Milano Centrale ( it, Stazione Milano Centrale) is the main

railway station Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in Track (rail transport), tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the ...

of the city of

Milan Milan ( , , Lombard language, Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the List of cities in Italy, second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 ...

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 ...

, and is the largest railway station in Europe by volume. The station is a terminus and located at the northern end of central Milan. It was officially inaugurated in 1931 to replace the old central station (built 1864), which was a transit station but with a limited number of tracks and space, so could not handle the increased traffic caused by the opening of the Simplon Tunnel in 1906. Milano Centrale has high-speed connections to

Turin Turin ( , Piedmontese: ; it, Torino ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in Northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital from 1861 to 1865. Th ...

in the west,

Venice Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 bridges. The isla ...

via Verona in the east and on the north-south mainline to

Bologna Bologna (, , ; egl, label=Emilian language, Emilian, Bulåggna ; lat, Bononia) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in Northern Italy. It is the seventh most populous city in Italy with about 400,000 inhabitants and 1 ...

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus ( legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

Naples Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...

and

Salerno Salerno (, , ; nap, label= Salernitano, Saliernë, ) is an ancient city and ''comune'' in Campania (southwestern Italy) and is the capital of the namesake province, being the second largest city in the region by number of inhabitants, after ...

. The Simplon and Gotthard railway lines connect Milano Centrale to Bern and

Geneva Geneva ( ; french: Genève ) frp, Genèva ; german: link=no, Genf ; it, Ginevra ; rm, Genevra is the second-most populous city in Switzerland (after Zürich) and the most populous city of Romandy, the French-speaking part of Switzerland. Situ ...

via Domodossola and

Zürich , neighboring_municipalities = Adliswil, Dübendorf, Fällanden, Kilchberg, Maur, Oberengstringen, Opfikon, Regensdorf, Rümlang, Schlieren, Stallikon, Uitikon, Urdorf, Wallisellen, Zollikon , twintowns = Kunming, San Francisco Zürich () i ...

via

Chiasso Chiasso (; lmo, Ciass ) is a municipality in the district of Mendrisio in the canton of Ticino in Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while o ...

in Switzerland. Destinations of inter-city and regional railways radiate from Milano Centrale to Ventimiglia (border of France), Genova, Turin, Domodossola (border of Swiss Canton of Valais/Wallis), Tirano (border of Swiss Canton of Graubünden/Grisons), Bergamo, Verona, Mantova, Bologna and La Spezia. The Milan suburban railway service, however, does not use Milano Centrale but the other mainline stations: Porta Garibaldi (northwest), Cadorna (west) and

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 ...

(east). Aldo Rossi declared in an interview of February 1995 to Cecilia Bolognesi: "They told me that when

Frank Lloyd Wright Frank Lloyd Wright (June 8, 1867 – April 9, 1959) was an American architect, designer, writer, and educator. He designed more than 1,000 structures over a creative period of 70 years. Wright played a key role in the architectural movements o ...

came to Milan, and he came only once, he was really impressed by it and said it was the most beautiful station in the world. For me it is also more beautiful than Grand Central Station in New York. I know few stations like this one".

History

The first Milano Centrale station opened in 1864 in the area now occupied by the ''Piazza della Repubblica'', south of the modern station. It was designed by French architect Louis-Jules Bouchot (1817–1907) and its architectural style was reminiscent of Parisian buildings of that period. The station was designed to replace ''Porta Tosa station'' (opened in 1846 as the terminus of the line to Treviglio and eventually

) and ''Porta Nuova station'' (opened in 1850 as the second terminus on the line to Monza, which was eventually extended to

) and was interconnected with all lines, either existing or under construction, surrounding Milan. It remained in operation until 30 June 1931, when the current station was opened. There is now no trace of the old station left. King Victor Emmanuel III of Italy laid the cornerstone of the new station on April 28, 1906, before a blueprint for the station had even been chosen. The last, real, contest for its construction was won in 1912 by

architect An architect is a person who plans, designs and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...

Ulisse Stacchini Ulisse Stacchini (July 3, 1871 – 1947) was an Italian architect. He was born in Florence and studied in Milan and died in Sanremo. His major works include the Milan Central Station and Stadio Giuseppe Meazza Stadio Giuseppe Meazza, common ...

, whose design was modeled after Washington Union Station in

Washington, DC ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

, and the construction of the new station began. The purported style was an eclectic mix called "Assyrian-Lombard."Daverio, Philippe. ''Lombardy''. Milan: RCS Libri, 2015. p 47. Due to the Italian economic crisis during

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

, construction proceeded very slowly, and the project, rather simple at the beginning, kept changing and became more and more complex and majestic. This happened especially when

Benito Mussolini Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini (; 29 July 188328 April 1945) was an Italian politician and journalist who founded and led the National Fascist Party. He was Prime Minister of Italy from the March on Rome in 1922 until his deposition in ...

became

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is ...

, and wanted the station to represent the power of the

Fascist Fascism is a far-right, authoritarian, ultra-nationalist political ideology and movement,: "extreme militaristic nationalism, contempt for electoral democracy and political and cultural liberalism, a belief in natural social hierarchy and the ...

regime. The major changes were the new

platform Platform may refer to: Technology * Computing platform, a framework on which applications may be run * Platform game, a genre of video games * Car platform, a set of components shared by several vehicle models * Weapons platform, a system ...

types and the introduction of the great steel canopies by Alberto Fava; long and covering an area of . Construction resumed in 1925 and on July 1, 1931, the station was officially opened in the presence of Foreign Minister

Galeazzo Ciano Gian Galeazzo Ciano, 2nd Count of Cortellazzo and Buccari ( , ; 18 March 1903 – 11 January 1944) was an Italian diplomat and politician who served as Italian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Foreign Minister in the government of his father-in-law, ...

. The station played a vital role during the Holocaust in Italy, when Jewish inmates from the

San Vittore Prison San Vittore is a prison in the city center of Milan, Italy. Its construction started in 1872 and opened on 7 July 1879. The prison has place for 600 inmates, but it had 1036 prisoners in 2017. History The construction of the new prison was de ...

, previously captured in northern Italy, would be taken to a secret track, ''Binario 21'', underneath the station to be deported to extermination camps. Altogether, 15 deportation trains with 1,200 prisoners left the station from ''Binario 21''. A ''

Memoriale della Shoah The Memoriale della Shoah is a Holocaust memorial at the Milano Centrale railway station commemorating the Jewish prisoners deported from there during the Holocaust in Italy. Jewish prisoners from the San Vittore Prison, Milan, were taken from the ...

'' was opened at the former platform in January 2013 to commemorate these events. Its façade is wide and its vault is high, a record when it was built. It has 24 platforms. Each day about 330,000 passengers use the station, totaling about 120 million per year. The station has no definite architectural style, but is a blend of many different styles, especially

Liberty Liberty is the ability to do as one pleases, or a right or immunity enjoyed by prescription or by grant (i.e. privilege). It is a synonym for the word freedom. In modern politics, liberty is understood as the state of being free within society fr ...

and

Art Deco Art Deco, short for the French ''Arts Décoratifs'', and sometimes just called Deco, is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design, that first appeared in France in the 1910s (just before World War I), and flourished in the Unit ...

, but not limited to those. It is adorned with numerous sculptures. "The 'incongruous envelope of stone' (Attilio Pracchi) of this gigantic and monumental building dominates Piazza Duca d'Aosta." On September 25, 2006, officials announced a €100 million project, already in progress, to refurbish the station. Of the total cost, €20 million has been allocated to restore "certain areas of high artistic value" while the remaining €80 million will be used for more general improvements to the station to make it more functional with the current railway services. The project includes moving the ticket office and installing new elevators and escalators for increased accessibility. There remain unrestored and inaccessible areas to the public within the station, including a waiting room with

swastika The swastika (卐 or 卍) is an ancient religious and cultural symbol, predominantly in various Eurasian, as well as some African and American cultures, now also widely recognized for its appropriation by the Nazi Party and by neo-Nazis. I ...

s on the floor designed to receive Hitler.

Gallery

File:Milano Stazione Centrale 1865.jpg, The first Milano Centrale railway station from ''Giornale dell'Ingegnere e Architetto'', January 1865, vol. 13, Annex File:Milano-Centrale-Entrance-Hall-2012.JPG, A view of the arrival hall File:Milan Centrale Stazione trainshed.jpg, The roof of the central section File:Paolo Monti - Serie fotografica (Milano, 1969) - BEIC 6330877.jpg, Lateral view of the gallery

Train services

The station has 24 tracks. Every day about 320,000 passengers pass through the station using about 500 trains, for an annual total of 120 million passengers. The station is served by national and international routes, with both long-distance and regional lines. Daily international destinations include Bern,

Lugano Lugano (, , ; lmo, label=Ticinese dialect, Ticinese, Lugan ) is a city and municipality in Switzerland, part of the Lugano District in the canton of Ticino. It is the largest city of both Ticino and the Italian-speaking southern Switzerland. Luga ...

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. ...

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

Marseille Marseille ( , , ; also spelled in English as Marseilles; oc, Marselha ) is the prefecture of the French department of Bouches-du-Rhône and capital of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. Situated in the camargue region of southern Fran ...

and

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the third-largest city in Germany, after Berlin and Ha ...

. The station is also connected to Milan-Malpensa Airport through the Malpensa Express airport train. The following services call at the station (incomplete):

Domestic (High-speed)

* High-speed train ( Trenitalia Frecciarossa) Turin-Salerno: Turin Porta Nuova - Turin Porta Susa - Milano Centrale - Milan Rogoredo - Bologna Centrale - Florence S.M.Novella - Rome Tiburtina - Rome Termini - Naples Centrale - Salerno * High speed train ( Trenitalia Frecciarossa) Milan-Bari: Milan - Bologna - Ancona - Pescara - Foggia – Bari * High-speed train ( Trenitalia Frecciarossa) Milan-Venice: Milan - Brescia - Peschiera del Garda - Verona - Vicenza - Padua - Venice * High-speed train ( Italo NTV) Turin-Salerno: Turin - Milan - Bologna - Florence - Rome - Naples - Salerno * High-speed train ( Trenitalia Frecciabianca) Turin-Venice: Turin - Novara - Milan - Brescia - Verona - Vicenza - Padua - Venice - (Trieste) * High-speed train ( Trenitalia Frecciabianca) Milan-Lecce: Milan - Piacenza - Parma - Reggio d'Emilia - Modena - Bologna - Rimini - Pesaro - Ancona - San Benedetto del Tronto - Pescara - Termoli - Foggia - Bari - Brindisi - Lecce * High-speed train ( Trenitalia Frecciabianca) Milan-Bari/Taranto: Milan - Modena - Bologna - Rimini - Ancona - Pescara - Foggia - Bari - Taranto

Domestic

For regional (Regio) trains to

Monza Monza (, ; lmo, label= Lombard, Monça, locally ; lat, Modoetia) is a city and ''comune'' on the River Lambro, a tributary of the Po in the Lombardy region of Italy, about north-northeast of Milan. It is the capital of the Province of M ...

and

Como Como (, ; lmo, Còmm, label=Comasco , or ; lat, Novum Comum; rm, Com; french: Côme) is a city and ''comune'' in Lombardy, Italy. It is the administrative capital of the Province of Como. Its proximity to Lake Como and to the Alps has m ...

from Milano Centrale, refer to the 'cross-border' services. There is no train service of Milan Suburbano at the Centrale station. * Airport train ( Trenord Malpensa Express) Milan-Malpensa Airport: Milan - (Busto Arsizio) - Malpensa Airport * Intercity train ( Trenitalia Intercity) Milan-Lecce: Milan - Piacenza - Parma - Modena - Bologna - Rimini - Ancona - Pescara - Foggia - Trani - Bari - Fasano - Brindisi - Lecce * Intercity train ( Trenitalia Intercity) Milan-Taranto: Milan - Lodi - Piacenza - Parma - Reggio Emilia - Modena - Bologna - Faenza - Cesena - Rimini - Riccione - Pesaro - Senigalla - Ancona - Giulianova - Pescara - Termoli - Foggia - Trani - Bisceglie - Bari - Taranto * Intercity train ( Trenitalia Intercity) Milan-Livorno: Milan - Pavia - Tortona - Genova Piazza Principe - Genova Brignole - Santa Margherita Ligure-Portofino - Rapallo - Chiavari - Sestri Levante - Levanto - Monterosso - La Spezia Centrale - Massa Centro - Viareggio - Pisa Centrale - Livorno Centrale * Intercity train ( Trenitalia Intercity) Milan-Ventimiglia: Milan - Pavia - Genova - San Remo - Ventimiglia * Night train ( Trenitalia Intercity Notte) Milan-Lecce: Milan - Piacenza - Parma - Reggio d'Emilia - Modena - Bologna - Cesana - Rimini - Ancona - Pescara - Foggia - Bari - Trani - Brindisi - Lecce * Regional train ( Trenitalia Regionale Veloce) Turin-Milan: Turin - Vercelli - Novara - Milan * Regional train ( Trenitalia Regional) Milan-Alessandria: Milan - Pavia - Voghera - Tortona - Alessandria * Regional train ( Trenord Regio) Milan-Verona: Milan - Brescia - Peschiera del Garda - Verona * Regional train ( Trenord Regio) Milan-Tirano: Milan - Lecco - Sondrio - Tirano * Regional train ( Trenord Regio) Milan-Mantua: Milan - Lodi - Codgono - Cremona - Piadana - Mantova * Regional train ( Trenord Regio) Milan-Bergamo: Milan - Treviglio - Bergamo * Historic train (Fondazione FS/ Trenitalia Storico) Milan-Varallo: Milan - Novara - Varallo Sesia

Cross-border (Night train)

(CH for Switzerland, D for Germany, A for Austria, MN for Monaco) The following train has been moved to stop at

Milano Lambrate railway station 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 ...

and Milano Porta Garibaldi railway station in 2020: * Night train ( ÖBB Nightjet) Milan-Munich/Vienna: Milan - Brescia - Peschiera del Garda - Verona^ - (Rovereto/Rofreit) - (Trento/Trient) - Bolzano/Bozen - (Brennero/Brenner) - Innsbruck (A) - Jenbach (A) - Kufstein (A) - Munich (D) This train connects at Verona with ÖBB Nightjet/

EuroNight EuroNight, abbreviated EN, is a European train category which denotes many main-line national and international night train services within the Western and Central European inter-city rail network. Overview The classification and name were bro ...

Rome-Vienna: the train splits into two parts (first half couples with ÖBB Rome-Vienna and leaves for Vienna or Rome; second half continues to Munich or Milan). Vienna-Rome splits into two trains (first half continues to Rome or Vienna; second half couples with the train for Milan or Munich).

Cross-border

After the opening of Gotthard Base Tunnel in December 2016, train services between Milan and Switzerland increased in frequency. All SBB-CFF-FSS Eurocity now save 35 minutes of total journey time between Bellinzona and Arth-Goldau. From December 2017, a new cross-border service Milan-Frankfurt ( Trenitalia-DB-SBB Eurocity) via Zürich will be operational. From December 18th 2021, a new service Paris-Milan with Frecciarossa is opened. * Regional train ( TiLo Regio) Milan-Bellinzona: Milan - Monza - Como (San Giovanni) - Chiasso (CH) - Lugano (CH) - Bellinzona (CH) * Intercity train ( Trenitalia- SBB-CFF-FSS EuroCity) Geneva-Milan/Venice: Geneva/Genf (CH) - Lausanne (CH) - Brig (CH) - Domodossola - Milan - (Brescia) - (Verona) - (Padua) - (Venice) * Intercity train ( Trenitalia- SBB-CFF-FSS EuroCity) Basel-Milan: Basel SBB (CH) - Bern/Berne (CH) - Thun (CH) - Brig (CH) - Domodossola - Stresa - Busto Arsizio - Milan * Intercity train ( Trenitalia- SBB-CFF-FSS EuroCity) Zürich-Milan: Zürich (CH) - Zug (CH) - Arth-Goldau (CH) - Bellinzona (CH) - Lugano (CH) - Chiasso (CH) - Como (San Giovanni) - Monza - Milan * Intercity train ( Trenitalia- SBB-CFF-FSS EuroCity) Luzern-Milan: Luzern (CH) - Arth-Goldau (CH) - Bellinzona (CH) - Lugano (CH) - Chiasso (CH) - Como (San Giovanni) - Monza - Milan

Platforms

The station, along with Roma Termini and

Firenze Santa Maria Novella Firenze Santa Maria Novella (in English Florence Santa Maria Novella) or Stazione di Santa Maria Novella is a terminus railway station in Florence, Italy. The station is used by 59 million people every year and is one of the busiest in Ital ...

, has security gates which prevent access to the platforms without a ticket. Each platform is usually dedicated to some particular route. The current organization is as follows, although temporary changes may occur. * Platforms 1-3:

/ Domodossola/ Milan-Turin (ES* AV) * Platforms 4-6:

/ Cisalpino Milan–

– Arth Goldau–

Basel , french: link=no, Bâlois(e), it, Basilese , neighboring_municipalities= Allschwil (BL), Hégenheim (FR-68), Binningen (BL), Birsfelden (BL), Bottmingen (BL), Huningue (FR-68), Münchenstein (BL), Muttenz (BL), Reinach (BL), Riehen (BS) ...

* Platforms 7-13:

Udine Udine ( , ; fur, Udin; la, Utinum) is a city and ''comune'' in north-eastern Italy, in the middle of the Friuli Venezia Giulia region, between the Adriatic Sea and the Alps (''Alpi Carniche''). Its population was 100,514 in 2012, 176,000 with ...

* Platforms 14-17:

–

Florence Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilancio demografico ...

–

* Platforms 18-23:

Genoa Genoa ( ; it, Genova ; lij, Zêna ). is the capital of the Regions of Italy, Italian region of Liguria and the List of cities in Italy, sixth-largest city in Italy. In 2015, 594,733 people lived within the city's administrative limits. As of t ...

- Livorno /

Ventimiglia Ventimiglia (; lij, label= Intemelio, Ventemiglia , lij, label=Genoese, Vintimiggia; french: Vintimille ; oc, label=Provençal, Ventemilha ) is a resort town in the province of Imperia, Liguria, northern Italy. It is located southwest of ...

Parma Parma (; egl, Pärma, ) is a city in the northern Italian region of Emilia-Romagna known for its architecture, music, art, prosciutto (ham), cheese and surrounding countryside. With a population of 198,292 inhabitants, Parma is the second mos ...

/ Cremona-

Mantua Mantua ( ; it, Mantova ; Lombard language, Lombard and la, Mantua) is a city and ''comune'' in Lombardy, Italy, and capital of the Province of Mantua, province of the same name. In 2016, Mantua was designated as the Italian Capital of Culture ...

/ Milan- Treviglio-

Bergamo Bergamo (; lmo, Bèrghem ; from the proto- Germanic elements *''berg +*heim'', the "mountain home") is a city in the alpine Lombardy region of northern Italy, approximately northeast of Milan, and about from Switzerland, the alpine lakes C ...

* Platform 24: Operations

Unusual track layout

On the northern side of the railway yard there used to be a loop curve so that trains could turn around and reverse back into the station. The trains could so be displaced from the left side of the station to the right side and vice versa without crossing all the tracks. The tracks on the loop curve are partially broken up.Can easily be seen on Google Earth and most old maps

Images

File:Milano-stazione01.jpg File:DSC02044 Uscita Stazione centrale di Milano - Foto Giovanni Dall'Orto 1-1-2007.jpg File:MilanoCentrale roof.jpg File:Milano Centrale railway station.jpg

References

External links

Official website at Grandistazioni website
* Illustrated contemporary description of the station {{DEFAULTSORT:Milano Centrale Railway Station Art Nouveau architecture in Milan Art Nouveau railway stations Centrale Railway stations opened in 1931 1931 establishments in Italy