Milan Madness
One of the ‘Golden shopping streets’
Narrow, weaving streets. Crazy drivers. Sidewalks clogged with scooters. Pedestrians gesticulating wildly while talking on mobile phones. Yelling and honking. With most of the city dominated by this, Milan initially seems quite chaotic. It does not have the tourist-friendly atmosphere of Rome or the Tuscany region. It is a business and fashion capital that moves with great pace. But once you get used to it, and see some of its treasures, Milan is a city that really grows on you.
We arrived on Monday night, 21 April via the budget airline, Niki, from Vienna. Having seen a lot of the great Italian works of art on a previous trip, we spent our time in Milan soaking up the atmosphere and enjoying the food.
Mikey enjoying a piadina with prosciutto and bocconcini
We walked through some good markets, which primarily sold cheap clothes and shoes. This was the first and only time I saw inexpensive clothing. We later went to the ‘Golden Quad’ shopping district, where four streets of shops intersect, and here there are multiple stores of Louis Vuitton, Prada, Versace, Armani, MaxMara, D&G…you get the picture. It was the greatest concentration of high fashion that I have ever seen, quite staggering. It was also pretty amazing to see some of this stuff on girls half my age! While some of the clothing and accessories were really good, it is also quite clear that money does not guarantee good taste.
Inside the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II shopping arcade
The centre square in Milan is home to the Duomo cathedral, an ornate gothic church that towers above the city. It is dark and musty inside because little light penetrates the deeply coloured stained glass windows. For 5 euros you can climb the stairs to the roof and get a closer look at the ornate steeples and walk along the roof tiles. I’m not sure what was more amazing, the roof or the view.
Duomo
The Duomo roof
One museum we did venture into was the ‘Leonardo da Vinci’ Science and Technology museum, which displayed some of da Vinci’s engineering feats as well as exhibitions about Italy’s water and air transport.
Mikey enjoyed the air transport exhibit
The Lonely Planet did not give Milan a glowing review, and I wonder if that is because they did not encounter Milan’s glorious gardens. While their article mentioned the dramatic 15th Century Castello Sforzesco (previously the residence of the Sforza dynasty and now used as a museum), they did not mention the massive garden behind it. The trees were flowering, the water crystal clear and the grass green and lush.
Castello Sforzesco gardens
There was also a stunning park near our hotel, which had a carousel and food vendor in the centre. We spent a couple of afternoons at dusk having a beer in this garden and - in the lovely spring weather - it was the best place to be in Milan.
Pt Venezia park near our hotel
May 5th, 2008 at 2:53 am
Wow, they’re still working on the Duomo! It was being fixed up when I was there all of about, oh, 4 years ago! Maybe it’s like painting the Sydney Harbour Bridge - it never stops!
I too liked Milan but it was expensive. Rome beats it hands down in my book.