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While Milan’s Italianness doesn’t hit with postcard-perfect skylines or towering marble statues like some cities do, that doesn’t mean it isn’t there; you just need to know where to go and what to do.
Everything you need to know before heading to Milan for the first time.
Tap your phone to a subway turnstile to whisk through neighborhoods, grab dim sum or pizza for lunch, and window-shop endlessly, whether your budget is Hermès or H&M. This is Milan, but it could also be Paris, or Madrid, or New York. After five years living in Italy’s fashion and commercial capital, I know the spots that prove it’s the country’s modern cosmopolitan city, but also show it’s still Milanese. Places to eat risotto, to see buildings festooned by the city’s Belle Époque past, or to browse decades of Italian design icons. While Milan’s Italianness doesn’t hit with postcard-perfect skylines or towering marble statues like some cities do, that doesn’t mean it isn’t there; you just need to know where to go and what to do.
Climb or ride up to the Milan Cathedral rooftop
It took me four years living in Milan to go inside the Milan Cathedral, or Duomo, not because I didn’t think it was worthwhile, but because I don’t like to wait in line. Cousins visiting from California finally led me into the imposing Gothic structure with jaw-dropping stained glass windows and towering spires (all of which took 400 years to complete). The crowds are inevitable at the church, which rises second in Italy only to St. Peter’s, but to avoid the lines, book tickets to visit the cathedral, or, as I suggest, to also climb stairs or take an elevator to the rooftop for city views. There are a few combined tickets (including the cathedral, museum, rooftop, and archaeological area), which are the best way to get the full picture of the Duomo’s significance in Italy’s architectural history.
Soak up Arias at Teatro Alla Scala
If you happen to walk through Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II — the mosaiced Belle Epoqué mall connecting Piazza del Duomo to Teatro alla Scala’s (La Scala for short) entrance — on the evening of December 7, you might see a lot of black ties and evening gowns on their way to opening night. While those tickets are nearly impossible to score, attending any other performance (still, booking online several months in advance) or visiting the La Scala museum is a way to understand Milan’s role in the opera world. More cathedral than six-layer-caked concert hall iced in gilt and red velvet, the now 2,000-person venue with royal boxes and a “loggione” known for its optimal acoustics, opened in 1778, and went on to launch Giuseppe Verdi, Giacomo Puccini, and Maria Callas to opera fame. You can skip the months of pre-planning, steep ticket prices, and highbrow attitude with a guided tour outside of performance times.
See the famed Il Cenacolo a.k.a The Last Supper
Easier than getting La Scala tickets, but still requiring about two months of planning, is booking a 15-minute slot to see the Last Supper. Never intended to last hundreds of years when Leonardo da Vinci painted it in the 15th century on the damp far wall of Santa Maria delle Grazie’s refectory, the mural, which was also nearly destroyed in a 1943 bomb raid, doesn’t have many of Leonardo’s brushstrokes left after a 20-year restoration completed in the 1990s (critics at the time said less than 20 percent of the original work remained). However, the human details, use of a focal point, and uplighting to show it off make for an impressive example of High Renaissance art. Prepare to be ushered via automatic glass doors into a series of climate-controlled, air-filtered rooms for your time with the mural.
See Leonardo’s Book of Sketches at Pinacoteca Ambrosiana
Milan’s Leonardo trail continues at the Biblioteca and Pinacoteca Ambrosiana, off a side street just a few minutes walk from the Duomo. Here, among Caravaggio’s Basket of Fruit and a Raphael study for the School of Athens, is Leonardo’s Codex Atlanticus (12 volumes of his drawings and sketches). A handful of the individual pages are on display in the museum, while a digital archive there and online also lets you view all of the pages in detail, cataloged by searchable subjects such as geometry and algebra, human sciences, and tools and machines.
Learn the Visual Vocabulary of Iconic Design
While Leonardo may be one of Italy’s best-known “designers” ahead of his time, Milan, the host of the annual Salone del Mobile (Furniture Fair) in April, is synonymous with modern industrial design. A walk around the Durini design district (San Babila) can lead to design spotting, such as on Corso Monforte, known for lighting, and Via Durini for furniture and interiors. To see iconic Italian industrial design in one place, head to the ADI Design Museum Compasso d’Oro. The light-filled former electricity plant has a permanent collection of iconic industrial design from 1954 to the present day, including coffee pots, cars, and chairs. Museum entry (which is only payable digitally) also includes selecting one among dozens of design posters to take home as a souvenir.
Enter Another Dimension at Fondazione Prada
The first time I went to Fondazione Prada, I wasn’t sure what I’d gotten myself into, as I bumped through a pitch-black tunnel, which led to a room of rose-lit, twirling Alice in Wonderland-esque mushrooms. Synchro System, created by Belgian artist Carsten Höller, and the foundation’s other bizarre installations are designed to provoke contemplation. At the foundation, on the outskirts of the Porta Romana neighborhood, film screenings and concerts are also part of the mix, while Bar Luce, a mint green and chartreuse space designed by Wes Anderson, recreates 1950’s Milan bar culture. However, sitting outside it in the sun, thinking about it all, is my preferred way to end the experience.
Follow Fashion History at Armani/Silos
Cutting edge can describe Milan’s art and design, but it also applies to the fashion capital’s runway creations, with nearly all of Italy’s famed luxury brands headquartered here. For a closer look at that world through the lens of Milan-raised Giorgio Armani, head to the eponymous fashion house’s headquarters (where designers sketch upcoming collections) and museum, Armani/Silos. Unlike other fashion museums in Italy, where exhibitions can be stagnant or only loosely related to a brand, Silos frequently changes what it showcases to focus on eras and themes, such as a 20-year retrospective of its high fashion from 2005 to 2025.
Browse Elegant Boutiques and Vintage Stores
In the well-dressed Brera neighborhood, you can spend an afternoon browsing vintage and contemporary boutiques, then stop for an aperitivo at a sidewalk café such as Cinc, which is ideal for people watching. On Thursdays, Brera’s cobblestoned Via San Marco is filled with antique dealers, racks of furs, blazers, trench coats, and other treasures for anyone else searching for the next piece to add to their finery collection. From Brera, it’s just a short walk to the Quadrilatero della Moda (Fashion Square), where Via Monte Napoleone, Via Alessandro Manzoni, Via della Spiga, and Corso Venezia converge with the world’s best-known luxury brands.
Time Travel at Villa Necchi Campiglio
Entering the hushed elegance of 1930s Milanese at Villa Necchi Campiglio is one of my favorite ways to spend an afternoon in the city. At the three-level former home of sewing machine empire heiresses Nedda and Gigina Necchi (and Gigina’s husband, Angelo Campiglio), a table set for dinner, frocks and fascinators perched in cabinets, and a green sitting room with fern-filled glass walls make it seem as if the family has just stepped out for a stroll. Walking up the Art Deco walnut and marble staircase to the bedrooms and bathrooms, the intrigue includes a hidden collection of illustrations by Picasso, Matisse, and other 20th-century artists (behind a closed door across from the staircase landing). But you don’t need a ticket to sit by the orange, pink, and yellow tulip-framed rectangular pool, or sip a drink from the café next to the tennis courts.
Go on an Art Nouveau Treasure Hunt
From Villa Necchi-Campiglio, it’s not far to Quadrilatero del Silenzio (Silent Square), so named for its pristine buildings and Art Nouveau façades. Along the way, pass a peculiar bronze ear (which once served as an inventive intercom) outside Casa Sola-Busca (Via Serbelloni 10), then head to Villa Invernizzi (Via Cappuccini 7) where a flamboyance of flamingos can be spotted behind a fence, and then if it’s open, the grand mosaic, stained-glass and sculpted entryway of Casa Berri Meregalli (Via Cappuccini 7). From there, walk towards Via Malpighi at Via Sirtori (just past the Porta Venezia metro station), to admire the 1905-built Casa Galimberti, where ceramic mosaics and iron floral railings glow as the sun sets.
Picnic Among a Library of Trees and Vertical Forest
Piazza Gae Aulenti, named for the architect behind Paris’ Musée d’Orsay, San Francisco’s Asian Art Museum, and Milan’s Piazzale Cadorna, is presided over by Italy’s tallest skyscraper (the 757-foot Unicredit building) and is also adjacent to one of Milan’s largest green spaces. The more than 24-acre Biblioteca degli Alberi (Library of trees), arranged in 22 circular forests, is rimmed with shady benches and grassy areas, which are ideal for picnics. While you’re there, admire Bosco Verticale (Vertical Forest) — Stefano Boeri’s solution for urban biodiversity, with two apartment buildings covered in more than 15,000 trees, shrubs, and plants.
Relax With an Aperitivo in a Cascina
Before it was a cosmopolitan city, Milan was a patchwork of farms and villas. Across the city, there are still about 100 farmhouses, called cascine, and many of them are now cultural centers with urban gardens. At casince, there could be live music, yoga classes, art markets, or restaurants and bars. One of the ways to enjoy these open-air spaces (especially during warm spring or summer evenings) is by ordering a drink and settling in for an aperitivo or dinner. Many cascine are outside the city center, and you’ll need a car to get there, but Cascina Cuccagna, where there’s a garden and restaurant, is just about a 10-minute walk from the Porta Romana metro station.
Eat a Brioche (with coffee) at Pavé
While a leisurely Milan evening can be spent with an aperitivo in a cascina, you can jump-start your morning with a coffee and a brioche (Northern Italy’s term for a croissant). Every neighborhood has its strengths when it comes to pasticcerie (pastry shops), but consider traveling across town for the apricot-jam-filled (or any other flavor) brioche at Pavé. They also bake cakes, cookies, and bread (which is how they got their start in 2012), with slices filled with savory ingredients for breakfast and lunch. During the weekend, you may need to wait for a table, as seating is limited.
Stroll (and Eat) Along Via Paolo Sarpi
One place to understand the diversity that makes Milan, a city with 20 percent foreign-born residents, Italy’s most international city, is on Via Paolo Sarpi. As much of a food crawl experience as a social one, walking here is a chance to eat dumplings, udon, or ramen, but also tacos, tapas, or tagliere (Italian cheese and salumi), or even a pizza, to pair with beer or wine, all while mingling with crowds that wait in line for the most popular vendors. While there are sit-down restaurants, the experience is more about getting food to go while taking a stroll down the sometimes-lantern-lit (during Lunar New Year and other festivals) street; though note it can be crowded on weekends.
Walk Along one of Milan’s Last Canals
With its bridges, lively bars and restaurants, and cobblestone avenues, Navigil is one of the city’s most picturesque neighborhoods — and it’s also a pleasant place for a stroll. A remnant of Milan’s five-canal transportation and irrigation network, one of the only navigli (canals) that hasn’t been covered over completely is this, the Naviglio Grande, known by Milanese as Navigli. On the last Sunday of the month, an antiques market fills the streets around the canal with hundreds of vendors that are worth browsing, even if you can’t fit a full-length gilt mirror or an orb-like red plastic lamp from the 1960s in your suitcase.
Things to Avoid: Visiting Navigli on Weekend Nights
There’s no denying that Navigli is one of Milan’s quaintest neighborhoods. But not on Saturday and Sunday nights. Then, it becomes the one place to avoid, as droves of young people from Milan and everywhere else gather for group nights out. Unless you have booked ahead for aperitivo or dinner, you will be competing with hordes not only for a table, but for walking space. If you want to see Navigli and get a drink at one of its bars, it’s best on weekday evenings, or if you must go on the weekend, in the morning for a canal-side breakfast.
Things to Avoid: Falling for Metro Card Lines and Scams
As you approach the row of entrances at a busy Milan metro station such as Duomo, San Babila, or Milano Centrale (the main train station), you’ll likely enter a video-game-like scenario of two hazards: One is dodging lines waiting to buy tickets at automatic machines, and two is a handful of hawkers waving discounted tickets. Avoid them both by paying for a ride with your contactless credit card, or your phone’s payment app, by tapping it to the wave on any turnstile; it works on trams and buses too. You can also buy tickets and passes (for 24 hours or three days) with the Milan ATM app (the official Milan Metro app).
Things to Avoid: Picking a Hotel Near the Duomo or Central Station
While it might seem convenient to stay near Milan’s most well-known attractions or main train station, given the extensive public transit system and the ease of using it, you’re better off in a neighborhood with a balanced mix of locals and tourists. Neighborhoods such as Porta Romana, Porta Venezia, or Sant’Ambrogio, which are adjacent to the Duomo epicenter, are well-connected and more pleasant, with more amenities such as grocery stores, pharmacies, and interesting shops, bars, and restaurants. From these neighborhoods, it’s a short walk or metro ride to any of Milan’s major attractions, plus you’ll have plenty to see within the neighborhoods themselves, not to mention more opportunities to integrate into a Milanese lifestyle.
Must-Try Restaurant: Trattoria Da Abele Temperanza
Step into Vecchia Milano (Old Milan), at this trattoria on a side street between the Loreto and Pasteur metro stops, where paper placemats and wooden communal tables create an atmosphere of another era as much as the rustic food. There are typically six risotto dishes on the menu (it changes weekly), along with classics such as roast beef with potatoes, all served on white plates and paired with generous house wine carafes. Da Abele is open for dinner starting from 8 pm (it’s closed on Mondays and for lunch), and reservations are essential on weekends, though I’ve squeezed in without a reservation during the week.
Must-Try Restaurant: Zibo
Chefs Giulio Potestà and Alessandro Cattaneo used to roam Milan serving their inventive carbonara ravioli filled with cacio e pepe (cheese and pepper) and sprinkled with crunchy guanciale (pork cheek) from a food truck. Now, at Zibo’s “base camp,” the ravioli are still on the menu, along with crispy primosale (semi-soft cheese) with red onion jam, seasonal risotto, pasta, and vegan dishes (such as oyster mushrooms with coconut milk chimichurri sauce). The restaurant with a cozy dining room with yellow walls is conveniently located about a 15-minute walk from either the Duomo or The Last Supper, making it an ideal break between sightseeing; reservations are essential on weekend evenings.
Must-Try Restaurant: Ratanà
At this restored 1900s farmhouse in the Biblioteca degli Alberi, you can taste the dishes from Milanese chef Cesare Battisti’s childhood, such as mondeghili (Milanese meatballs) and Risotto alla vecchia Milano (saffron risotto). At Ratanà, there are also contemporary takes on Mediterranean cooking, called “Freshwater Fish Compilation” with ceviche and baccalà mantecato (whipped salt cod) among a list of pasta and risotto. Sitting in the park, you’ll have views of the Bosco Verticale, but know that reservations are essential for lunch and dinner. To try the classic Costoletta alla Milanese (veal cutlet) (which isn’t on the regular menu), you need to call two days in advance.
Best Budget Hotel: Antica Locanda Leonardo
On Corso Magenta, one of Milan’s most desirable streets lined with Art Nouveau buildings, you’ll find this reasonably priced family-run hotel. The two dozen renovated rooms with antique-style furniture combined with jewel-toned walls face a pleasant inner courtyard, meaning there’s not much street noise. In warmer months, breakfast is served in the garden, where there are bursts of fragrant wisteria in April. Antica Locanda Leonardo is a convenient base to explore the city, with just a five-minute walk to The Last Supper or Sforzesco Castle. The hotel tends to book up far in advance, especially for one of the suites or superior rooms with balconies or patios facing the greenery.
Best Boutique Hotel: Aethos
There’s an air of cool at this hotel at the western end of the Naviglio Grande, where every room is decorated differently with Italian-designed furniture and a vintage theme, whether boating, boxing, or polo. Aside from the rooms at Aethos, which include a loft penthouse with a greenhouse, a suite with a private garden, and an apartment with a full kitchen, the hotel’s dimly-lit Doping Bar is a destination. Its eclectic mix of memorabilia, such as a wall-sized Union Jack, a taxidermy ostrich, and a barber chair, is as inventive as the cocktails with over 40 gins on the menu.
Best Luxury: Portrait Milano
The sculpted figures marking the entrance of Portrait Milano seem a bit grand even for one of the city’s A-list hotels. Before it became the latest in the Lungarno Portrait collection (which includes addresses in Rome and Florence), Corso Venezia 11 was Milan’s archiepiscopal seminary, opened in 1564 with funding from the aristocratic Borromeo family. Even if you don’t stay in one of the 73 red and cream studios or suites with Carrara marble bathrooms, gardens, and terraces, or take a dip in the vaulted underground pool, you can still enjoy Piazza del Quadrilatero, which was part of the seminary’s 2019 renovation project and is edged with boutiques and restaurants.
Know Before You Go
Milan is connected to the world by the country’s second-largest train station and three airports within one hour. Within the city, five metro lines,18 tram lines, and dozens of bus lines mean a car is not only unnecessary, it’s a liability — you can get to and from almost anywhere in the city’s core within a 30-minute public transit ride, and it’s usually faster than battling traffic. For the best weather, visit in May to the beginning of July, as summer heat can be unbearable (Milan residents typically escape the city from mid- to late-July until mid- to late-August), and fall to winter are gray, cold, and rainy. During busy seasons with Fashion Weeks (January and February, and June and September) and Design Week (the first or second week in April), hotel prices are at their highest.