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Kundera, Milan

(Encyclopedia)Kundera, Milan ml´än koondr´ [key], 1929–, Czechslovakian-born novelist and essayist. The publication of his first novel, The Joke (1967, tr. 1974), a satire of Stalinist Czechoslovakia i...

Milan

(Encyclopedia)Milan (Milan Obrenovi)ml´än br´nvch [key], 1854–1901, prince (1868–82) and king (1882–89) of Serbia; grandnephew of Miloš Obrenovi. He succeeded his cousin Michael Obrenovi a...

Milan

(Encyclopedia)Milan mln´, –än´ [key], Ital. Milano, Lat. Mediolanum, city (1991 pop. 1,369,231), capital of Lombardy and of Milan prov., N Italy, at the heart of the Po basin. Because of its strategic posi...

Milan Decree

(Encyclopedia)Milan Decree, issued Dec., 1807, by Napoleon I of France in an attempt to enforce the Continental System. Designed to strengthen the Berlin Decree, it authorized French warships and privateers to capt...

Sforza, Francesco I

(Encyclopedia)Sforza, Francesco I fränchs´k, sfôr´tsä [key], 1401–66, duke of Milan (1450–66); illegitimate son of Muzio Attendolo Sforza. He succeeded his father as leader of his band of mercenaries, ...

Sforza

(Encyclopedia)Sforza sfôr´tsä [key], Italian family that ruled the duchy of Milan from 1450 to 1535. Rising from peasant origins, the Sforzas became condottieri and used this military position to become rulers i...

Boltraffio, Giovanni Antonio

(Encyclopedia)Boltraffio or Beltraffio, Giovanni Antonio jvän´n äntô´ny blträf´fy, bl– [key], 1467–1516, Italian painter, b. Milan. He was a pupil of Leonardo da Vinci, whose style he adhered...

Pizzetti, Ildebrando

(Encyclopedia)Pizzetti, Ildebrando ldbrän´d pt-tst´t [key], 1880–1968, Italian opera composer, chiefly concerned with dramatic projection. Among his 23 operas are Fedra (Milan, 1915; libretto by D'...

Foppa, Vincenzo

(Encyclopedia)Foppa, Vincenzo vnchn´ts fôp´pä [key], c.1427–c.1515, Italian painter. Giving new life to the art of the Lombard school, he exercised a great influence upon northern Italian art until the ...

Magenta

(Encyclopedia)Magenta mäjn´tä [key], town (1991 pop. 23,667), Lombardy, N Italy, near Milan. Manufactures include matches, textiles, and machinery. At the Ticino River nearby, the French and the Sardinians won...