Milan it is commonly known as the economic capital of Italy. Yet this definition is a bit narrow for a city that has a lot to offer both from a cultural and entertainment point of view. I could start with green spaces from Parco Sempione which frames the Sforzesco Palace, symbol of the power of the ducal Milan of the past. Passing through the Duomo, a masterpiece of Gothic architecture, which dominates the homonymous square.
La Vittorio Emanuele II gallery, one of the first examples of Liberty in Italy, up to the canals, which even tickled the imagination of a genius like Leonardo da Vinci, who gave this city one of his greatest masterpieces: the Cenacolo, painted in the refectory of Santa Maria delle Grazie. The area of San Babila with the beautiful neo-Romanesque church, today the hub of Milan, the city of fashion and the luxury hub. In short, the things to do and see in this city are certainly not few. And that's why I want to recommend 10 things to do and see during a visit to Milan.
What can be more representative of Milan than the Duomo? The church dedicated to Santa Maria Nascente, built at the behest of Gian Galeazzo Visconti, is the symbol of the city. This majestic structure is the most significant testimony of Gothic architecture, which leaves no room for doubt: it is the only one in which Nordic characters and Lombard elements blend. The beauty of the Duomo is completed by the main spire where the famous Madonnina dominates. If you visit the church on a beautiful sunny day, you can enjoy a wonderful view of the city and the Alps from the terraces.
I ships are another characteristic place of Milan. Made as an ingenious system of locks conceived by Leonardo da Vinci towards the end of the fifteenth century to allow navigation from Lake Como to Milan. The Navigli were once very popular and were the meeting place for small shops and markets. Currently this has become a very exclusive area, where models, artists, children and young university students, wander from one bar to another exchanging a chat. But the atmosphere you breathe in the Navigli is really very special, perhaps because the modest craft shops still survive alongside the "in" bars.
The Milanese are linked to Castello Sforzesco rich in museums: on the ground floor of the Ducal Court there is the Museum of Ancient Art, on the first floor the collection of furniture and the picture gallery, on the first and second floor of the Rocchetta there are the collections of Applied Art and the Museum of Musical Instruments, in the basement of the Ducal Court there are the Museum of Prehistory and Protohistory and the Egyptian Museum.
When: Mon - Sun 7:00 - 18:00 in winter, 7:00 - 19:00 in summer
Admission to the Castle is free
Castle Museums: Tue - Sun 9:00 - 17:30
As: full € 3, reduced € 1
Il Brera Palace it was built on an ancient fourteenth-century convent belonging to the Umiliati group and was later granted to the Jesuits, who founded a school there. Throughout the nineteenth century courtyards, loggias, corridors and atriums were set up to accommodate monuments that publicly glorify benefactors, artists, men of science and culture linked to the history of Brera. The Pinacoteca di Brera was born in 1776 and was supposed to be a collection of significant works intended for the training of students but, when Milan was proclaimed the capital of the Italian Kingdom, it became a museum full of paintings from all the territories acquired by the French armies.
When: Tue - Sun 8:30 am - 19:15 pm
As: full € 10, reduced € 7,50
The much famous, discussed and also ambiguous, according to the theories of the well-known writer Dan Brown, Last Supper by Leonardo da Vinci, is jealously guarded inside the refectory of the Dominican convent of Santa Maria delle Grazie in Milan. Unfortunately over time, due to environmental conditions and historical events, the work has undergone heavy deterioration. To prevent the painting from being damaged again, it is preserved in particular environmental conditions, determined by the treatment of the air, and can only be visited by groups of up to 25 visitors at a time, every 15 minutes.
When: Tue - Sun 8:15 am - 19:00 pm
As: full € 6, 50, reduced € 3, 25
In Milan you cannot miss shopping in the main arteries such as via della Spiga, Via Montenapoleone, via Manzoni and the famous Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II, the so-called drawing room in Milan.
