©Stephanie Ong/Lonely Planet
Milan
This pretty garden with its baroque fish pool and rare, well-tended flora, is the oldest park in the city. It was created in 1555 by the young widow Countess Guastalla, as a private garden for destitute noble girls. There was a high wall, which is now gone, although the garden with its statuary and neoclassical temple retains its cloistered air.
Otherwise known as the ‘children’s garden’, it offers a pretty play area and a bocce court.
1.3 MILES
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…
0.38 MILES
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…
1.96 MILES
Behind striking Renaissance-revival black-and-white walls, Milan’s wealthy have kept their dynastic ambitions alive long after death with grand sculptural…
0.91 MILES
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…
0.63 MILES
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…
14.29 MILES
One of the Italian Renaissance's most notable buildings is the splendid Certosa di Pavia. Giangaleazzo Visconti of Milan founded the monastery, 10km north…
1.03 MILES
Originally a Visconti fortress, this iconic red-brick castle was later home to the mighty Sforza dynasty, who ruled Renaissance Milan. The castle's…
0.36 MILES
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…
1. Chiesa di San Bernardino alle Ossa
0.19 MILES
This church dates from the 13th century, when its ossuary was used to bury plague victims from nearby San Barnaba hospital. It was rebuilt in rococo style…
0.26 MILES
Studio BBPR’s 1958 skyscraper is an iconic Milanese landmark. The top-heavy tower camply tilts at Castello Sforzesco and the Duomo’s lovely buttresses…
3. Chiesa di San Gottardo in Corte
0.27 MILES
Milan’s founding father, murderous Azzone Visconti, is entombed in this ducal chapel that sports Milan’s prettiest, and oldest, octagonal clock tower,…
0.3 MILES
Empress Maria Theresa’s favourite architect, Giuseppe Piermarini, gave this town hall and Visconti palace a neoclassical overhaul in the late 18th century…
0.31 MILES
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…
0.36 MILES
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…
0.38 MILES
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…
0.45 MILES
Housed in the deconsecrated church in the centre of the extraordinary hectagonal structure of the Rotonda della Besana, MUBA is Milan's first centre for…