Corso Magenta & Sant'Ambrogio
Milan's most famous mural, Leonardo da Vinci’s The Last Supper, is hidden away on a wall of the refectory adjoining the Basilica di Santa Maria delle…
Corso Magenta & Sant'Ambrogio
Milan's most famous mural, Leonardo da Vinci’s The Last Supper, is hidden away on a wall of the refectory adjoining the Basilica di Santa Maria delle…
Duomo & San Babila
A vision in pink Candoglia marble, Milan's extravagant Gothic cathedral, 600 years in the making, aptly reflects the city's creativity and ambition. Its…
Porta Garibaldi & Isola
Behind striking Renaissance-revival black-and-white walls, Milan’s wealthy have kept their dynastic ambitions alive long after death with grand sculptural…
Milan
Located upstairs from one of Italy’s most prestigious art schools, this gallery houses Milan’s collection of Old Masters, much of it ‘lifted’ from Venice…
Milan
A stroll around the Quadrilatero d'Oro, the world's most famous shopping district, is a must even for those not sartorially inclined. The quaintly cobbled…
Milan
Originally a Visconti fortress, this iconic red-brick castle was later home to the mighty Sforza dynasty, who ruled Renaissance Milan. The castle's…
Duomo & San Babila
Overlooking Piazza del Duomo, with fabulous views of the cathedral, is Mussolini's Arengario, from where he would harangue huge crowds in his heyday. Now…
Milan
Conceived by designer Miuccia Prada and architect Rem Koolhaas, this museum is as innovative and creative as the minds that gave it shape. Seven renovated…
Milan
Designed by homegrown talent Piero Portaluppi, this exquisitely restored 1930s villa was commissioned by Pavian heiresses Nedda and Gigina Necchi (of the…
Porta Garibaldi & Isola
Join locals sightseeing at this landmark square named after Italy's most famous female architect. The linchpin of Milan’s Porta Nuova regeneration project…
Milan
Milan’s most eccentric museum of 20th-century Italian painting is crowded in a 1930s apartment that still has the appearance of the haute-bourgeois home…
Porta Garibaldi & Isola
Stefano Boeri’s ‘Vertical Forest’ consists of two high-rise apartment blocks whose many reinforced balconies overflow with around 700 trees and 20,000…
Duomo & San Babila
This fabulously decorated palazzo (mansion) is home to part of the enormous collection of Fondazione Cariplo and Intesa Sanpaolo bank, which pays homage…
Milan
Situated behind Castello Sforzesco, Parco Sempione was once the preserve of hunting Sforza dukes. Then Napoleon came to town and set about landscaping…
Porta Garibaldi & Isola
Herzog & de Meuron’s first public buildings in Italy, these two elongated, slanted structures look reminiscent of greenhouses. The Feltrinelli Foundation,…
Chiesa di Santa Maria dei Miracoli e San Celso
Milan
This church’s Renaissance facade festooned with statues seems distinctly un-Milanese with its gleaming Carrara marble and mannerist extravagance, but…
Corso Magenta & Sant'Ambrogio
St Ambrose, Milan’s patron saint and one-time superstar bishop, is buried in the crypt of this red-brick cathedral, which he founded in AD 379. It’s a…
Duomo & San Babila
So much more than a shopping arcade, the neoclassical Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II is a soaring structure of iron and glass. Nicknamed 'il salotto di…
Corso Magenta & Sant'Ambrogio
This 16th-century royal chapel and one-time Benedictine convent is Milan's hidden crown jewel. Its somewhat sombre facade belies a gorgeous interior,…
Museo Nazionale Scienza e Tecnologia Leonardo da Vinci
Corso Magenta & Sant'Ambrogio
Kids and would-be inventors will go goggle-eyed at Milan's science museum, the largest of its kind in Italy. It is a fitting tribute in a city where arch…
Milan
Italy’s first Triennale took place in 1923 in Monza. It aimed to promote Italian design and applied arts, and its success led to the construction of…
Biblioteca e Pinacoteca Ambrosiana
Duomo & San Babila
One of Europe’s earliest public libraries (built 1609), the Biblioteca Ambrosiana was more a symbol of intellectual ferment than of quiet scholarship. It…
Duomo & San Babila
The blank façade of this 18th-century palace disguises the most extravagant interiors in Milan, including a golden hall frescoed by Tiepolo. It was owned…
Basilica di Santa Maria delle Grazie
Corso Magenta & Sant'Ambrogio
Begun by Guiniforte Solari in 1463, with later additions by Bramante, this handsome Lombard church encapsulates the magnificence of the Milanese court of…
Duomo & San Babila
Empress Maria Theresa’s favourite architect, Giuseppe Piermarini, gave this town hall and Visconti palace a neoclassical overhaul in the late 18th century…
Milan
At the age of 24 Gian Giacomo Poldi Pezzoli had inherited not only his family fortune, but also his mother’s love of art. After extensive travels in which…
Chiesa di Santa Maria Presso di San Satiro
Duomo & San Babila
Here’s an escape from the Zara/Benetton/H&M maelstrom on Via Torino. Ludovico Sforza saw potential in this little church built on top of the 9th-century…
Milan
Giò Ponti's spindly 1933 steel tower (built in two months flat for a Triennale exhibition) provides a fantastic 108m-high viewing platform over Parco…
Milan
This stunning, multipurpose exhibition space inhabits a huge former locomotive factory on the outskirts of Milan. Temporary exhibits include smartly…
Studio Museo Achille Castiglioni
Milan
Architect, designer and teacher Achille Castiglioni was one of Italy’s most influential 20th-century thinkers. This is the studio where he worked until…
Milan
Massimiliano Fuksas’ brilliantly engineered exhibition space was built on the Agip oil refinery in Rho-Pero, around 40 minutes out of town by metro. In…
Milan
Built in the 4th century to house the bones of the Three Kings, Sant'Eustorgio is one of Milan's oldest churches. Its harmonious exterior belies its…
Milan
Aiming to be a place of dialogue between people and world cultures, Milan's Museum of Culture, housed in the ex-Ansaldo factory, has an ambitious remit…
Corso Magenta & Sant'Ambrogio
Home to the Italian stock exchange (Palazzo della Borsa), this square is a famous hub of financial activity. But that’s not all it’s known for. In the…
Porta Garibaldi & Isola
Against a backdrop of shimmering skyscrapers and the Bosco Verticale, this modern urban park bustles with activity. Sprawling lawns, a rich variety of…
Duomo & San Babila
Stepping through Guido Canali’s glowing spaces in the Duomo's museum is like coming upon the sets for a Game of Thrones episode. Gargoyles leer down…
Giardini Pubblici Indro Montanelli
Milan
A life story unfolds as you follow pebble paths past bumper cars and a carousel, onwards past games of football, kissing teens, a beer kiosk, babies in…
Corso Magenta & Sant'Ambrogio
The 8th-century Monastero Maggiore, once the most important Benedictine convent in the city, is now home to Milan's archaeological museum. Access is via a…
Corso Magenta & Sant'Ambrogio
Behind the 15th-century Casa degli Atellani, home of Renaissance courtiers dell’Atella, lies one of the most interesting gardens in Milan. Set within them…
Milan
Situated at the northwestern edge of Parco Sempione is Napoleon's 25m-high triumphal arch. Designed by Luigi Cagnola in 1807, it echoes Paris' Arc de…