Giuseppe VerdiGiuseppe Fortunino Francesco Verdi (dʒuˈzɛppe ˈverdi; 9 or 10 October 1813 – 27 January 1901) was an Italian composer best known for his operas. He was born near Busseto to a provincial family of moderate means, receiving a musical education with the help of a local patron. Verdi came to dominate the Italian opera scene after the era of Gioachino Rossini, Vincenzo Bellini, and Gaetano Donizetti, whose works significantly influenced him. In his early operas, Verdi demonstrated a sympathy with the Risorgimento movement which sought the unification of Italy.
InsubresThe Insubres or Insubri were an ancient Celtic population settled in Insubria, in what is now the Italian region of Lombardy. They were the founders of Mediolanum (Milan). Though completely Gaulish at the time of Roman conquest, they were the result of the fusion of pre-existing Ligurian and Celtic population (Golasecca culture) with Gaulish tribes. The Insubres are mentioned by Caecilius Statius, Cicero, Polybius, Livy, Pliny the Elder, and Strabo.
ValtellinaValtellina or the Valtelline (occasionally spelled as two words in English: Val Telline; Vuclina (); Valtelina or Valtulina; Veltlin; Valtellina) is a valley in the Lombardy region of northern Italy, bordering Switzerland. Today it is known for its ski center, hot spring spas, bresaola, cheeses (in particular Bitto, named after the river Bitto) and wines. In past centuries it was a key alpine pass between northern Italy and Germany and control of the Valtellina was much sought after, particularly during the Thirty Years' War as it was an important part of the Spanish Road.
MonzaMonza (USˈmɒnzə,_ˈmoʊnzə,_ˈmoʊntsɑː, ˈmontsa; Monça, locally Monscia ˈmũːʃa; 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 Monza and Brianza. Monza is best known for its Grand Prix motor racing circuit, the Autodromo Nazionale di Monza, which hosts the Formula One Italian Grand Prix with a massive Italian support tifosi for the Ferrari team.
Cisalpine RepublicThe Cisalpine Republic (Repubblica Cisalpina; Emilian-Romagnol: Repóblica Ciṣalpèina; Republica Cisalpina) was a sister republic of France in Northern Italy that existed from 1797 to 1799, with a second version until 1802. After the Battle of Lodi in May 1796, Napoleon Bonaparte organized two states: one to the south of the Po, the Cispadane Republic, and one to the north, the Transpadane Republic.
Alboin'Alboin' (530s – 28 June 572) was king of the Lombards from about 560 until 572. During his reign the Lombards ended their migrations by settling in Italy, the northern part of which Alboin conquered between 569 and 572. He had a lasting effect on Italy and the Pannonian Basin; in the former his invasion marked the beginning of centuries of Lombard rule, and in the latter his defeat of the Gepids and his departure from Pannonia ended the dominance there of the Germanic peoples.
Battle of LegnanoThe Battle of Legnano was a battle between the imperial army of Frederick Barbarossa and the troops of the Lombard League on May 29, 1176, near the town of Legnano in present-day Lombardy, in Italy. Although the presence of the enemy nearby was already known to both sides, they suddenly met without having time to plan any strategy. The battle was crucial in the long war waged by the Holy Roman Empire in an attempt to assert its power over the municipalities of Northern Italy, which decided to set aside their mutual rivalries and join in a military alliance symbolically led by Pope Alexander III, the Lombard League.
Lombardic languageLombardic or Langobardic is an extinct West Germanic language that was spoken by the Lombards (Langobardi), the Germanic people who settled in Italy in the sixth century. It was already declining by the seventh century because the invaders quickly adopted the Latin vernacular spoken by the local population. Lombardic may have been in use in scattered areas until as late as 1000 AD. Many toponyms in modern Lombardy and Greater Lombardy (Northern Italy) and items of Lombard and broader Gallo-Italic vocabulary derive from Lombardic.
Province of SondrioThe Province of Sondrio (provincia di Sondrio) is in the Lombardy region of northern Italy. Its provincial capital is the city of Sondrio. As of 2017, it has a population of 181,403. The Province was established in 1815, within the Kingdom of Lombardy–Venetia, combining the valleys of Valtellina, Valchiavenna and Bormio. Before the Roman conquest, the territory was inhabited by Celts (Lepontii) and Rhaetians (Camunni). The Romans included this area in their Cisalpine Gaul province.
Canegrate cultureThe Canegrate culture was a civilization of prehistoric Italy that developed from the late Bronze Age (13th century BC) until the Iron Age, in the areas that are now western Lombardy, eastern Piedmont, and Ticino. Canegrate had a cultural dynamic, as expressed in its pottery and bronzework, that was completely new to the area and was a typical example of the western Hallstatt culture. The name comes from the locality of Canegrate in Lombardy, south of Legnano and 25 km north of Milan, where Guido Sutermeister discovered important archaeological finds (approximately 50 tombs with ceramics and metallic objects).
