Sesto San Giovanni is a comune in the Milan metropolitan area, located in the province of Milan and region of Lombardy in Italy. Its railway station is the northernmost stop on the Milan Metro M1 line. The city is informally referred to as "Sesto". It has the honorary title of city, although it is small and de facto a suburb of Milan.An unimportant agglomerate of buildings until the 19th century, Sesto San Giovanni grew during the end of the 19th century and in the early 20th century, becoming the site of several industries, including companies such as Falck, Campari, Magneti Marelli and Breda. In that period the population increased rapidly, from 5,000 inhabitants in 1880 to 14,000 in 1911. After World War II, Sesto became populated by many migrants from other parts of Italy, leading to an increased population of 95,000 inhabitants in 1981. Sesto used to be referred to as the Stalingrad of Italy, due to the strong historical presence of the Italian Communist Party and to its resistance to fascism it World War Two.Because of its diverse and growing industries, the Milan suburb has drawn many migrants. Census statistics from 2005 state that 9.52% of the population is not Italian. 2.97% of the population is North African Arab, 2.06% is other European, and 1.90% is from Asia.[1]In the 1990s, Sesto San Giovanni suffered an economic crisis, and most of the larger companies in the town closed their premises. The town partially succeeded in converting its economy from steel production to service industries. Several large companies opened offices in Sesto, such as ABB Group, WIND Telecommunications, Impregilo and Oracle Corporation.Sesto San Giovanni received the honorary title of city by presidential decree on April 10, 1954.
