This book is the first systematic inquiry into urban landscape issues, coming after extensive studies into landscape as a whole, and agrarian landscape in particular. The first section documents the gradual evolution of Milan's cityscape over time, drawing on the relative visual material for each period discussed. The more inward-looking panorama of Milan is represented by a section on the present; a systematic series of aerial surveys taken from a helicopter in August 1988 repreposes the bird's-eye veduta invented in the Renaissance to represent the city in all its complexity. The overall methodological significance of this profile of Milan's characteristics is discussed at the end of the book in the timeline (albeit Eurocentric) of contemporary ideas on the urban landscape. CONTENTS: Foreword by the mayor, Polo Pillitteri. Instructions for use. The history of Milan's townscape. An introverted portrait of Milan up to 1988. Coordinates for a history of the concept of urban landscape. Afterword by Claudio Dini. Indexes.