' which includes not only Rhaetia but also the Cisalpine with a good part of Veneto.]</ref> improved. The Lombard language and culture was integrated with the Latin culture, leaving evidence in many names, the legal code and laws. The Lombards became intermixed with the [[Roman people|Roman population]] owing to their relatively smaller number.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.eupedia.com/genetics/italian_dna.shtml |title=Genetic History of the Italians |work=Eupedia |author =Maciamo Hay|date=July 2013 |access-date=22 January 2019}}</ref> The end of Lombard rule came in 774, when the Frankish king [[Charlemagne]] [[Siege of Pavia (773–774)|conquered Pavia]], deposed [[Desiderius]] the last Lombard king, and annexed the [[The Kingdom of the Lombards|Kingdom of Italy]]—mostly northern and central present-day Italy—to his newly established [[Holy Roman Empire]]. [[Charlemagne]] was crowned by the Pope on 25 December 800. The former Lombard dukes and nobles were replaced by other German vassals, prince-bishops and marquises. The entire northern part of the Italian peninsula continued to be called "Lombardy" and its population "Lombards" throughout the following centuries.

===Communes and the Empire===
[[File:San michele maggiore.JPG|thumb|left|upright|[[San Michele Maggiore, Pavia]], where almost all the [[King of Italy|kings of Italy]] were crowned up to [[Frederick I, Holy Roman Emperor|Frederick Barbarossa]]]]

In the 10th century, Lombardy, although formally under the rule of the Holy Roman Empire, was included in the [[Kingdom of Italy (Holy Roman Empire)|kingdom of Italy]], of which [[Pavia]] remained the capital until 1024.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/regno-italico_(Enciclopedia-Italiana)|title=ITALICO, REGNO in "Enciclopedia Italiana"|language=it|access-date=14 February 2023}}</ref> Starting gradually in the late-11th century, Lombardy became divided into many small, autonomous city-states, the [[medieval communes]]. Also in the 11th century, the region's economy underwent a significant boom due to improved trading, sartorial manufacturing of silk and wool, and agricultural conditions; arms manufacturing for the purpose of defensive army development, by the German imperial divisions of ''Guelphs'' (''Welfen'') defending the Pope and ''Ghibellins'' (''Wibellingen'') defending the Emperor, became a significant factor. As in other areas of Italy, this led to a growing self-acknowledgement of the cities, whose increasing wealth made them able to defy the traditional feudal supreme power that was represented by the German emperors and their local legates. 
[[File:Member Cities of the Lombard Leagues.png|thumbnail|Member cities of the first and second [[Lombard League]]]]

This process peaked in the 12th and 13th centuries, when [[Lombard League]]s formed by allied cities of Lombardy, usually led by Milan, defeated the [[Hohenstaufen]] Emperor [[Frederick Barbarossa|Frederick I]], at [[Battle of Legnano|Legnano]] but not his grandson [[Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor|Frederick II]] at [[Battle of Cortenuova]]. Although having the military purpose as preponderant, the Lombard League also had its own stable government, considered one of the first examples of [[confederation]] in Europe.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/lega-lombarda_(Federiciana)/|title=Lega Lombarda|publisher=[[Treccani]]|access-date=31 August 2023|language=it}}</ref> Subsequently, among the local city-states, a process of consolidation took place, and by the end of the 14th century, two ''[[signoria]]'' emerged as rival [[hegemon]]s in Lombardy; [[Duchy of Milan|Milan]] and [[Duchy of Mantua|Mantua]].

===Renaissance duchies of Milan and Mantua===
{{Further|Duchy of Milan|Duchy of Mantua}}
[[File:Visconti XIV century.svg|thumb|The [[Visconti of Milan|Viscontis']] dominions in the 14th century, before the foundation of the [[Duchy of Milan]]]]

In the 15th century, the [[Duchy of Milan]] was one of the wealthiest states during the [[Renaissance]].<ref>{{Cite web|title=Milan – History|url=https://www.britannica.com/place/Milan-Italy|access-date=17 December 2020|website=Encyclopedia Britannica}}</ref> Milan and Mantua became centres of the [[Renaissance]], whose culture with people such as [[Leonardo da Vinci]] and [[Andrea Mantegna]], and works of art such as da Vinci's ''[[The Last Supper (Leonardo)|The Last Supper]]'' were highly regarded. The enterprising class of the communes extended its trade and banking activities well into northern Europe; the metonym "Lombard" designated a merchant or banker from northern Italy, for example [[Lombard Street, London]]. 

The name "Lombardy" came to denote the whole of northern Italy until the 15th century and sometimes later.<ref>{{cite book|first=Leandro|last=Alberti|title=Descrittione di tutta Italia di F. Leandro Alberti bolognese, nella quale si contiene il sito di essa, l'origine & le signorie delle città & de i castelli...|publisher=Giouan Maria Bonelli|location=Venice|year=1553|language=it}} {{No ISBN}}</ref> From the 14th century onward, the instability created by the internal and external struggles ended in the creation of noble ''seigniories'', the most significant of whom were the [[Visconti of Milan|Viscontis]] (later [[House of Sforza|Sforzas]]) in Milan and of the [[House of Gonzaga|Gonzagas]] in Mantua. This wealth, however, attracted the now-more-organised armies of national powers such as France and Austria, which waged a lengthy battle for Lombardy in the late 15th to early 16th centuries.

===Late-Middle Ages, Renaissance and Enlightenment===
[[Image:1807KingdomItaly.jpg|thumb|The [[Kingdom of Italy (Napoleonic)|Napoleonic Kingdom of Italy]] in 1807, having Milan as its capital, with [[Istria]] and [[Dalmatia]], shown in yellow]]

After the [[Battle of Pavia]], the Duchy of Milan became a possession of the [[Habsburgs]] of Spain; the new rulers did little to improve the economy of Lombardy, instead imposing a growing series of taxes to support their lengthy series of European wars. The eastern part of modern-day Lombardy, including the cities [[Bergamo]] and [[Brescia]], was controlled by the [[Republic of Venice]], which had begun to extend its influence in the area from the 14th century onwards. Between the mid-15th century and the [[battle of Marignano]] in 1515, the northern part of east Lombardy from [[Airolo]] to [[Chiasso]] (modern [[Ticino]]), and the [[Valtellina]] valley came under possession of the [[Old Swiss Confederacy]].

[[1629–1631 Italian plague|Pestilence]]s like that of 1628–1630,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.storiadimilano.it/Personaggi/Milanesi%20illustri/mora.htm|title=Storia di Milano - Gian Giacomo Mora|website=Storiadimilano.it|access-date=6 February 2024|language=it}}</ref> which [[Alessandro Manzoni]] described in his ''[[The Betrothed (Manzoni novel)|I Promessi Sposi]]'', and the general decline of Italy's economy in the 17th and 18th centuries halted further development of Lombardy. In 1706 the [[Austrian Empire]] came to power, and introduced some economic and social measures that allowed a degree of recovery to occur.

Austrian rule was interrupted in the late-18th century by the French; under [[Napoleon]], Lombardy became the centre of the [[Cisalpine Republic]] and of the [[Kingdom of Italy (Napoleonic)|Kingdom of Italy]], both of which were [[puppet state]]s of France's [[First French Empire|First Empire]], with Milan as capital and Napoleon as head of state. During this period, Lombardy regained Valtellina from Switzerland.

===Modern era===
{{Further|Kingdom of Lombardy–Venetia|Unification of Italy}}
[[File:5giornatemilano.jpg|thumbnail|The [[Five Days of Milan]], 1848]]

The restoration of Austrian rule in 1815 as the [[Kingdom of Lombardy–Venetia]] was characterised by a struggle with the new ideals introduced by the Napoleonic era. Lombardy was then an important centre of the ''[[Risorgimento]]'', with the [[Five Days of Milan]] in March 1848, the [[Ten Days of Brescia]] in 1849, the [[Belfiore martyrs]] in Mantua in the years between 1851 and 1853. The annexation of Lombardy to the [[Kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia]] occurred following the [[Second Italian War of Independence]] in 1859, a war during which Lombardy was the main theatre of battle (battles of [[Battle of Montebello (1859)|Montebello]], [[Battle of Palestro|Palestro]], [[Battle of Magenta|Magenta]], [[Battle of Solferino|Solferino]] and [[Battle of San Fermo|San Fermo]]). 

In 1861, with the [[proclamation of the Kingdom of Italy]], Lombardy became part of the modern Italian state, except for the central-eastern part of the [[province of Mantua]] which was [[Plebiscite of Veneto of 1866|annexed in 1866]] after the [[Third Italian War of Independence]].<ref>Royal Decree 4 November 1866 no. 3300 and Law 18 July 1867 no. 3841</ref> Regarding the battle of Solferino, it was during this conflict that [[Henry Dunant]] took the initiative to create the [[Red Cross]]. After the annexation of Mantua, Lombardy achieved its present-day territorial shape by adding the [[Oltrepò Pavese]], formerly the southern part of the [[Province of Novara]], to the [[Province of Pavia]].

===Contemporary era===
[[File:01 partigiani a milano1.jpg|thumb|[[Italian resistance movement|Italian partisans]] in Milan during the [[liberation of Italy]], April 1945]]
[[File:Milano, Centro Direzionale 01.jpg|thumb|Skyscrapers and large buildings in the 1960s, such as that of the [[Centro Direzionale di Milano]], iconographically represent the [[Italian economic miracle]].]]

The Alpine front of [[World War I]] crossed the eastern Lombardy Alpine side, and in the post-war period Milan was the centre of the [[Fasci Italiani di Combattimento|Italian Fasces of Combat]]. Milan then became the [[Gold Medal of Military Valor]] for the [[Italian resistance movement]]<ref>{{cite web|url=https://fondazionefeltrinelli.it/scopri/una-medaglia-una-lapide-e-quattro-atti-di-eroismo-per-la-memoria-pubblica-di-milano/|title=Una medaglia, una lapide e quattro atti di eroismo per la memoria pubblica di Milano|access-date=1 February 2024|language=it}}</ref> during the [[Italian Civil War]] after its liberation from fascism during the [[World War II]], while the partisan resistance spread across the valleys and provinces.

Following the historical borders, in 1948 the administrative region of Lombardy was prefigured as part of the newly formed [[Italian Republic]]. In the years of the [[Italian economic miracle]], Milan was one of the poles of the "industrial triangle" of northern Italy formed by the cities of [[Turin]]-[[Milan]]-[[Genoa]]. The [[Years of Lead (Italy)|Years of Lead]] had wide relevance in Lombardy, with the [[Piazza Fontana bombing]] in Milan in 1969 and the [[Piazza della Loggia bombing]] in [[Brescia]] in 1974.

In the 1980s, Milan became a symbol of the country's economic growth, and a symbol of the economic-financial rampantism of the so-called ''"Milano da bere"'', literally "Milan to be drunk",<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.lastampa.it/redazione/cmsSezioni/cultura/200804articoli/31497girata.asp |title=L'uomo che inventò la Milano da bere |publisher=Lastampa.It |date=4 January 2008 |access-date=25 March 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090914065500/http://www.lastampa.it/redazione/cmsSezioni/cultura/200804articoli/31497girata.asp |archive-date=14 September 2009|language=it}}</ref> while the Milanese socialist group of [[Bettino Craxi]] was in the national government. The city of Milan, in the early 1990s, was the origin of the series of scandals known as ''Tangentopoli'' which emerged from the judicial investigations of the Milanese prosecutor's office known as [[Mani pulite]], which then spread to the rest of the country.

In early 2020, Lombardy was severely affected by the [[COVID-19 pandemic]], in which [[COVID-19 pandemic in Italy|Italy was one of the worst-affected countries]] in Europe. Several towns were quarantined from 22 February after community transmission was documented in Lombardy and [[Veneto]] the previous day. The entirety of Lombardy was placed under lockdown on 8 March,<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.cnbc.com/2020/03/08/italy-announces-quarantine-affecting-quarter-of-population.html|title=Italy announces quarantine affecting quarter of population|date=8 March 2020|website=CNBC}}</ref> followed by all of Italy the following day,<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.cnn.com/2020/03/10/business/italy-lockdown-recession/index.html|title=Italy just locked down the world's 8th biggest economy. A deep recession looms|first=Hanna |last=Ziady|publisher=CNN|date=10 March 2020|access-date=8 February 2024}}</ref> making Italy the first country to implement a nationwide lockdown in response to the epidemic, which the [[World Health Organization]] (WHO) declared a [[pandemic]] on 11 March. The lockdown was extended twice, and the region toughened restrictions on 22 March, banning outdoor exercise and the use of vending machines,<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-51991972|title=Italy's worst-hit region introduces stricter measures|publisher=BBC News|date=22 March 2020|access-date=8 February 2024}}</ref> but from the beginning of May, following a reported decrease in the number of active cases, restrictions were gradually relaxed.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/may/03/anger-as-italy-slowly-emerges-from-long-covid-19-lockdown|title=Anger as Italy slowly emerges from long Covid-19 lockdown &#124; Italy |website=The Guardian|access-date=6 February 2024 }}</ref>