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Milan, Italy Metropolitan Area at Night
The metropolitan area of Milan (or Milano) illuminates the Italian region of Lombardy, in a pattern evocative of a patchwork quilt, in this astronaut photograph. The city of Milan proper forms a dense cluster of lights at image center left; brilliant white lights indicate the historic center of the city where the Duomo di Milano (Milan Cathedral) is located. Large dark regions to the south of Milan contain mostly agricultural fields. To the north, numerous smaller cities are interspersed with agricultural fields giving way to forested areas as one approaches the Italian Alps (not shown). Low patchy clouds diffuse the city lights, producing isolated regions in the image that appear blurred.
The Milan urban area is located within the Po Valley, a large plain bordered by the Adriatic Sea to the south and the Italian Alps to the north. Milan has the largest metropolitan area in Italy, and the fifth largest in the European Union. It is one of Europe's major transportation, industrial, and commerce hubs, and is also a global center of fashion and culture - according it the status of an "alpha" world city by the Globalization and World Cities Research Network.
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