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 ...

has 23 railway stations in use today. Of these, 18 are managed by RFI, while the remaining 6 are operated by

Ferrovienord Ferrovienord (prior to 2006, Ferrovie Nord Milano Esercizio) is an Italian transport company managing the network of regional railway concessions owned by the group in northern Italy. It is a subsidiary of Ferrovie Nord Milano. History The compan ...

. Three more stations are currently under construction or in the planning stage for the city area: ''Canottieri'', ''Dergano'' and ''Zama''.

History of rail transport in Milan

In the huge explosion of rail transport in the 19th century, Milan was one of the places that invested in the development of this type of transport. In the late 1830s, Emperor

Ferdinand I of Austria en, Ferdinand Charles Leopold Joseph Francis Marcelin , image = Kaiser Ferdinand I.jpg , caption = Portrait by Eduard Edlinger (1843) , succession = Emperor of AustriaKing of Hungary , moretext = ( more...) , cor-type = ...

granted "the privilege to build a road on iron rails from

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

" to the ''Holzhammer'' company of

Bolzano Bolzano ( or ; german: Bozen, (formerly ); bar, Bozn; lld, Balsan or ) is the capital city of the province of South Tyrol in northern Italy. With a population of 108,245, Bolzano is also by far the largest city in South Tyrol and the third la ...

. The privilege authorized the construction of a railway project developed by the Milanese engineer Giulio Sarti. The

Milan–Monza railway The Milan–Monza railway line is the second oldest railway in Italy. It was the first railway in the Kingdom of Lombardy–Venetia, part of the Austrian Empire, opening in 1840 as the ''Imperiale Regno Privilegiata Strada Ferrata da Milano a Mo ...

, opened in 1840, was the first railway line in Lombardy, and the second in Italy after the

Naples–Portici railway The Naples–Portici railway ( it, ferrovia Napoli–Portici) was the first Italian railway line, built by the Bayard Company and opened in 1839. It now forms part of the Naples–Salerno railway line, Naples–Salerno line. Geography The initia ...

. Milan's first railway station, Porta Nuova, formed part of the new railway. It was placed outside the circle of ramparts, near the Porta Nuova city gate, from which it took its name. In February 1846 came the second Milanese railway station, ''Porta Tosa-Vittoria'', near the city gate of the same name, and outside the circle of ramparts.Where today ''via Corridoni'' intersects with ''via Archimedes'' and ''viale Premuda''. Via Archimede and via Pasquale Sottocorno border the station yard of the original station. For eleven years, this station served as the terminus of the Milan–

Treviglio Treviglio (, Bergamasque: ) is a town and ''comune'' (i.e. municipality) in the province of Bergamo, in Lombardy, Northern Italy. It lies south of the province capital, in the lower territory called "Bassa Bergamasca". It's also part of the geog ...

railway, which is the Lombard section of the Milan-Venice railway. Since 1857, with the opening of the Treviglio–Bergamo–Coccaglio railway, Porta Tosa station became the western terminus of the railway linking Milan with

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

, the other capital city of the then

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 ...

. With the decision to extend the Monza railway further north to

Como Como (, ; lmo, Còmm, label=Comasco dialect, 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 ...

, it was necessary to widen the Porta Nuova railway station by adding extra space, along the banks of the

Naviglio Martesana The Naviglio della Martesana ( lmo, Nivili de la Martexana or ''Martesanna'' ) is a canal in the Lombardy region, Northern Italy. Running from the Adda River, Italy, Adda river, in the vicinity of Trezzo sull'Adda, to Milan, it was also known as Na ...

. The new larger station, with a sizeable three bay train hall covering the tracks and trains, entered service in 1850. Today, the station building of this now former station, which was closed in 1931, can still be recognized inside the

barracks Barracks are usually a group of long buildings built to house military personnel or laborers. The English word originates from the 17th century via French and Italian from an old Spanish word "barraca" ("soldier's tent"), but today barracks are u ...

of the

Guardia di Finanza The ''Guardia di Finanza'' (G. di F. or GdF) () (English: literal: ''Guard of Finance'', paraphrased: ''Financial Police'' or ''Financial Guard'') is an Italian law enforcement agency under the authority of the Minister of Economy and Finance. ...

, in ''via Melchiorre Gioia''.

Chronological list of stations

References

{{Italian railway stations Mil Milan-related lists

History of rail transport in Milan

Chronological list of stations

See also

References