Country Italy Comuni 134 Vehicle registration MI Area 1,575 km² | Region Lombardy Time zone CET (UTC+1) ISTAT 015 Capital Milan | |
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Population 3.195 million (31 Mar 2012) | ||
Panorama castello sforzesco piazza castello milan province of milan italy 2013 07 15
The Province of Milan (Italian: Provincia di Milano) was a province in the Lombardy region, Italy. Its capital was the city of Milan. The provincial territory was highly urbanized, resulting in the third highest population density among the Italian provinces with more than 2,000 inhabitants/km2, just behind the provinces of Naples and the bordering Monza e Brianza, created in 2004 splitting the north-eastern part from the province of Milan itself. On January 1, 2015 it was replaced by the Metropolitan City of Milan.
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Geography
Province of Milan extends over the Po Valley and has River Ticino to the west, and the River Adda to the east. It is shaped by its waterways - river and canals that traverse it and sometimes border it, from Lambro and Olana rivers to the numerous canals, like the Navigli Milanesi; these water runs link farmsteads and villages like Corneliano Bertario with the Castello Borromeo Castle; and ancient noble villas, such as the Inzago Villa near the Naviglio Martesana, to the Canale Villoresi, which is thought to be the longest man-made canal in Italy. The Villoresi is the natural southern border of Brianza, an area in Lombardy noted for its mountains, lakes and plains.
It contains six regional natural parks: Parco Adda Nord, Parco Agricolo Sud Milano, Parco delle Groane, Parco Nord Milano, Parco della Valle del Lambro and the Parco Lombardo della Valle del Ticino. Half of the province is agricultural and flood plain, and most of it is protected by reserves.