Milan - Surroundings

Southeast of Milan is Chiaravalle Milanese, noted for its Cistercian abbey church, a fine brick edifice with a tall tower; it was founded by St Bernard of Clairvaux in 1135 and remodeled between 1170 and 1221 and has magnificent Baroque choir-stalls of 1640, an elegant little cloister and a cemetery.

Southeast of Milan, in the commune of San Donato Milanese, is Metanopoli (188m/620ft), also called "Captital of Methane" or "Oil City", a satellite town which has grown up since 1940 with the headquarters or branch establishments of the leading Italian oil companies, such as ENI (Ente Nazionale Idrocarburi), SNAM (Società Nazionale Metanodotti), AGIP (Azienda Generale Italiana Petroli, with departments of mining and atomic research) and ANIC (Azienda Nazionale Idrocarburi).