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Milan, Italy - Guide

Milan - City Sights

1. Quadrilatero d'Oro

Any shopping trip to Milan should begin with the Quadrilatero d'Oro. It is bounded by the Via de la Spiga on the north and Via Monte Napoleone on the south, with Via Sant'Andrea and Via Allessandro Manzoni on the east and west respectively. Just about every designer name you’ve heard of – and many you haven’t – is represented here. The boutiques are expensive of course, but bear in mind that designer labels sell for up to 30% less than in the UK, and prices tumble even further during the sales, which run from mid-January to mid-February and mid-July to mid-August.
It may sound strange, but if you’re planning to shop here make sure that you’re already well dressed: look too casual and you’ll be invisible to the fashionista radar of the immaculate shop assistants and struggle to attract their attention. Thankfully though, the Golden Quadrangle’s appeal doesn’t just lie in its boutiques: lovely antique shops and modern art galleries lurk behind them, while the tranquillity of the 18th-century side streets, particularly the Via Borgospesso, provides a necessary breather from all the relentless trendiness.
But not all of Milan’s boutiques are found in this area. If you're after something that won’t melt your credit card quite so rapidly, head south to the Duomo and cross the Piazza to Via Torino, where you'll find the sort of shops that would be at home on any UK high street. Bargain hunters should also take a short tram ride over to Milan's equivalent of Oxford Street, San Babila. Once here, you can weave in and out of the stores, purchase everything from clothes to leather goods, and check out Milan's very own Selfridges, La Rinascente.
Round off your shopping experience at the hip Corso Como 10, an ideal venue for those with a taste for the alternative. Here, you can fill the design gaps in your home as well as your wardrobe, and sample some modern Italian cuisine while you're at it. As well as clothes, there are exclusive ranges of cool and exotic items: Indian candles, oriental fabrics and modern Italian furnishings.

2. Duomo

The building’s most starling feature is the extraordinary roof, with its 135 spires, gargoyles and innumerable marble statues. “The Madonnina” a beautiful gilded statue, 4 metres tall, graces the top of the Duomo's highest pinnacle. Inside, the 52 pillars correspond to the weeks of the year while, on their capitals, imposing saints stretch up into the cross vaults of the ceiling. A nail allegedly from Jesus’ cross hangs at the apex of the apse’s vaulted roof. On a pedestal opposite the Medici monument there’s a remarkably life-like statue of a flayed St Bartholomew – an incredibly accurate study of human anatomy carved in 1562 by Marco d’Agrate, a student of Leonardo da Vinci.

3. Santa Maria delle Grazie

The church of Santa Maria delle Grazie was begun in 1463 by Guiniforte Solari in the late Gothic Lombard style and completed in 1490. Just two years after it was finished, Ludovico il Moro Sforza decided that he wanted to turn it into a suitably awe-inspiring family mausoleum. The presbytery and apse were taken down and replaced by a much larger Renaissance tribune, attributed to Donato Brammante. The stunning interior thus features a blend of styles, with the purity of Solari’s Gothic influenced three-aisled nave complemented by the fresco-covered arches and decorative motifs of Bramante’s cupola. At the same time a small cloister and a new sacristy were added to the adjoining Domenican monastery (Cappella della Madonna delle Grazie) and Leonardo da Vinci was commissioned to paint the Last Supper on the wall of its refectory (see below.)

4. The Last Supper

Considered by many to be the greatest painting of the Renaissance, The Last Supper was painted between 1495 and 1497, while Leonardo da Vinci was working as the Duke of Milan’s ‘pictor et ingeniarius ducalis’ (painter and engineer.) An inveterate experimenter, Leonardo chose to pioneer a new ‘secco’ method of painting a fresco on dry plaster using an oil and egg tempura. (True frescos were painted on wet plaster, guaranteeing the colours would impregnate the plaster and last longer.) The advantage of Leonardo’s technique was greater flexibility; the downside was that the tempura never really bonded with the dry plaster and started to fade and flake off almost immediately. In addition to its innate fragility, the painting has been subject to numerous violations over the years. An especially tall priest reputedly complained that he couldn’t comfortably pass through the low doorway beneath and had it raised, thus cutting off Jesus’s feet. During the 19th-century the refectory functioned as a stable and drunken French soldiers used Leonardo’s masterpiece as target practice. As a result, the Last Supper has been in a state of almost continuous restoration since it was first painted.

The largest and most definitive was commenced in 1977 and completed in 1995, allowing some of the luminous colours to re-emerge at last. Leonardo's painting stands out from so many others of the period because of the acute way he analyses the psychology of his subjects. He chose to portray them just at the moment when Christ announces there is a traitor amongst them. Careful observation shows how each of the apostles reacts – some with shock, others with fear, others with anger. It is said that Leonardo was able to achieve these subtleties thanks to the countless hours he had spent studying anatomy. The painting is also fascinating from a mathematical viewpoint, with its spatial organisation revolving around trinities. The apostles are broken into four groups of three with Jesus in the centre. There are also three windows behind him, the central one boasting an arch that forms a symbolic halo. Visiting The Last Supper requires a certain amount of forward planning. As for whether the figure on Jesus’ right hand side is a woman, or just an unusually effeminate portrayal of John the Baptist, that’s up to the individual viewer to decide.
Visiting hours are Tuesday – Sunday, 08:15 – 18:45, but advance reservations are absolutely mandatory. Only twenty people can visit the artwork at a time, for a maximum of fifteen minutes. Tickets sell out several months in advance, so book very early.

5. San Siro

The Stadio Meazza – more famously known as the San Siro Stadium – is one of the world's greatest football stadiums and home to two of Europe's greatest football clubs: Internazionale and AC Milan. Even if you're unlucky enough to be in Milan when there are no matches on, a pilgrimage to the San Siro is still a worthwhile addition to any football fan's city break. The San Siro Museum, dedicated to both Inter Milan and AC Milan, and is located inside the stadium (Gate 21). The museum is open daily from 10.00, with the last admission at 17.00. Tours depart hourly (with variations on match days). The cost for both the museum and a stadium tour is €12.50.

6. Teatro alla Scala

The Teatro alla Scala is one of the best known temples of lyric and classical music in the world, acclaimed for its superb acoustics and the outstanding level of its performances. The current edifice is actually the second great opera house in Milan. A fire destroyed the first – the ancient Teatro Ducale – in 1776 after a carnival gala. The new theatre, designed by Giuseppe Piermarini, was inaugurated in 1778 and soon became the pre-eminent meeting place for noble and wealthy Milanesi. Traditionally there was always a gallery, called the loggione, above the boxes where the less wealthy could watch the performances. The loggione was typically crowded with the most critical opera aficionados, who could be notoriously ecstatic or merciless towards singers' perceived successes or failures. As with most of the theaters at that time, La Scala was also a casino, with gamblers sitting in the foyer.
The theatre was closed for a £35 million renovation in January 2002 and reopened – minus the loggione, sadly – in November 2004. A 17-storey fly tower has been added to accommodate more backstage space, allowing more productions to be staged, but the theatre administrators insist that the crimson, silk-covered spectator section is untouched. Original marble flooring and terracotta tiles discovered beneath layers of plaster are also newly on display, while the neo-classical façade has been cleaned of decades of grime.
La Scala's season traditionally opens on December 7 – the feast day of the city's patron saint, Saint Ambrose – and attracts socialites and celebrities from all over Italy. Adding to the general entertainment, anti-fur protesters often turns up as well, to taunt the mink-swaddled ladies. La Scala's museum also re-opened in November 2004, crammed with paintings, signed scores and dazzling costumes that recount the glory years of the theatre.

7. Castello Sforzesco

Along with the Duomo, the monolithic Castello Sforzesco is Milan’s other great symbol. It was begun in 1368 by Galeazzo Visconti II as part of the city’s fortifications and continued to expand through the 14th century. Though it was originally intended purely as a fortress, by the early 1400s Milan’s newest ruler, Filippo Maria Visconti, had transformed it into a sumptuous ducal residence. It was partly demolished during uprisings in 1447 then rebuilt by the next Duke of Milan, Francesco Sforza, who lent it its name. His successor, Ludovico il Moro, turned the Castello into one of the most refined courts of Renaissance Italy, with Leonardo da Vinci and Bramante in attendance. However over the next two centuries it deteriorated steadily. Its reconstruction began in 1893, under the supervision of the famous architect Luca Beltrami, who restored it to its former splendour.
Entering through the gate at the base of the Castello’s tower you first enter the enormous piazza d’Arni. This leads on to the Rocchetta Courtyard on the left and the lovely Piazza del Corte Ducale on the right. As well being the gateway to the refreshing green spaces of the Parco Sempione, the Castello houses a stunning sculpture gallery (Civiche Raccolte d’Arte Antica), featuring work by Bellini and Michelangelo, as well as a museum devoted to prehistoric and Egyptian artefacts and one of the largest collections of musical instruments in Europe.

8. Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II

Right in the centre of the city, connecting the piazza del Duomo with the piazza della Scala, the 4-storey, glass-domed arcade Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II is one of the most beautiful covered galleries in Europe. Begun in 1865, it was the first building of its kind to make use of an iron and glass structure. King Vittorio Emanuele led the opening ceremony in 1867, though rather unfortunately the architect, Giuseppe Mengoni, fell to his death from the heights of the glass dome two days before while scrutinizing decorative details.
Over the years the Galleria became a fashionable place to hang out, sip coffee or camparis, or take a stroll through its many exclusive shops. Milanesi gather in this conservatory to escape the winter rains or to socialise after a busy working day. The floor of the central octagon was completely restored in 1966 with a rare marble mosaic showing the emblems of Italian cities. Known as 'the lounge of Milan', the Galleria could be considered history's first shopping centres, containing shops, bookshops and fashionable bars.

9. Fiera Milano

One of the largest trade-fair grounds in Europe, Fiera Milano occupies so much territory that it’s almost a city in itself. It sits in the middle of a beautiful, tree-lined residential neighbourhood and stretches all the way from the post-war construction around largo Domodossola to viale Scarampo (the thoroughfare that leads to the autostrada for Turin and the lakes.) It plays host to such fairs as fashion week and the furniture fair, the international antiques fair, the SMAU technology fair and, of course, the world famous autumn/winter fashion week.

10. Pinacoteca di Brera

Though you might well be going to Milan to shop, watch football or attend a trade fair, if you feel moved to visit one art gallery, the Pinacoteca di Brera is it. It may not be able to boast the breadth of exhibits at, say, the Louvre, but it is recognised as one of the major art collections in the world. What’s more, it is a manageable one that can be fully appreciated in a single afternoon.
It was initially founded by the Hapsburgs in the late 18th century, as a small collection of paintings, sculptures and plaster copies to be used by the students of Milan’s Fine Art Academy. The art collection was dramatically enlarged during the Napoleonic era, when it received a glut of art works confiscated from all over Northern Italy. At this time Napoleon envisaged Milan as a European capital second only to Paris, with a fine art collection to match its status. By the late 19th century, however, the Pinacoteca was officially separated from the Academy and became one of the Italian State's main art museums, though Church and Government continued to squabble over who really controlled it. The collections are particularly important in understanding the history of the visual art in Northern Italy between the 13th and 18th centuries. Important works include the Dead Christ by Mantegna, a mournful Pieta by Bellini, Carravagio’s Supper at Emmaus and Piero della Francesca’s Virgin and Child with Saints. The 38 rooms are arranged in a circuit that begins and ends with 20th century painting. There is also a good cafeteria and a well-stocked shop.
Having viewed the art, don’t leave immediately. The Pinacoteca’s other great feature is its botanical garden: roughly 5000 square metres of blissfully calm green space tucked away behind the main building, which the loca tourist authirty curiously does little to publicise. The garden was created in 1774 by Maria Teresa of Austria as a living classroom to teach botany to students at the Academy. Among its wealth of plant species there is a giant Ginko bilboa – one of the oldest of its kind in Europe.