Chiaravalle ( lmo, Ceravall ) is a district (''

quartiere A (; plural: ) is a territorial subdivision of certain Italian towns. The word derives from (‘fourth’) and was thus properly used only for towns divided into four neighborhoods by the two main roads. It has been later used as a synonymous ...

'') of

Milan Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) 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 h ...

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

, part of the Zone 5 administrative division of the city. It is located in the periphery south of the city centre, within the

Parco Agricolo Sud Milano Parco Agricolo Sud Milano ("Rural Park South Milan") is a large protected rural area located south and south-east of Milan, Italy. The park was established in 1990 with the purpose of preserving, safeguarding, and enhancing the natural and histor ...

nature reserve. Before 1923, Chiaravalle was an autonomous ''

comune The (; plural: ) is a local administrative division of Italy, roughly equivalent to a township or municipality. It is the third-level administrative division of Italy, after regions ('' regioni'') and provinces (''province''). The can also ...

'', named Chiaravalle Milanese. Despite being annexed to Milan, Chiaravalle has maintained the character of an autonomous town. The park that embraces the district also separates it from the

urban agglomeration An urban area, built-up area or urban agglomeration is a human settlement with a high population density and infrastructure of built environment. Urban areas are created through urbanization and are categorized by urban morphology as cities, t ...

of the city. This isolation is reinforced by the scarceness of public transportation to the centre, which mostly consists of a single bus line connecting Chiaravalle to Porta Romana. As this bus line has a stop at the

Milan Metro The Milan Metro ( it, Metropolitana di Milano) is the rapid transit system serving Milan, Italy, operated by Azienda Trasporti Milanesi. The network consists of 5 lines, identified by different numbers and colours, with a total network length of ...

station of Corvetto, this is the subway station that serves Chiaravalle, despite that of

Rogoredo Rogoredo (''Rogored'' in Lombard language, Lombard) is a former municipality, currently border district ("quartiere") of the city of Milan, Italy. It is part of the Zone 4 of Milan, Zone 4 administrative division, and it is located 6–7 km so ...

being closer. The main landmark of the Chiaravalle district is eponymous abbey, a

Gothic Gothic or Gothics may refer to: People and languages *Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes **Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths **Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...

- Romanesque 12th century monastic complex.

History

The original settlement of Chiaravalle formed in the

middle ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire a ...

, and was centered in the

Chiaravalle Abbey The Abbey of Santa Maria di Rovegnano (Latin: ''Sanctæ Mariæ Clarævallis Mediolanensis'') is a Cistercian monastic complex in the ''comune'' of Milan, Lombardy, northern Italy. The '' borgo'' that has developed round the abbey was once an i ...

founded by the

Cistercians The Cistercians, () officially the Order of Cistercians ( la, (Sacer) Ordo Cisterciensis, abbreviated as OCist or SOCist), are a Catholic religious order of monks and nuns that branched off from the Benedictines and follow the Rule of Saint ...

in 1135. When the Milanese territory was organized in

pieve In the Middle Ages, a pieve (, ; la, plebe, link=no; plural ''pievi'') was a rural church with a baptistery, upon which other churches without baptisteries depended. The Italian word ''pieve'' is descended from Latin ''plebs'' which, after th ...

s, Chiaravalle became part of Pieve di San Donato. Under

Napoleonic Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader who ...

rule it was annexed to Milan, but went back to its autonomous status at the foundation of the

Kingdom of Lombardy–Venetia The Kingdom of Lombardy–Venetia ( la, links=no, Regnum Langobardiae et Venetiae), commonly called the "Lombardo-Venetian Kingdom" ( it, links=no, Regno Lombardo-Veneto, german: links=no, Königreich Lombardo-Venetien), was a constituent land ...

. In 1861, Chiaravalle had 1,417 inhabitants. In 1870 Chiaravalle and the nearby comune of Nosedo were merged. In 1923, Chiaravalle became part of Milan.

External links

Borgo di Chiaravalle
Districts of Milan Former municipalities of Lombardy {{Milan-geo-stub