Milan, Italy — Where to Go
Milan Sightseeing Overview
Three times in its history, Milan had to rebuild after being conquered. Founded in the seventh century BC by Celts, the city, then known as Mediolanum (‘mid-plain'), was first sacked by the Goths in the 600s (AD), then by Barbarossa in 1157 and finally by the Allies in WWII.
Milan reinvented herself under French, Spanish and Austrian rulers from 1499 until the reunification of Italy in 1870, which is when its economic success truly began, when metal and rubber industries were established here. After such repeated bombardments, it's a miracle that so many historic treasures still exist, including La Scala opera house, Castello Sforzesco, and Leonardo da Vinci's The Last Supper, which survived a direct hit in WWII.
Today, Milan has many museums and a particularly good selection of world-class art exhibitions and individual pieces. Leonardo's The Last Supper, now restored, is held in the Dominican convent of Santa Maria delle Grazie. However, the less famous Brera Gallery is an international treasure house (on a par with the Uffizi Gallery in Florence and London's National Gallery) and Michelangelo's last work, the extraordinary Pieta Rondanini, in the civic galleries of the Sforza Castle, is a surprise find for many of the city's visitors.
Milan sightseeing is made easier because the city center is compact and most attractions are close to the Duomo (cathedral). The center has an attractive number of pedestrianized quarters, which mix it up with a cocktail of architectural styles (the grandeur of Imperial Austria, the grace of Renaissance Italy and the optimistic bravado of the Belle Epoque).
To relax, try wandering the southern stretch of Milan's historic center, taking in the canal banks of the Naviglio Grande, where the old wash houses can still be seen, exploring the university district and the historic collection of basilicas Sant'Eustorgio and Sant'Ambrogio. Milan's parks, Parco Sempione and Giardini Pubblici, to the north, are pleasant for a break on a sunny day.
Milan Tourist Information
AziendaPromozioneTuristicadelMilanese(APT)
Piazza del Duomo 19a
Tel: 02 7740 4343.
Website: www.visitamilano.it
Opening hours: Mon-Sat 0845-1300 and 1400-1800, Sun 0900-1300 and 1400-1700.
There is another tourist information office in Stazione Centrale (tel: 02 7740 4318).
Milan Sightseeing
The Welcome Card includes a one-day public transport pass, a short history of the city, a map of Milan (including public transport routes), discount vouchers for selected shops and a CD compilation of classical music. Unfortunately, no discounts or free entrance to tourist sights are currently offered. The card is available from the tourist information office.
The MilanoCard (www.milanocard.it) includes free public transport and discounts on selected museums, monuments, restaurants and bike renting. The card can be bought online or from the tourist information office in Milan.
Milan Sightseeing
The Welcome Card includes a one-day public transport pass, a short history of the city, a map of Milan (including public transport routes), discount vouchers for selected shops and a CD compilation of classical music. Unfortunately, no discounts or free entrance to tourist sights are currently offered. The card is available from the tourist information office.
The MilanoCard (www.milanocard.it) includes free public transport and discounts on selected museums, monuments, restaurants and bike renting. The card can be bought online or from the tourist information office in Milan.
Key Attractions in Milan, Italy
Duomo(Milan Cathedral)
Milan's Duomo is the world's largest gothic cathedral; begun in 1386, it took 500 years to complete. The best time to visit is in bright sunshine, when the windows create a kaleidoscope of color through the cavernous interior. St Charles Borromeo, its most important benefactor, lies buried at its heart. A champion of the Counter Reformation, he commissioned the wooden choir, many of the statues and the nivola, the peculiar basket that is used in one of Milan's stranger ceremonies: twice a year (May and September), Milan's most important relic, a nail from the cross of Christ, which has been displayed over the high altar since 1461, is brought down by the bishop who is hoisted up there in the nivola. Visitors should explore the underground octagonal chamber where Borromeo is buried and the adjacent Treasury. WWII bombs thankfully just missed the cathedral's roof, which nests amid a majestic web of flying buttresses, spires and pinnacles. Above the forest of 135 spires and 3,500 statues, the small gilded copper statue of the Virgin, the ‘Madonnina', erected in 1774, stands over the central lantern, 109m (358ft) above the city.
Piazza del Duomo
Tel: 02 7202 2656.
Website: www.duomomilano.it
Opening hours: Daily 0830-1845.
Admission charge: N.
Disabled access: Y.
SantaMariadelleGrazieand The Last Supper
TheLastSupper (Il Cenacolo) is one of the most famous paintings in the world. Lodovico Sforza commissioned Leonardo da Vinci's masterpiece (1495-97) for the refectory adjoining the Dominican church of Santa Maria delle Grazie in Milan. The painting depicts the dramatic moment of Christ's revelation of the betrayal. The 12 apostles are grouped into threes, Christ at the center, Judas to the right, his hand frozen on the bag of silver on the table. Over the years, paint flaked off because Leonardo applied it directly to dry plaster (fresco secco) instead of bonding the pigments with wet plaster (buon fresco).
Piazza Santa Maria delle Grazie 2, Corso Magenta
Tel: 02 9280 0362.
Website: www.cenacolovinciano.org
Opening hours: Tue-Sun 0815-1900. Visits are limited to 15 minutes, in groups of 25; booking is mandatory.
Admission charge: Y.
Disabled access: Y.
UNESCO site: Y.
Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II
Entered from the piazza in front of the cathedral (Milan's Duomo), the glass-domed cruciform Vittorio Emanuele II Gallery is a vast Belle Epoque shopping arcade. It was built to link the Piazza del Duomo to the Piazza della Scala and soon became Milan's conservatory. Winter and summer, Milanese can be seen here, escaping the rain, browsing the exclusive shops and sipping Campari and soda in the bars.
Piazza del Duomo
Opening hours: Daily 24 hours (shops, bars and restaurants close at various times).
Admission charge: N.
Disabled access: Y.
Museo Bagatti Valsecchi
The Palazzo Bagatti Valsecchi, built by two brothers in 1883 as their ideal Renaissance household, was only opened as a museum in 1994. Avid collectors of antiques from the 15th and early 16th centuries, they furnished the rooms with their vast collections. The result is a fascinating insight into the mentality of 19th-century Milan, which had just recovered its independence, nostalgically looking back to the days of the Sforza. Highlights of the collection include the fine painting of Santa Giustina by Bellini and the exquisite majolica and Venetian crystal glassware.
Via Santo Spirito 10/Via Gesù 5
Tel: 02 7600 6132.
Website: www.museobagattivalsecchi.org
Opening hours: Tues-Sun 1300-1745; by appointment only in August.
Admission charge: Y.
Disabled access: Y.
Museo d'Arte Antica, Castello Sforzesco (Museum of Historic Art, Sforza Castle)
Three municipal museums compete for attention within the red-brick 15th-century Sforza Castle on the edge of the Parco Sempione, but the most venerable is the Museum of Historic Art. Visitors come to see Michelangelo's last work, the unfinished Pietà Rondanina, depicting the Virgin cradling the body of Christ, which was bought by the museum in 1952. The sculpture's rough surface and abstract sinuosity is strikingly modern. Upstairs, above the extensive sculpture galleries, there is a large collection of paintings, including notable works by Mantegna, Antonello da Messina and Leonardo da Vinci.
Piazza Castello
Tel: 02 8846 3703.
Website: www.milanocastello.it
Opening hours: Tue-Sun 0900-1730 (castle daily 0700-1800/1900).
Admission charge: Y.
Disabled access: Y.
Museo Nazionale della Scienza e della Tecnologia Leonardo da Vinci (Leonardo da Vinci National Science and Technology Museum)
In Milan, the city of The Last Supper, interest in the creative genius of Leonardo da Vinci is understandable. Most visitors come to this museum, devoted to the history of science, to see the Leonardo Gallery, with its host of models (both static and functioning) that illustrate Leonardo's intuitive genius. His designs for war machines, flying machines, architecture and production awaken admiration for a man whose ideas, even when not 100% successful (such as the rotating screw, claimed as a precursor to the helicopter), display incredible foresight.
Via San Vittore 21
Tel: 02 485 551.
Website: www.museoscienza.org
Opening hours: Wed-Fri 0930-1700, Sat and Sun 0930-1830.
Admission charge: Y.
Disabled access: Y.
Museo Poldi Pezzoli
The Poldi Pezzoli Museum's varied and often exquisite collection of art, furnishings and historic arms was put together by the 19th-century aristocrat Gian Giocomo Poldi Pezzoli (1802-79). Milan's second favorite painting (after The Last Supper), Antonio Pollaiolo's Portrait of a Lady, hangs here. The profile portrait of an elegant and well-attired lady has since become an icon for Milan's own style and elegance. The museum also hosts paintings by Andrea Mantegna and Sandro Botticelli.
Via Manzoni 12
Tel: 02 796 334.
Website: www.museopoldipezzoli.it
Opening hours: Wed-Mon 1000-1800.
Admission charge: Y.
Disabled access: Y.
Museo Teatrale alla Scala (Theater Museum at La Scala)
Opera lovers should visit this museum, crammed with rich mementoes of the celebrated opera house, La Scala. Two collections are devoted to Milan's darling Giuseppe Verdi, whose ‘Slaves Chorus' from Nabucco remains the unofficial Italian anthem. Memorabilia include the spinet on which he learned to play, scores in his own hand and the jewel-encrusted baton presented to him after the triumphal reception of Aida. Rossini, Puccini and Toscanini are honored alongside him.
Largo Ghiringhelli 1
Tel: 02 8879 2473.
Website: www.teatroallascala.org
Opening hours: Daily 0900-1230, 1330-1730.
Admission charge: Y.
Disabled access: Y.
Pinacoteca di Brera (Brera Picture Gallery)
Napoleon, whose statue by Canova stands in the courtyard, opened Milan's Brera Picture Gallery in 1809, a collection that was enriched with objects confiscated on his Italian campaigns. Formerly a Jesuit Academy of Science, Brera's name comes from the meadows in which it once stood. The collection is best known for its Venetian and Lombard masters. Particularly fine are the lyrical Pietà by Giovanni Bellini, depicting the death of Christ, and Mantegna's virtuoso treatment of the same subject, the body foreshortened and viewed from the soles upward. Tintoretto's gruesome depiction of the spirit of St Mark hovering over his cadaver, appearing to the Venetian merchants in the gloom of the Alexandrian catacombs, is particularly striking. Raphael's Wedding of the Madonna and two rare works by the enigmatic Piero della Francesca should also not be overlooked.
Via Brera 28
Tel: 02 722 631.
Website: www.brera.beniculturali.it
Opening hours: Tues-Sun 0830-1915.
Admission charge: Y.
Disabled access: Y.
Further Distractions
BasilicaSant'Ambrogio
Built by Saint Ambrose, the patron saint of Milan, the original basilica dates back to the fourth century. The three saints' remains can be seen in a glass case under the main altar. The Sant'Ambrogio basilica (ninth-12th centuries) is one of Milan's finest churches, a monumental building in the mature Lombard Romanesque style, retaining its early Christian basilica plan based on the architecture of ancient Rome. The Chapel of St Victor (Sacello di San Vittore in Ciel d'Oro), at the end of the south aisle, is a vaulted funerary chapel built in the church cemetery in the fourth century.
Piazza Sant'Ambrogio 15
Tel: 02 8645 0895.
Website: www.santambrogio-basilica.it
Opening hours: Mon-Sat 0700-1200 and 1430-1900, Sun 1500-2000.
Admission charge: N.
Disabled access: Y.
CimiteroMonumentale(MonumentalCemetery)
A few blocks east of Stazione Garibaldi, the Monumental Cemetery, opened in 1866, may appeal to romantic souls, happy to leave the bustle and grime of Milan's quick and ponder Milan's dead instead. Much of the funerary architecture is fabulous art nouveau, celebrating the passing of Milan's rich and famous, including Toscanini, novelist Alessandro Manzoni and poet Salvatore Quasimodo. The Palanti Chapel is more poignant, commemorating the 800 Milanesi killed in Nazi concentration camps.
Piazzale Cimitero Monumentale 1
Tel: 02 8846 5600.
Website: www.monumentale.net
Opening hours: Tue-Sun 0800-1800.
Admission charge: N.
Disabled access: Y.
