Italian litterati of the Ottocento coined the phrase 'Babylo minima' to refer to Milan (in analogy to the 'Babylo maxima', Paris), thus underlining the special role played by Milan in ottocento Italy and also alluding to the specific problems of Italian urban literature. In the 19th century Milan developed into a metropolis of genuinely European dimensions. So far, however, the Italian literature of the Ottocento has been flatly denied any urban dimension whatsoever. The study centres around the specific development of Italian urban literature in the 19th century and the special role played by the reception of French literature, notably that of a naturalist persuasion. Drawing upon the discussion of the 'urban' phenomenon in literary criticism, the study also points to structural and stylistic features in the Italian literature of the period heralding the advent of modernism.