The unacknowledged capital of north Italy has something for everyone – art, music, education, shopping and fashion.
Milan, a rich trading city in the Middle Ages, became a hub of the arts, under its ruling Visconti and Sforza families. Artists such as Caravaggio, Leonardo and Michaelangelo made it a treasurehouse of the Renaissance. In the 19th century it became a centre of operatic music. Today, it is acknowledged as the Fashion Capital of the World.
Getting there and around
Milan is served by three airports, all linked to the city centre by express train, shuttle bus or coach services. Milan can be reached from European cities by trains, including the high-speed TGV from Paris, as well as by coach. Most of the city’s attractions are in the city centre (inside the mediaeval walls) and within walking distance of each other, so walking is an appealing way to tour it, especially since the public transport system is one of the best in the world. The extensive bus, tram and metro (underground) networks, are relatively cheap. Up to two 6-10 year children, accompanied by an adult, may travel free.
Duomo
Sitting in the Piazza del Duomo (Cathedral Square), is the Duomo di Milano – the city’s central point, both geographically and spiritually. It was built in the 14th century, on the site of an even older church, of which the 4th century Battistero Paleocristiano is a remnant. The Duomo, which seats 10,000 people, is the world’s second-largest Catholic cathedral. Dedicated to the Madonna, a statue of whom tops the spire, it contains 2000 statues, some of which can be seen close-up by climbing on the roof (a lift is provided), which also affords a marvellous vista of the city.
La Scala
La Scala, Milan (Teatro alla Scala), built by the Austrian Empress Maria Theresa in 1778, is the city’s cultural heart. One of the world’s top three operatic destinations (along with Covent Garden and the Vienna State Opera), Gioachino Rossini first brought it celebrity, and Vincenzo Bellini, Maria Callas and Arturo Toscanini were connected with it. However, it is Guiseppe Verdi who is most synonymous with it. In the same building is the La Scala Museum, containing musical instruments, paintings and mementos of great operas, composers and artistes.
Leonardo da Vinci
Facing the opera house is a garden-square, the Piazza alla Scala, which focuses on a statue of Leonardo Da Vinci. Born in Florence, he is most celebrated for the work he did in Milan, his Last Supper being in the UNESCO World Heritage fifteenth century church and Dominican convent of Santa Maria delle Grazie – where it has survived wars and bombing, along with several other masterpieces there. In the Hippodrome is the Gran Cavallo, a large bronze statue of a horse, based on the sketches Leonardo did for the world’s largest equestrian statue – which he never made. The Leonardo da Vinci Science and Technology Museum (formerly the monastery of San Vittore al Carpo) houses an impressive collection of models of his scientific inventions. It is a wonderfully educational place for the whole family, holding many other technological exhibits.
Other museums
The 14th century Castello Sforzesco (Sforza Castle), built by the Visconti dukes and rebuilt by Duke Francesco Sforza, has an interior decorated by Leonardo and other renaissance masters. It holds several museums, including the Museo d’Arte Antica, containing ancient, mediaeval and renaissance sculptures, including Michelangelo’s celebrated Rondanini Pietá; the Pinacoteca del Castello Sforzesco, a picture gallery with paintings by Bellini, Canaletto, Corregio, Tintoretto and Titian; and the Museum of Musical instruments. It also encompasses the prehistoric and ancient Egyptian collections of the Archaeological Museum, the remainder of which is housed in the former Benedictine convent of Monastero Maggiore di San Maurizio, which was built on the ruins of the old Roman circus. The preserved Roman ruins form the basis of the ground-floor Mediolanum antiquities exhibition. The cellars also contain Gandharan art, and exhibits of ancient Palestine, Etruria and Greece are housed in an extension.
Galleria Vittorio Emanuele
Connecting the Piazza del Duomo to the Piazza alla Scala is a late 19th century glass-and-cast-iron-roofed shopping arcade, the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele. Nicknamed “Milan’s living room”, it is the shopping hub of Milan. The place for luxury shopping– it has two Prada outlets – its shops sell books and paintings as well as jewellery and haute couture, and it also has upmarket cafes and restaurants, including the famous Biffi. In the middle of the floor of the hexagonal hub is a mosaic bull, which is its biggest tourist attraction – according to popular belief, it is good luck to spin on a heel on the bull’s genitals!
Golden Square
The very core of Italy’s style sector and one of the world’s leading shopping areas is contained within the Quadrilatero d’Oro (Golden Square) or Quadrilatero della Moda (Fashion Square). Top brands and haute couture boutiques, such as Armani, Dolce & Gabbana, Moschino, Prado and Versace have their headquarters here. The World’s sixth most expensive shopping street, the Via Monte Napoleone also has smaller-scale discount outlets selling new, vintage and second-hand off-runway designer items affordably.
Other shopping areas
Milan’s main shopping street, the Corso Buenos Aires has the greatest concentration of retail outlets on a single avenue in Europe and consists mainly of high street shops. Most budget shoppers prefer to buy at the Corso Vittorio Emanuele II shopping street, connected to Golden Square by the Via Dante pedestrian street. The “bohemian quarter” of Milan, Brera – the location of the Brera Academy of Fine Arts, the Brera Art Gallery, the observatory, the Braidense National Library and the Botanical Gardens – is notable for its great open-air markets several independent and more local fashion stores and avant-garde fashion houses, as is the Porta Ticinese quarter.
Milan Fashion Week
On the fashion calendar, after the fashion weeks of New York and London and before Paris, is the Settimana della moda, showcasing the work of the country’s top fashion houses in Milan’s elegant palaces. It is a twice-yearly event: Spring/Summer in February-March, Autumn/Winter in September-October. Run by the National Chamber of Italian Fashion, it first took place in 1958 and played a role in pushing Milan to the top of the fashion world.
Eating
Italian food brings to mind Pizzas and other dishes of southern Italy, but Milanese cuisine is based on meat and butter rather than tomatoes and olive oil. Risotto (rice) and Cotoletta (cutlets) alla Milanese are specialities of the city. Of course, being an international city, Milan caters to a wide variety of palates, even having several Sri Lankan restaurants.