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Milan is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city has 3.26 million inhabitants. Its continuously built-up urban area (whose outer suburbs extend well beyond the boundaries of the administrative metropolitan city and even stretch into the nearby country of Switzerland) is the fourth largest in the EU with 5.27 million inhabitants. According to national sources, the population within the wider Milan metropolitan area (also known as Greater Milan), is estimated between 8.2 million and 12.5 million making it by far the largest metropolitan area in Italy and one of the largest in the EU.

Milan is considered a leading alpha global city, with strengths in the fields of art, chemicals, commerce, design, education, entertainment, fashion, finance, healthcare, media (communication), services, research, and tourism. Its business district hosts Italy’s stock exchange (Italian: Borsa Italiana), and the headquarters of national and international banks and companies. In terms of GDP, Milan is the wealthiest city in Italy, has the third-largest economy among EU cities after Paris and Madrid, and is the wealthiest among EU non-capital cities. Milan is viewed along with Turin as the southernmost part of the Blue Banana urban development corridor (also known as the “European Megalopolis”), and one of the Four Motors for Europe.

The city’s role as a major political center dates back to the late antiquity, when it served as the capital of the Western Roman Empire, while from the 12th century until the 16th century, Milan was one of the largest European cities, and a major trade and commercial center, consequently becoming the capital of the Duchy of Milan, which was one of the greatest political, artistic and fashion forces in the Renaissance. Despite losing much of its political and cultural importance in the early modern period, the city regained its status as a major economic and political center, being considered today as the industrial and financial capital of Italy.

The city has been recognized as one of the world’s four fashion capitals (the others being London, New York, and Paris) thanks to several international events and fairs, including Milan Fashion Week and the Milan Furniture Fair, which are among the world’s biggest in terms of revenue, visitors and growth. It hosted the Universal Exposition in 1906 and 2015. The city hosts numerous cultual institutions, academies, and universities, with 11% of the national total of enrolled students. Milan received 10 million visitors in 2018, with the largest numbers of foreign visitors coming from China, United States, France, and Germany. The tourists are attracted by Milan’s museums and art galleries that include some of the most important collections in the world, including major works by Leonardo da Vinci. The city is served by many luxury hotels and is the fifth-most starred in the world by Michelin Guide. Milan is also home to two of Europe’s most successful football teams, A.C. Milan and Inter Milan, and one of Europe’s main basketball teams, Olimpia Milano. Milan will host the Winter Olympic and Paralympic games for the first time in 2026, together with Cortina d’Ampezzo. Wikipedia

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An image from Milan, Italy

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Ashoro is a town located in Tokachi Subprefecture, Hokkaido, Japan.

As of September 2016, the town has an estimated population of 7,150 and a density of 5.1 persons per km². The total area is 1,408.09 km².

It was the largest municipality in Japan until the merger of Takayama City, Gifu Prefecture on February 1, 2005. Main industries of the town include dairying and farming of sugar beet and wheat.

Lake Onnetō is a major attraction of the town and is a part of Akan National Park.

As of January 31, 2015, the total population of The Town of Ashoro is 7,339, with a total of 3,540 men and 3,799 women. The Town of Ashoro’s population density is 5.09 people per square kilometer. The county of Ashoro’s, Ashoro-gun, population is 9,692 with a population density of 4.81per square km. Like many communities in the Tokachi prefecture, the Town of Ashoro has seen a decline in population. The 1999 census concluded there were 9,409 people living in Ashoro. The total area is 1,408.09 km²Ashoro is located in the northeastern part of the Tokachi. Kushiro and Shiranuka is to the east and to the south are Honebestu and Obihiro. Kamishiro is to the west and to the north is Oketo, Rikubestu, and Tsubetsu. Ashoro is Ashoro consists of rolling foothills and is nestled at the base of Mount Meakan. Ashoro-gun is 66.5 km wide and 48.2 km long and is 1,408.09K m². Ashoro is considered a wide town. 83 percent of the town’s land is forested. Ashoro is influenced by the Tokachi inland climate; temperature differences are large with less precipitation but have many sunny days. On average Ashoro receives 846.5 mm of rain with August being the wettest month, 151 mm of precipitation, and February being the dries, 4.5 mm of precipitation. On average temperatures vary from 23.2 degrees Celsius in August and dropping to -8 in January. Wikipedia

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An image from Ashoro-cho Hokkaido Japan

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Lombardy is one of the twenty administrative regions of Italy. It has an extent of 23,844 km² (9,206 sq mi) in the northern-central part of the country, and a population of about 10 million people, constituting more than one-sixth of the population of Italy. Over a fifth of the Italian gross domestic product is produced in the region.

The metropolitan area of Milan is the largest in the country and is among the largest in the European Union. Of the fifty-eight UNESCO World Heritage Sites in Italy, eleven are in Lombardy. Virgil, Pliny the Elder, Ambrose, Caravaggio, Claudio Monteverdi, Antonio Stradivari, Cesare Beccaria, Alessandro Volta, Alessandro Manzoni, and popes John XXIII and Paul VI are among those with origins in the area now known as Lombardy.

The word Lombardy comes from Lombard, which in turn is derived from Late Latin Longobardus, Langobardus (“a Lombard”), derived from the Proto-Germanic elements *langaz + *bardaz; equivalent to long beard. Some scholars suggest the second element instead derives from Proto-Germanic *bardǭ, *barduz (“axe”), related to German Barte (“axe”), or that the whole word comes from the Proto-Albanian *Lum bardhi “white river” (Compare modern Albanian lum i bardhë).

During the early Middle Ages, “Lombardy” referred to the Kingdom of the Lombards (Latin: Regnum Langobardorum), a kingdom ruled by the Germanic Lombards who had controlled most of Italy since their invasion of Byzantine Italy in 568. As such “Lombardy” and “Italy” were almost interchangeable; by the mid-8th century, the Lombards ruled everywhere except the Papal possessions around Rome (roughly modern Lazio and northern Umbria), Venice, and some Byzantine possessions in the south (southern Apulia and Calabria; some coastal settlements including Amalfi, Gaeta, Naples, and Sorrento; Sicily and Sardinia). The term was also used until around 965 in the form Λογγοβαρδία (Longobardia) as the name for the territory roughly covering modern Apulia which the Byzantines had recovered from the Lombard rump Duchy of Benevento.

With a surface area of 23,861 km² (9,213 sq mi), Lombardy is the fourth-largest region of Italy. It is bordered by Switzerland (north: Canton Ticino and Canton Graubünden) and by the Italian regions of Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol and Veneto (east), Emilia-Romagna (south), and Piedmont (west). Three distinct natural zones can be easily distinguished in Lombardy: mountains, hills, and plains—the last being divided into Alta (high plains) and Bassa (low plains). Wikipedia

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am image from Lombardy, Italy

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