Milan, the classic and the new

Grandeur and the modern spirit

Milan rewards the early riser. At nine in the morning the Duomo is a cliff of pink-veined marble against the sky, and from its terraces you walk among the spires with the gilded Madonnina above you. A few streets west, in the refectory of Santa Maria delle Grazie, you have fifteen booked minutes with Leonardo’s Last Supper; then the Castello Sforzesco, and Michelangelo’s last, unfinished Pietà.

By the afternoon you can be in another Milan entirely. In Porta Nuova the Piazza Gae Aulenti spreads beneath the spire of the UniCredit Tower, and the Bosco Verticale carries its trees up two residential towers; at CityLife, three towers by Zaha Hadid, Arata Isozaki and Daniel Libeskind rise over a park. Few cities wear their old and new so close together, and so without apology.

Traditions and seasonal style

Milan dresses for the occasion, and notices when you do. For the Duomo and the churches, shoulders and knees are covered. Spring and autumn are the best seasons for walking; winters can be cold and grey, summers hot and close, and in August much of the city goes on holiday.

The calendar is set by its great events: the Fashion Weeks of the Camera Nazionale della Moda Italiana, and each spring the Salone del Mobile, when design studios and courtyards across the city open for Milano Design Week. An evening at La Scala is the occasion to dress up; its season traditionally opens on 7 December, the feast of Sant’Ambrogio.

At the table: the pasticceria, the aperitivo and the new kitchens

The day begins at the counter: a coffee and a pastry at Marchesi 1824, at Cova on the Via Montenapoleone, or under the glass dome of the Galleria. At six comes the aperitivo, a Campari at Camparino, where it has been served since 1915, or a Negroni Sbagliato at Bar Basso, where the drink was born.

Lunch and dinner keep faith with the Milanese classics: saffron risotto, the cotoletta, ossobuco with gremolata. At the top of the city’s cooking, Enrico Bartolini al Mudec holds Three MICHELIN Stars in the 2026 guide, Verso Capitaneo, Seta and Andrea Aprea hold Two, and fourteen more tables hold One, from Cracco in the Galleria to Il Luogo Aimo e Nadia.

Milanese Cuisine →   The best restaurants in Milan →

Lakes and mountains within reach

Milan is the gateway to the Italian lakes. A Trenord train takes you to Como in about an hour, or to Varenna, where the ferry crosses to Bellagio on its point; on Lake Maggiore, the boats from Stresa reach the baroque terraces of Isola Bella in minutes. Bergamo’s upper town, ringed by its Venetian walls, is another hour east.

Beyond the lakes rise the Alps, and the ski resorts of Italy and Switzerland are within a few hours in winter.

Lake Como →   Lake Maggiore & Stresa →   Bergamo →   ULTIMATE Ski Resorts →

After dark, and what’s new

Milan goes out after the aperitivo. The Navigli fill at dusk, the bars along the Naviglio Grande spilling onto the towpath and the Darsena, the old harbour, turned into a promenade. Isola has the jazz of the Blue Note; Porta Garibaldi the rooftop of Ceresio 7; and the Excelsior Gallia, facing the Centrale, Terrazza Gallia on its roof.

The city’s newest addresses keep up the pace: The Carlton, Rocco Forte’s hotel between the Via Senato and the Via della Spiga, opened in November 2025, and Rosewood Milan is due in 2027.

Beyond the centre

Some of the most rewarding Milan lies outside the old walls. South of Porta Romana, in a distillery of the 1910s, the Fondazione Prada’s gold and white buildings by OMA hold some of Europe’s most ambitious exhibitions, with Wes Anderson’s Bar Luce at the door. In the north, Pirelli HangarBicocca shows Anselm Kiefer’s Seven Heavenly Palaces in a vast former industrial hall. In the west, Il Luogo Aimo e Nadia has cooked for decades far from the fashion district.

Porta Romana & Fondazione Prada →   The Navigli & Tortona →

The rail frontier: Turin, Venice and Rome

Milano Centrale is the hub of northern Italy’s railways. Trenitalia’s Frecciarossa and Italo run west to Turin, east to Verona and Venice, and south to Bologna, Florence, Rome and Naples; Trenord’s regional trains reach the lakes. Book on trenitalia.com, italotreno.com or trenord.it, and check the timetable before you travel.

Milan by rail →   Turin →   ULTIMATE Rome →   ULTIMATE Venice →   ULTIMATE Rail Journeys →

The films that captured Milan

Milan has been the stage for some of Italian cinema’s great portraits of a changing city: Vittorio De Sica’s Miracle in Milan (1951), Luchino Visconti’s Rocco and His Brothers (1960), about a family arriving from the south, and Michelangelo Antonioni’s La Notte (1961). Luca Guadagnino’s I Am Love (2009) found its setting in the Villa Necchi Campiglio, and Ridley Scott’s House of Gucci (2021) told the story of a fashion dynasty. See our page Milan on film for the official trailers.

Milan on film →

Questions and answers