Lombardy and the Lakes – Part 1
Lombardy, Italy’s richest region, often seems to have more in common with its northern European neighbours than with the rest of Italy. Given its history, this is hardly surprising: it was ruled for almost two centuries by the French and Austrians and takes its name from the northern Lombards, who ousted the Romans. As a border region, Lombardy has always been vulnerable to invasion, just as it has always profited by being a commercial crossroads. Emperors from Charlemagne to Napoleon came to Lombardy to be crowned king – and big business continues to take Lombardy’s capital, Milan, more seriously than Rome.
The region’s people, ranging from Milanese workaholics to cosseted provincial urbanites, hardly fit the popular image of Italians – and, in truth, they have little time for most of their compatriots. This has fuelled the rise of the Lega Nord, a political party nominally demanding independence from Rome and successfully exploiting the popular sentiment that northern taxes sustain the inefficient, workshy south.
Sadly all this economic success has taken its toll on the landscape: industry chokes the peripheries of towns, sprawls across the Po plain and even spreads its polluting tentacles into the Alpine valleys. Traffic, too, is bad, with many roads – autostradas and lakeside lanes alike – gridlocked at peak times. Nonetheless, Lombardy’s towns and cities retain medieval cores boasting world-class art and architecture, and the stunning scenery of the so-called Italian Lakes – notably lakes Maggiore, Como and Garda – never fails to seduce.
Milan’s lowland neighbours – Pavia, Cremona, Mantua – flourished during the Middle Ages and Renaissance and retain much character. To the north, Lombardy is quite different, the lakes and valleys sheltering fewer historic towns, the cities of Bergamo and Brescia excepted. Reaching into the high Alps, lakes Maggiore, Como, Garda and their lesser-celebrated siblings have long been popular tourist territory with both Italians and foreigners.
Although the western shore of Lake Maggiore and the northern and eastern shores of Lake Garda fall outside Lombardy (in Piemonte, Trentino and Veneto respectively), the Lakes region and its resorts are all covered in this section.
Highlights
Tortelli alla zucca Tuck into a plate of delicious pumpkin ravioli topped with sage butter.
Roof of Milan’s Duomo Wander around the roof of the world’s largest Gothic cathedral with the best views of the city and the mountains beyond.
The Last Supper Leonardo da Vinci’s mural for the refectory wall of Santa Maria delle Grazie is one of the world’s most resonant images.
Shopping in Milan Steel yourself for the ultimate shopping trip in the fashion and design capital of the world.
Certosa di Pavia This Carthusian monastery is a fantastic construction rising out of the rice fields near Pavia.
Cycling round Mantua Rent a bike and explore elegant Mantua and the surrounding waterways.
Lake Como Explore the most romantic of the Lakes by ferry.
Città Alta, Bergamo Bergamo’s medieval upper town is an enchanting spot to spend an evening.
Milan
The dynamo behind the country’s “economic miracle” in the 1950s, MILAN is an Italian city like no other. It’s foggy in winter, muggy and mosquito-ridden in summer, and is closer in outlook, as well as distance, to London than to Palermo. This is no city of peeling palazzi, cobbled piazzas and la dolce vita, but one where consumerism and the work ethic rule the lives of its well-dressed citizens. Because of this most visitors pass straight through, and if it’s summer and you’re keen for sun and sea this might well be the best thing you can do; the weather, in July and August especially, can be off-puttingly humid. But at any other time of year it’s well worth giving Milan more of a chance. It’s a historic city, with a spectacular cathedral and enough ancient churches and galleries to keep you busy for a week, but there are also bars and cafés to relax in, and the contemporary aspects of the place represent the cutting edge of Italy’s fashion and design industry.
Some history
Milan first stepped into the historical limelight in 313 AD when Emperor Constantine issued the Edict of Milan, granting Christians throughout the Roman Empire the freedom to worship for the first time. The city, under its charismatic bishop, Ambrogio (Ambrose), swiftly became a major centre of Christianity; many of today’s churches stand on the sites, or even retain parts, of fourth-century predecessors.
Medieval Milan rose to prominence under the Visconti dynasty, who founded the florid late-Gothic Duomo, and built the nucleus of the Castello – which, under their successors, the Sforza, was extended to house what became one of the most luxurious courts of the Renaissance. The last Sforza, Lodovico, commissioned Leonardo da Vinci in 1495 to paint The Last Supper.
Milan fell to the French in 1499, marking the beginning of almost four centuries of foreign rule, which included the Spanish, Napoleon and the Austrian Habsburgs. Mussolini made his mark on the city, too: arrive by train and you emerge into the massive white Stazione Centrale, built on the dictator’s orders. And it was on the innocuous roundabout of Piazzale Loreto that the dictator’s corpse was strung up for display in April 1945 as proof of his demise.
Milan’s postwar development was characterized by the boom periods of the 1950s and 1980s: the city’s wealth now comes from banking and its position at the top of the world’s fashion and design industries. Politically, too, Milan has been key to Italy’s postwar history. A bomb in Piazza Fontana in 1969 that killed sixteen people signalled the beginning of the dark and bloody period known as the Anni di piombo, when secret-service machinations led to over a hundred deaths from bomb attacks. In the 1980s, corruption and political scandal once again focused attention on Milan, which gained the nickname Tangentopoli (“Bribesville”). The subsequent political reordering paved the way for Forza Italia, a political party founded by the self-promoting media magnate Silvio Berlusconi – Milan born and bred, he owns the football club AC Milan and has his power base in the city’s media conglomerates, as well as being Italy’s longest serving prime minister since World War II.
Arrival
Milan has two main airports – Malpensa and Linate – both used by domestic and international traffic. It is also within easy reach of several smaller airports: Bergamo-Orio al Serio is the best connected and the most convenient, while Verona-Brescia is a couple of hours’ drive away.
Malpensa (02.232.323, www.sea-aeroportimilano.it), 50km northwest near Lake Maggiore, is connected with Stazione Centrale, Milan’s main train station, by direct bus (every 20min 4.25am–11.15pm; 1hr; €7.50), and with Milano Nord station by a fast train, the Malpensa Express (every 30min 4.20am–11.25pm; 50min; 199.151.152, www.malpensaexpress.it; early-morning and evening services are replaced by a bus from Via Leopardi, just to the left of the station as you face it; €12 if bought beforehand, more if purchased on the train). Both destinations are on the city’s metro system: Stazione Centrale is termed “Centrale F.S.” and Milano Nord is “Cadorna”. A taxi from Malpensa to the centre takes about forty minutes and costs around €80 when the traffic is not too heavy.
Buses also link Malpensa’s Terminal 1 to towns on nearby Lake Maggiore, including Stresa and Verbania (5 daily; reserve 48hr ahead on 0323.552.172, www.safduemila.com; €11; buy tickets at the Airport 2000 desk or on board). Gallarate train station, 5km from Malpensa airport by regular local buses, has trains to Stresa and Verbania, as well as Varese.
Milan’s second airport, Linate (02.232.323, www.sea-aeroportimilano.it), is 7km east of the city centre: airport buses connect it with the Piazza Luigi di Savoia, on the east side of Stazione Centrale (every 20min 5.40am–9.30pm; 20min; €2, buy ticket on board). ATM city bus #73 runs from Linate (every 10min 5.30am–midnight; 25min) to the central Piazza San Babila (metro line M1) on Corso Europa; tickets cost the standard €1 and should be bought from the airport newsagent, or (with coins) from the ticket machine at the bus stop. A taxi to the centre will cost around €30. There’s also a twice-daily bus service between Linate and Malpensa (1hr 15min).
By rail and road
Most international and domestic trains pull in at the monumental Stazione Centrale, northeast of the city centre on Piazza Duca d’Aosta, at the hub of the metro network on lines M2 and M3. Other trains, especially those from stations in the Milan region – Bergamo, Pavia, Como and the western lakes – sometimes terminate at smaller stations around the city: Porta Garibaldi, Lambrate, Porta Genova or Milano Nord, all on M2, though some continue to Stazione Centrale.
All international and long-distance buses, and many regional buses, arrive at the bus station in front of the Porta Garibaldi train station (M2), where you can get information and buy tickets from the Autostradale/Eurolines bus office (02.3391.0794; Mon–Fri 9am–6.30pm).
If you’re arriving by car, try to avoid the morning and evening rush hours (approximately 7.30–10am & 4.30–7pm) when Milan’s outer ring road, the infamous Tangenziale, is often gridlocked. Signage is copious, if not always clear. The Tangenziale links to the autostradas for Bergamo, Brescia, Lake Garda and on to Venice (A4 east), Turin (A4 west), Varese and Lake Maggiore (A8), Lake Como (A9), Genoa (A7) and Bologna and the south (the A1 “Autostrada del Sole”). See Driving and parking for information on the Ecopass, Milan’s congestion charge and advice on parking in the city.
Information
Milan has two tourist offices, plus smaller branches at Malpensa and Linate airports (daily 9am–4pm). The main city-centre office is at Piazza del Duomo 19/A, on the north side of the square, underground (Mon–Sat 8.45am–1pm & 2–6pm, Sun 9am–1pm & 2–5pm; 02.7740.4343, www.visitamilano.it). There’s another, smaller office in Stazione Centrale (Mon–Sat 9am–6pm, Sun 9am–1pm & 2–5pm; 02.7740.4318), though at the time of writing its future location was unclear due to refurbishment works.
City transport
Milan’s street-plan resembles a spider’s web, with roads radiating out from the central pedestrianized Piazza del Duomo. The city centre is, however, fairly compact, and most of what you’ll want to see is within the first or second rings, each of them marking ancient city boundaries.
Public transport
The four lines of the metro – M1 (red), M2 (green), M3 (yellow) and passante ferroviario (blue) – connect at the four main hubs of Stazione Centrale, Duomo, Cadorna and Loreto (see map Milan Metro). It’s also worth getting to grips with the well-organized bus and tram system. Most stops display the route and direction, and as tickets for all three forms of transport are integrated you can hop on and off at will. Buses, trams and the metro run from around 6am to midnight, after which nightbuses take over, following the metro routes until 1am. For public transport enquiries (daily 7.45am–7.15pm; www.atm-mi.it), the information offices at Duomo or Stazione Centrale metro stations have helpful, English-speaking staff.
Tickets, valid for 75 minutes, cost €1 and can be used for one metro trip and unlimited bus and tram rides. They are on sale at tobacconists, bars and at metro station newsagents; most outlets close at 8pm so it’s best to buy a few tickets in advance, or a carnet of ten for €9.20. You can also buy a one-day (€3) or two-day pass (€5.50) at Stazione Centrale or Duomo metro stations. Remember to stamp your ticket when you enter the metro and board buses and trams, as inspections are common.
Bicycles
Milan is a great city to explore on two wheels – much of the centre is pedestrianized or with one-way traffic; the only real worries are the uneven cobbles and the tram tracks. The easy-to-use, well-organized bike-sharing initiative, BikeMi, gives you economic use of the city centre’s fleet of bikes, located strategically by metro stations and main sights. The simple signing-up procedure is online, by phone or at ATM offices (in Duomo, Stazione Centrale, Cadorna or Garibaldi metro stations). There’s a registration fee of €2.50, payable by credit card only, for daily or weekly rental (maximum 2hr at a time; €0.50/30min).
Tours and taxis
A hop-on, hop-off bus tour (www.milano.city-sightseeing.it), with recorded English commentary, has two different routes departing from Piazza Castello (daily every 30min 9.30am–5.45pm; €20), while walking tours are arranged from the main tourist office.
Taxis don’t cruise the streets, so don’t bother trying to flag one down. Either head for a taxi rank – on Piazza del Duomo, Largo Cairoli, Piazza San Babila and Stazione Centrale, among others – or phone (see Listings for numbers).
Driving and parking
Driving in the city is best avoided: the streets are congested and parking nigh on impossible. If you do drive, you need to know that the Ecopass – an initiative to cut pollution and congestion – is in force in the city centre (Mon–Fri 7am–7pm). You must buy the pass on the day of entry or up to midnight of the day afterwards; the fee is worked out on a sliding scale depending on your engine type. Payments can be made at authorized newsagents and tobacconists, through Intesa-SanPaolo ATMs, or, in English, by freephone (Mon–Sat 7am–8pm; 800.437.437) or online (www.comune.milano.it/ecopass). If your hotel is within the Ecopass area, ask reception if they have any special provision for guests. For parking you’re safest heading for a car park, which should cost around €2.50 per hour. Central options include Autosilo Diaz, Piazza Diaz 6 (just south of Piazza del Duomo), and Garage Traversi, on Via Bagutta near Piazza San Babila.
Accommodation
Much of Milan’s accommodation is geared towards business travellers: rooms can be characterless, prices tend to be high and hotels are often booked up year-round. You’d be wise to reserve well ahead.
The area around Stazione Centrale and across to Corso Buenos Aires is home to a good proportion of the city’s cheaper hotels, and although many cater to the area’s considerable red-light trade, you will be fine at any of the places we recommend. As you go towards the centre, prices rise but there are still good deals to be had in some of the side streets off the city’s main thoroughfares.
As many of Milan’s mid-range hotels are rather dingy you may want to look into bed-and-breakfast accommodation; we have listed the best options below. Check www.bed-and-breakfast.it for further ideas. English-speaking Friendly Rentals (0800.520.0373, www.friendlyrentals.com) has a good selection of stylish apartments to rent (from three nights) throughout the city, which can make a fun, economical alternative for families or groups.
Hotels and B&Bs
Antica Locanda dei Mercanti Via San Tomaso 6 02.805.4080, www.locanda.it. Tucked away between the Duomo and the castle, this quietly elegant locanda offers individually decorated rooms; two even have their own roof terraces. Breakfast (not included) is served in the rooms. The Alle Meraviglie (www.allemeraviglie.it), next door at no. 8, is run by the same people, with similarly bright, tasteful rooms. €151–250
Antica Locanda Leonardo Corso Magenta 78 02.4801.4197, www.anticalocandaleonardo.com. This discreet three-star is just steps away from The Last Supper and has light and airy rooms, some overlooking a pretty internal garden. Also convenient for the Malpensa Express and trains from Milano Nord. €151–250
Ariston Largo Carrobbio 2 02.7200.0556, www.aristonhotel.com. The best thing about this pleasant modern hotel is its position – within walking distance of the Duomo and the Navigli – and the free bicycles. Rooms are a little cramped but all are en suite and a decent breakfast is included. €91–120
Bulgari Via Fratelli Gabba 7/B 02.058.051, www.bulgarihotels.com. In a hidden corner of Brera, the city’s top hotel has all the Milanese style you could wish for and none of the attitude you might expect. Staff are charming, facilities impeccable and the terrace bar and garden are an absolute treat. Rooms start at around €450 per night depending on special offers. €401 and over
Cavour Via Fatebenefratelli 21 02.620.001, www.hotelcavour.it. A business-oriented hotel in a great position between the Giardini Pubblici and the Quadrilatero d’Oro. Service is well judged and the comfortable, soundproof rooms (including a thoughtful hypoallergenic option) are good value. €151–200
Euro Via Sirtori 24 02.3040.4010, www.eurohotelmilano.it. Very good value a/c rooms with parquet floors are offered in this well-located hotel. There’s also a small gym, a patio for alfresco breakfast and cheaper – but still pleasant – rooms available. €91–120
Foresteria Monforte Piazza Tricolore 2 340.237.0272, www.foresteriamonforte.it. These lovingly styled contemporary rooms and one suite are bright and airy as well as being beautifully kept and discreetly run. €151–200
Kennedy Viale Tunisia 6, 6th floor 02.2940.0934, www.kennedyhotel.it. A well-organized, friendly one-star with bright, simple rooms, some of which are en suite. Some rooms even have their own balconies overlooking the rooftops. €61–90
La Dolce Vite Via Cola de Rienzo 39 347.686.3144, www.ladolcevite.net. A leafy home to the south of the centre offering three bright en-suite rooms and a lovely little garden, offering a true respite from the city. €91–120
London Via Rovello 3 02.7202.0166, www.hotellondonmilano.com. A pleasant, family-run hotel in a good, central position. There’s a choice of singles and doubles with or without en-suite shower; the decor is unexciting but all rooms have a/c. €121–150
Mercure Milano Porta Venezia 1 02.2940.0937, www.mercure.com. One of the several branches of this French chain in the city, offering pleasant, comfortable rooms in a convenient location right on Porta Venezia. €201–250
Nhow Via Tortona 35 02.489.8861, www.nhow-hotels.com. This airy design-fest in the up-and-coming Porta Genova district is aimed at those coming to town on (fashion) business but the weekend offers can be worthwhile, and the contemporary feel is streets away from Milan’s usual unimaginative offerings. €121–150
Rovello Via Rovello 18 02.8646.4654, www.hotel-rovello.it. Close to Castello Sforzesco, the spacious en-suite rooms at this well-located hotel have a/c. You’re paying for the location, but rates may be negotiable in summer. Breakfast included. €121–150
Valley Via Soperga 19 02.669.2777, www.hotelvalley.it. A two-minute walk north of Stazione Centrale, this basic little spot is ideal if you’re catching an early train or arriving late at night. Most rooms are en suite and those at the back are pleasant and airy. €61–90
Hostels
La Cordata Via Burigozzo 11, off Corso Italia 02.5831.4675, www.ostellolacordata.com. Clean and basic in a very good central location, this is Milan’s best hostel option by far. Bunks are in single-sex 6-, 10- or 16-bed dorms, each dorm with its own shower room; spacious twin rooms also available. There’s a large kitchen and communal room too. Metro Missori, or 4 stops on tram #15 from Piazza Fontana. Dorms €22, rooms €61–90
Ostello Piero Rotta Viale Salmoiraghi 1, corner Via Martino Bassi 02.3926.7095, www.hostelmilan.org. An institutional-feeling HI hostel out in the insalubrious northwestern suburbs near the San Siro football stadium. Metro line 1 to QT8, then walk 200m straight ahead and the hostel is on your right. €19 including breakfast.
The City
The obvious focal point of central Milan is Piazza del Duomo, which, as well as being home to the city’s iconic Duomo, leads on to the elegant Galleria Vittorio Emanuele and Piazza della Scala, home to the world-famous opera house. Heading northwest from Piazza del Duomo along the shopping street of Via Dante takes you to the imperious Castello Sforzesco and the extensive Parco Sempione beyond. North, the well-heeled neighbourhoods of Brera and Moscova are the haunt of Milan’s most style-conscious citizens. Here you’ll find the fine art collection of the Pinacoteca di Brera and, nearby, the so-called Quadrilatero d’Oro (Golden Quadrangle), a concentration of top designer fashion boutiques. Slightly further north is Milan’s most pleasant park, the Giardini Pubblici. Southwest of the Duomo, the shopping streets of Via Torino take you to the Ticinese district, a focal point at aperitivo time, and home to a couple of the city’s most beautiful ancient churches. Continuing south to the Navigli leads to the bar and restaurant area around the city’s remaining canals. West of the cathedral, the Museo Archeologico gives a taste of Roman Milan, while the basilica of Milan’s Christian father, Sant’Ambrogio, is a couple of blocks away. A little further west stands the church of Santa Maria delle Grazie and the adjacent refectory building, holding Leonardo da Vinci’s The Last Supper.
Piazza del Duomo and around
The hub of the city is Piazza del Duomo, a large, mostly pedestrianized square that’s rarely quiet at any time of day, lorded over by the exaggerated spires of the Duomo, Milan’s cathedral. The piazza was given its present form in 1860 when medieval buildings were demolished to allow grander, unobstructed views of the cathedral, and the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II was constructed to link the piazza with the showy new opera theatre, La Scala. South of the piazza there are several minor gems hidden among the shops and offices in the shape of the tiny church of Santa Maria presso San Satiro and the seventeenth-century Pinacoteca Ambrosiana.
The Duomo
Milan’s vast Duomo was begun in 1386 under the Viscontis, but not completed until the finishing touches to the facade were added in 1813. It is characterized by a hotchpotch of styles that range from Gothic to Neoclassical. From the outside at least it’s incredible, notable as much for its strange confection of Baroque and Gothic decoration as its sheer size. The marble, chosen by the Viscontis in preference to the usual material of brick, was brought on specially built canals from the quarries of Candoglia, near Lake Maggiore, and continues to be used in renovation today.
The interior
The interior is striking for its dimension and atmosphere. The five aisles are separated by 52 towering piers, while an almost subterranean half-light filters through the stained-glass windows, lending the marble columns a bone-like hue that led the French writer Suarés to compare the interior to “the hollow of a colossal beast”.
By the entrance, the narrow brass strip embedded in the pavement with the signs of the zodiac alongside is Europe’s largest sundial, laid out in 1786. A beam of light still falls on it through a hole in the ceiling, though changes in the Earth’s axis mean that it’s no longer accurate. To the left of the entrance you’ll find the remains of a fourth-century Battistero Paleocristiano (daily 9.30am–5.15pm; €2), where the city’s patron saint, Ambrogio, baptized St Augustine in 387 AD.
At the far end of the church, the large crucifix suspended high above the chancel contains the most important of the Duomo’s holy relics – a nail from Christ’s cross, which was also crafted into the bit for the bridle of Emperor Constantine’s horse. The cross is lowered once a year, on September 14, the Feast of the Cross, by a device invented by Leonardo da Vinci. Close by, beneath the presbytery, is the Scurolo di San Carlo (daily 9am–noon & 2.30–6pm; €1), a crypt housing the remains of San Carlo Borromeo, the zealous sixteenth-century cardinal who was canonized for his work among the poor of the city, especially during the Plague of 1630. He lies here in a glass coffin, clothed, bejewelled, masked and gloved, wearing a gold crown attributed to Cellini. Borromeo was also responsible for the large altar in the north transept, erected to close off a door that was used by locals as a shortcut to the market. Adjacent to Borromeo’s resting place, the treasury (€3) features extravagant silverwork, Byzantine ivory carvings and heavily embroidered vestments. Here, too, is the Duomo’s most surprising exhibit: British artist Mark Wallinger’s haunting video installation Via Dolorosa. Commissioned by the diocese of Milan in a bold attempt to resurrect the role of the Church as a patron of the arts, it comprises a large screen showing the last eighteen minutes of Zeffirelli’s Jesus of Nazareth, with 90 percent of the image blacked out, leaving just a narrow frame visible round the sides.
To the right of the chancel, by the door to the Palazzo Reale, the sixteenth-century statue of St Bartholomew, with his flayed skin thrown like a toga over his shoulder, is one of the church’s more gruesome statues, its veins, muscles and bones sculpted with anatomical accuracy and the draped skin retaining the form of knee, foot, toes and toenails.
The roof
Outside again, from the northwest end of the cathedral you can get to the cathedral roof (daily: mid-Feb to mid-Nov 9am–5.45pm; rest of year 9am–4.15pm; €5, or €7 with lift), where you can stroll around the forest of tracery, pinnacles and statues while enjoying fine views of the city and, on clear days, even the Alps. The highlight is the central spire, its lacy marble crowned by a gilded statue of the Madonna – the Madonnina, the city’s guardian – in summer looking out over the rooftop sunbathers.
Santa Maria presso San Satiro
The charming little church of Santa Maria presso San Satiro (daily 8–11am & 3.30–6.30pm), off the busy shopping street of Via Torino, is a study in ingenuity, designed by Milan’s foremost Renaissance architect, Bramante, in 1478. Originally the oratory of the adjacent ninth-century church of San Satiro, it was transformed by Bramante into a long-naved basilica, by converting the long oblong oratory into the transept and adding a wonderful trompe l’oeil apse to the back wall.
Pinacoteca Ambrosiana
Five minutes west, just off Via Torino at Piazza Pio 2, the Pinacoteca Ambrosiana (Tues–Sun 9am–7pm; €15; www.ambrosiana.it) was founded in the early seventeenth century by Cardinal Federico Borromeo, who assembled one of the largest libraries in Europe (Mon–Fri 9.30am–5pm). The main draw though is his art collection, stamped with his taste for Jan Brueghel, sixteenth-century Venetians and some of the more kitsch followers of Leonardo. Among many mediocre works, there is a rare painting by Leonardo da Vinci, Portrait of a Musician, a cartoon by Raphael for the School of Athens, and a Caravaggio considered to be Italy’s first still life. The prize for the quirkiest exhibit is shared between a pair of white gloves that Napoleon reputedly wore at Waterloo, and a lock of Lucrezia Borgia’s hair – displayed for safe-keeping in a glass phial ever since Byron (having decided that her hair was the most beautiful he had ever seen) extracted a strand as a keepsake from the library downstairs, where it used to be kept unprotected.
Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II
Leading off to the north of Piazza del Duomo is the gaudily opulent Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II, a cruciform glass-domed gallery designed in 1865 by Giuseppe Mengoni, who was killed when he fell from the roof a few days before the inaugural ceremony. The circular mosaic beneath the glass cupola is composed of the symbols that made up the cities of the newly unified Italy: Romulus and Remus for Rome, a fleur-de-lys for Florence, a white shield with a red cross for Milan and a bull for Turin – it’s considered good luck to spin round three times on the bull’s testicles, hence the indentation in the floor.
The galleria was designed as a covered walkway between the Piazza del Duomo and Piazza della Scala to the north; nicknamed the “salotto” – or drawing room – of Milan, it used to be the focal point for the parading Milanese on their passeggiata. These days, visitors rather than locals are more likely to swallow the extortionate prices at the gallery’s cafés, which include the historic Zucca, with its glorious 1920s tiled interior at one end, and the newer, stylish Gucci Café – the label’s first foray into catering – at the other. Shops, too, are aimed at visitors to the city, with top designer labels sitting next to pricey souvenir outlets. Somehow, however, the galleria still manages to retain most of its original dignity, helped along by quietly elegant boutiques selling handmade leather gloves or carefully turned hats, and the handsome eighty-year-old Prada shop in the centre.
La Scala
The main branch of Galleria Vittorio Emanuele leads through to Piazza della Scala, fronted by the rather plain Neoclassical facade of the world-famous Teatro alla Scala opera house, popularly known as La Scala (www.teatroallascala.org). The theatre was commissioned by Empress Maria Theresa of Austria from the architect Piermarini and opened in 1778 with the opera Europa Riconsciuta by Antonio Salieri. Many of the leading names in Italian opera had their major works premiered here, including Bellini, Donizetti and Rossini, but it is Giuseppe Verdi who is most closely associated with the opera house and whose fame was consolidated here in 1842 with the first performance of Nabucco, with its perfectly timed patriotic sentiments. The post-World War II period saw another breathtaking roll call of top composers and musical performers – among them Schoenberg, Lucio Berio, Rudolf Nureyev and Maria Callas – while Toscanini, perhaps the most influential conductor of all time, devoted more than fifty years to the theatre. These days, however, La Scala is a bit at sea: no quality Italian composers have emerged for over eighty years, the theatre is plagued by internal political problems and the repertoire has become a touch predictable.
To a great extent, the opera house is still the social and cultural centre of Milan’s elite and although protests in the 1960s led to a more open official policy on the arts in Milan, unusually for opera-going in Italy it remains as exclusive a venue as it ever was. Every year on the opening night – December 7, the festival of Milan’s patron saint, Sant’Ambrogio – when fur coats and dinner jackets are out in force, it is the target for demonstrations from political and social groups, ranging from animal rights’ campaigners to local factory workers complaining about redundancies. Tickets can be hard to come by, but if you want to experience one of the world’s most famous opera houses in action, there are numerous avenues; see Opera, classical music and film for ticket information.
Tucked in one corner of the theatre, a small museum (daily 9am–12.30pm & 1.30–5pm; €5) features costumes, sets, composers’ death masks, plaster casts of conductors’ hands and a rugged statue of Puccini in a capacious overcoat. A visit to the auditorium is included in the ticket, providing there is no rehearsal taking place; times when the auditorium is empty are listed daily outside the entrance to the museum.
The Castello Sforzesco and around
Northwest out of Piazza Duomo, at the start of Via Dante, lies Piazza dei Mercanti, the commercial centre of medieval Milan. The square is dominated by the thirteenth-century Palazzo della Ragione, where council meetings and tribunals were held on the upper floor, with markets under the porticoes below. The stone relief on the facade above the arcade shows the rather forlorn-looking Oldrado di Tressano, the mayor who commissioned the building in 1228, astride his horse. Opposite, the striped black-and-white marble Loggia degli Orsi, built in 1316, was where council proclamations were made and sentences announced. The coats of arms of the various districts of Milan are just about visible beneath the grime left by Milanese smog.
At the far end of the pedestrianized Via Dante, the Castello Sforzesco rises imperiously from Foro Buonaparte, a road laid out by Napoleon in self-tribute. He had a vision of a grand new centre for the Italian capital, designed along Roman lines, but he only got as far as constructing an arena, a triumphal arch and these two semicircular roads before he lost Milan to the Austrians. The arena and triumphal arch still stand half-forgotten behind the castle on the edges of the Parco Sempione, the city centre’s largest patch of green and once the castle’s garden and hunting grounds.
The Castello Sforzesco
With its crenellated towers and fortified walls, the red-brick Castello Sforzesco (www.milanocastello.it) is one of Milan’s most striking landmarks. The result of numerous rebuildings, it was begun by the Viscontis, destroyed by mobs rebelling against their regime in 1447, and rebuilt by their successors, the Sforzas. Under Lodovico Sforza the court became one of the most powerful, luxurious and cultured of the Renaissance, renowned for its ostentatious wealth and court artists like Leonardo and Bramante. Lodovico’s days of glory came to an end when Milan was invaded by the French in 1499, and from then until the end of the nineteenth century the castle was used as a barracks by successive occupying armies. Just over a century ago it was converted into a series of museums. Ongoing restoration means that parts of the complex may be closed when you visit.
The castello’s buildings are grouped around three courtyards: through the Filarete Tower (rebuilt in 1905, having been destroyed in the sixteenth century by an explosion of gunpowder) you enter the larger of the three, the dusty-looking parade ground. It’s not until you’re through the gateway opposite that you begin to sense a Renaissance castle: this is the Corte Ducale, which formed the centre of the residential quarters and is now the home of the castle’s museums. The Rocchetta, to your left, was the most secure part of the fortress and is now used for temporary exhibitions. The gateway ahead leads to the Parco Sempione.
The museums
The ticket office (Tues–Sun 9am–5.30pm; combined ticket €3), on your right as you enter the Corte Ducale, gives access to the Museo d’Arte Antica, a succession of rooms containing an extensive collection of ancient artefacts saved from the city’s churches and archeological excavations. More interesting, however, are the castle rooms themselves, especially the Sala delle Asse, designed by Leonardo da Vinci; his black-and-white preparatory sketches were discovered in the 1950s. After some rather dull armoury you reach the museum’s star exhibit: Michelangelo’s Rondanini Pietà, which the artist worked on for the last nine years of his life. It’s an unfinished but oddly powerful work; much of the marble is unpolished and a third arm, indicating a change of position for Christ’s body, hangs limply from a block of stone to his right.
Upstairs, the Museo delle Arti Decorative exhibits furniture and decorative arts through the ages, including fascinating early works by the great twentieth-century Milanese designer, Gio Ponte. The Torre Falconiere (Falconry Tower) next door holds the castle’s art collection containing numerous paintings by Lombard artists such as Foppa and Bramantino, as well as minor Venetian works, including some Canalettos. The best are all grouped together in Room XIII and include Antonello da Messina’s St Benedict, originally part of a five-piece polyptych, of which two panels are in the Uffizi in Florence.
Across the courtyard, in the castle cellars, are the smaller Egyptian collection, with displays of mummies, sarcophagi and papyrus fragments from The Book of the Dead, and the deftly lit prehistoric collection – an assortment of finds from the Iron Age burial grounds of the Golasecca civilization.
The Parco Sempione
The Parco Sempione can make a refreshing break from the city’s traffic-choked roads, but it does have its sleazy side and you might feel more comfortable visiting when the locals do – at the weekend, or early evening in summer. That said, there are several sights within the park itself, the most interesting of which is the Palazzo dell’Arte or Triennale (Tues, Wed, Sat & Sun 10.30am–8.30pm, Thurs & Fri 10.30am–11pm; exhibitions €8; www.triennale.it), on the western reaches, at Viale Emilio Alemagna 6. The soaring lines of the building and its light, airy interior are reason enough for a visit, but the palazzo also holds good-quality temporary exhibitions of design, architecture and contemporary art, and the great Café Design overflows into the park in the summer.
You might want to catch a bird’s-eye view of the city from the nearby Torre Branca (Wed 10.30am–12.30pm & 4–6.30pm, Sat 10.30am–1pm, 3–6.30pm & 8.30pm–midnight, Sun 10.30am–2pm & 2.30–7pm; €4; www.branca.it/torre/dati.asp), designed by Gio Ponte on the occasion of the fifth Triennale in 1933, or keep children entertained at the Acquario Civico (Tues–Sun 9am–1pm & 2–5.30pm; free; www.verdeacqua.eu), a pretty Liberty building with a small collection of tanks.
Brera and Moscova
Due north of La Scala, Via Brera sets the tone for Milan’s arty quarter: small galleries nestle in the lanes surrounding the Accademia di Belle Arti and Pinacoteca di Brera. As you’ll notice from the café prices and designer styles of those who can afford to sit outside them, these cobbled streets are the terrain of the urban rich.
Across Via Fatebenefratelli, the stylish bars and traditional trattorias continue north through the neighbourhood of Moscova, home to the offices of the Corriere della Sera newspaper. A good area for shopping and browsing, Corso Garibaldi, Via Solferino and Via San Marco lead up to the bastion in Piazza XXV Aprile, which marks the beginning of Corso Como, a trendy street full of bars, clubs and boutiques, which in turn leads up to the train and bus station of Porta Garibaldi.
Pinacoteca di Brera
Milan’s most prestigious art gallery, the Pinacoteca di Brera, Via Brera 28 (Tues–Sun 8.30am–7.15pm; €5; www.brera.beniculturali.it), was opened to the public in 1809 by Napoleon, who filled the building with works looted from the churches and aristocratic collections of French-occupied Italy. It’s big: your visit will probably be more enjoyable if you’re selective, dipping into the collection guided by your own personal tastes. There’s a good audioguide available (€3.50), although it does rather gallop through the highlights.
Not surprisingly, most of the museum’s paintings are Italian and predate the twentieth century. Some later works are on display, including by Modigliani, De Chirico and Carrà (Room X), but it’s the Renaissance which comprises the museum’s core. There’s a good representation of Venetian painters – works by Bonifacio and, a century later, Paolo Veronese, the latter weighing in with Supper in the House of Simon (Room IX). The painting got him into trouble with the Inquisition, who considered the introduction of frolicking animals and unruly kids unsuitable subject matter for a religious painting. Tintoretto’s Pietà (Room IX) was more in tune with requirements of the time (the 1560s), a scene of intense concentration and grief over Christ’s body. Gentile Bellini’s St Mark Preaching in St Euphemia Square (Room VIII) introduces an exotic note: the square bustles with turbaned men, veiled women, camels and even a giraffe. There are also paintings by Gentile’s follower, Carpaccio – The Presentation of the Virgin and The Disputation of St Stephen (Room VI) – along with a profoundly moving Pietà (Room VI) by Gentile’s more talented brother, Giovanni. Look out also for The Dead Christ (Room VI), a painting by Giovanni Bellini’s brother-in-law, Mantegna: it’s an ingenious composition – viewed from Christ’s wrinkled and pierced soles upwards. One of Mantegna’s sons had died around the time he was working on this painting and it seems that the desolation in the women’s faces and the powerful sense of bereavement emanating from the work were autobiographical.
Later rooms hold yet more quality work, of which Piero della Francesca’s haunting Madonna with Angels, Saints and Federico da Montefeltro (Room XXIV) is the most arresting. But take a look too at Raphael’s Marriage of the Virgin (Room XXIV), whose lucid, languid Renaissance mood is in sharp contrast to the grim realism of Caravaggio’s Supper at Emmaus (Room XXIX), which is set in a dark tavern. Less well known but equally lifelike are the paintings of Lombardy’s brilliant eighteenth-century realist, Ceruti – known as Il Pitocchetto (The Little Beggar) for his unfashionable sympathy with the poor, who stare out with reproachful dignity from his canvases (Room XXXVI). Francesco Hayez’s Romantic-era The Kiss (Room XXXVII) is one of the most reproduced of the gallery’s paintings, but the artist’s fine portrait of the writer Alessandro Manzoni, in the same room, is far less saccharine. The collection ends with the unfinished Fuimaria (Room XXXVII) by Giuseppe Pellizza da Volpedo, a composition revealing the artist’s socialist ideals and an emerging consciousness of people-power – a theme that he returned to for The Fourth Estate (Il Quarto Stato).
Quadrilatero d’Oro
The Roman thoroughfare Via Manzoni leads north from La Scala to Porta Nuova, one of the medieval entrances to the city forming one side of the Quadrilatero d’Oro. Comprising a few hundred square metres bordered by Via Montenapoleone, Via Sant’Andrea, Via della Spiga and Via Manzoni, the quarter is home to shops of all the big international and Italian fashion names, along with design studios and contemporary art galleries. This is Milan in its element and the area is well worth a wander if only to see the city’s better-heeled residents in their natural habitat. For more on shopping in Milan, click here.
Museo Bagatti Valsecchi
In a house linking Via Santo Spirito with Via Gesù 5, just off Via Montenapoleone, is the Museo Bagatti Valsecchi (Tues–Sun 1–5.45pm; €8; www.museobagattivalsecchi.org). Built by brothers Fausto and Giuseppe Bagatti Valsecchi in the nineteenth century in homage to Renaissance style, it served as a home for their family and their collections. All the rooms are richly decorated with carved fireplaces, painted ceilings and heavy wall-hangings and paintings. The fireplace in the drawing room perfectly illustrates the brothers’ eclectic approach to decoration: the main surround is sixteenth-century Venetian, the frescoes in the middle are from Cremona, while the whole ensemble is topped off with the Bagatti Valsecchi coat of arms. Modern conveniences were incorporated into the house but not allowed to ruin the harmony, so the shower in the bathroom is disguised in a niche, and the piano, which was not realized as an instrument until the eighteenth century, is incorporated within a cabinet. Look out also for touching domestic items, such as the nursery furniture for Giuseppe’s children.
Museo Poldi Pezzoli
Halfway between La Scala and Porta Nuova, the eclectic Museo Poldi Pezzoli at Via Manzoni 12 (Tues–Sun 10am–6pm; €8; www.museopoldipezzoli.it) comprises pieces assembled by the nineteenth-century collector Gian Giacomo Poldi Pezzoli. Much of this is made up of rather dull rooms of clocks, watches, cutlery and jewellery, but the Salone Dorato upstairs contains a number of intriguing paintings, including a portrait of a portly San Nicola da Tolentino by Piero della Francesca, part of an altarpiece on which he worked intermittently for fifteen years. St Nicholas looks across at two works by Botticelli; one a gentle Madonna del Libro, among the many variations of the Madonna and Child theme which he produced at the end of the fifteenth century, and the other a mesmerizing Deposition, painted towards the end of his life in response to the monk Savonarola’s crusade against his earlier, more humanistic canvases. Also in the room is the museum’s best-known portrait, Portrait of a Young Woman by Antonio Pollaiuolo, whose anatomical studies are evidenced in the subtle suggestion of bone structure beneath skin.
The Giardini Pubblici
At the top of Piazza Cavour, on the northern side of Porta Nuova, lie the Giardini Pubblici (open dawn until dusk), Milan’s most attractive park. Designed by Piermarini shortly after he completed La Scala, the gardens stretch from Piazza Cavour over to Porta Venezia. Re-landscaped in the nineteenth century to give a more rustic look, the park, with its shady avenues, children’s play areas and small lake, is ideal for a break from the busy streets.
Across the road at Via Palestro 16, housed in Napoleon’s former town residence, the Villa Reale (also called Villa Belgiojoso Bonaparte), is the Museo dell’Ottocento (Tues–Sun 9am–1pm & 2–5.30pm; free). Skip through the unexciting collection of nineteenth-century art and sculpture to the striking canvas Il Quarto Stato by Giuseppe Pellizza da Volpedo, a member of the self-styled scapigliati (“wild-haired”) movement of the late nineteenth century. Next door, the Padiglione d’Arte Contemporanea (PAC; Tues, Wed & Fri–Sun 9.30am–7.30pm, Thurs 9.30am–10.30pm; €6; www.comune.milano.it/pac) is a venue for decent temporary exhibitions of contemporary art. Behind the art galleries, the Giardini della Villa Reale offer an urban oasis reserved for those with children under 13. With a small area of swings, lawns, shady trees and a little pond with ducks, turtles and giant carp, it makes a perfect bolthole.
The Ticinese district
Leading southwest away from the Duomo, past the chain stores of Via Torino, the city takes on a different, slightly more alternative air. The main thoroughfare of the Ticinese district, the Corso di Porta Ticinese, has become a focus for fashion and is lined with small boutiques and bars. The area really comes into its own at aperitivo time, especially during summer when people spill on to the pedestrian streets from the numerous bars and cafés.
San Lorenzo Maggiore
Towards the northern end of Corso Ticinese stands San Lorenzo Maggiore, considered by Leonardo da Vinci to be the most beautiful church in Milan. It is indeed a graceful building with a quiet dignity, somewhat at odds with the skateboarding and partying that goes on in the piazza outside. One of the four churches founded by Sant’Ambrogio in the city in the fourth century, it was built with masonry salvaged from various Roman buildings. The sixteen Corinthian columns outside – the Colonne di San Lorenzo – were placed here in the fourth century as a portico to the church. To the right of the altar, the Cappella di Sant’Aquilino (daily 7.30am–6pm; €2) was probably built as an imperial mausoleum. The lunettes in the Roman octagonal room hold beautiful fourth-century mosaics, which would originally have covered all the walls, while beneath the relics of Sant’Aquilino steps lead down to what is left of the original foundations, a jigsaw of fragments of Roman architecture.
Sant’Eustorgio
Heading south down Corso Ticinese, you come to Sant’Eustorgio, another fourth-century church, built to house the bones of the Magi, said to have been brought here by Sant’Ambrogio. It was rebuilt in the eleventh century, and in the twelfth century was virtually destroyed by Barbarossa, who seized the Magi’s bones and deposited them in Cologne’s cathedral. Some of the bones were returned in 1903 and are kept in a Roman sarcophagus tucked away in the right transept.
A must-see while here is the Portinari Chapel, accessed round to the left of the main entrance (Tues–Sun 10am–6pm; €6). The beautiful chapel consciously recalls Brunelleschi’s San Lorenzo in Florence, with two domed rooms, the smaller one housing the altar. It has been credited with being Milan’s first true Renaissance building because of its simple geometric design; the mixture of Lombard terracotta sculpture and Florentine monochromatic simplicity makes an enchanting stylistic fusion. It was commissioned from the Florentine architect Michelozzi in the 1460s by one Pigello Portinari, an agent of the Medici bank, to house the remains of St Peter the Martyr, an unattractive saint who was excommunicated for entertaining women in his cell, then cleared and given a job as an Inquisitor.
Milan’s canals
Improbable though it may seem, less than fifty years ago Milan was still a viable port – and less than a hundred years ago several of its main arteries – including Via Senato and Via San Marco – were busy waterways.
It was only logical for Milan’s powers to want to harness the surrounding rivers for both trade and military purposes. In the twelfth century, the first canals linked irrigation channels and the various defensive moats of the city. Later, in 1386, the Naviglio Grande was opened, linking the city to the River Ticino and thus Lake Maggiore. It was Gian Galeazzo Visconti, however, who was really responsible for the development of the system, in the fourteenth century. Looking for a way to transport the building materials for the Duomo, especially marble from Lake Maggiore, he invited proposals for solving the various logistical problems involved: Leonardo da Vinci is said to have had a hand in the invention of a system of locks developed to compensate for the different water levels of the canals.
Travellers were also seen on the canals: the ruling families of the North used them to visit one another, Prospero and Miranda escaped along the Navigli in The Tempest, and they were still plied by the Grand Tourists in the eighteenth century; Goethe, for example, describes the hazards of journeying by canal.
A number of rivers and canals were added to the system over the centuries; the Spanish developed the Darsena to the south in 1603 and under Napoleon’s regime the Naviglio Pavese was made navigable all the way to Pavia and down to the River Po, and so to the Adriatic. During the Industrial Revolution, raw materials like coal, iron and silk were brought into the city, and handmade products transported out with an efficiency that ensured Milan’s commercial and economic dominance of the region. The process of covering over the canals began in the 1930s, to make way for the city’s trams and trolley buses. In the 1950s, desperately needed materials were floated in for reconstructing the badly bombed city but by the mid-1970s, only a handful of canals were left uncovered; the last working boat plied the waters in 1977.
The best way to explore Milan’s waterways is on a relaxing boat trip, which run between April and mid-September when the canals are not being dredged or cleaned; for more information ask at the tourist office or check www.naviglilombardi.it. Alternatively, grab some mosquito repellent, don a pair of walking shoes or rent a bike and head off down the towpaths into the paddy fields of Lombardy.
The Navigli
The southern end of Corso di Porta Ticinese is guarded by the nineteenth-century Arco di Porta Ticinese, marking the beginning of Milan’s canal – or Navigli – neighbourhood, once a bustling industrial area and these days a focus for the city’s nightlife. Much lauded by tourist guides, the area is scruffy and often disappointing in the harsh light of day. The best time to visit is in the evening when the quarter’s many restaurants and bars come alive, although the monthly Sunday antiques street-market (last Sun of month; closed July and August) also brings a vivacious focus to the waterways.
South from the Darsena (the main goods dock), the Naviglio Grande and the Naviglio Pavese, respectively the first and last of the city’s canals to be completed, lead into the plains of Lombardy. This was once Milan at its grittiest. Some of the warehouses and traditional tenement blocks, or case di ringhiera, have been refurbished and become prime real estate but you’ll still find plenty of unreconstructed corners. Craftsmen and artists have moved in and although the overpriced craft and antique shops won’t hold your attention for long, a wander round the streets, popping into open courtyards, will give you a feel of the neighbourhood. Take a look at the prettified Vicolo dei Lavandai (Washerwomen’s Alley), near the beginning of the Naviglio Grande, where washerwomen scrubbed smalls in the murky canal waters.
Five minutes’ walk west from the Naviglio Grande is Porta Genova, the train station for Milan’s southern outskirts. It is also the name given to one of Milan’s up-and-coming areas. Across the tracks from the train station, bars and restaurants have moved in and disused warehouses and factories are being reclaimed by photographers, fashion houses and designers. Giorgio Armani has an exhibition space and workshops here, as does Prada.
Santa Maria delle Grazie and around
Due west from the Duomo, on Corso Magenta, stands the attraction that brings most visitors to Milan – the beautiful terracotta-and-brick church of Santa Maria delle Grazie, famous for its mural of The Last Supper by Leonardo da Vinci. Originally built as a Gothic church by the architect Solari, it was part of the Dominican monastery that headed the Inquisition in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. Soon after its completion, Lodovico Sforza commissioned Bramante to rework and model the Gothic structure into a grand dynastic mausoleum. Bramante promptly tore down the existing chancel and replaced it with a massive dome supported by an airy Renaissance cube. Lodovico also intended to replace the nave and facade, but was unable to do so before Milan fell to the French, leaving an odd combination of styles – Gothic vaults, decorated in powdery blues, reds and ochre, illuminated by the light that floods through the windows of Bramante’s dome. A side door leads into Bramante’s cool and tranquil cloisters, from which there’s a good view of the sixteen-sided drum the architect placed around his dome.
The Last Supper
Leonardo’s The Last Supper – signposted Cenacolo Vinciano – is one of the world’s great paintings and most resonant images. However, getting to see art of this magnitude doesn’t come easy (see Booking for The Last Supper).
Henry James likened the painting to an “illustrious invalid” that people visited with “leave-taking sighs and almost death-bed or tip-toe precautions”; certainly it’s hard, when you visit the fragile painting, not to feel that it’s the last time you’ll see it. A twenty-year restoration has re-established the original colours using contemporary descriptions and copies, but that the work survived at all is something of a miracle. Leonardo’s decision to use oil paint rather than the more usual faster-drying – and longer-lasting – fresco technique with watercolours led to the painting disintegrating within five years of its completion. A couple of centuries later Napoleonic troops billeted here used the wall for target practice. And, in 1943, an Allied bomb destroyed the building, amazingly leaving only The Last Supper’s wall standing.
A Last Supper was a conventional theme for refectory walls, but Leonardo’s decision to capture the moment when Christ announces that one of his disciples will betray him imbues the work with an unprecedented sense of drama. Leonardo spent two years on the mural, wandering the streets of Milan searching for and sketching models. When the monks complained that the face of Judas was still unfinished, Leonardo replied that he had been searching for over a year among the city’s criminals for a sufficiently evil visage, and that if he didn’t find one he would use the face of the prior. Whether or not Judas is modelled on the prior is unrecorded, but Leonardo’s Judas does seem, as Vasari wrote, “the very embodiment of treachery and inhumanity”.
Goethe commented on how very Italian the painting was in that so much is conveyed through the expressions of the characters’ hands; the group of Matthew, Thaddaeus and Simon on the far right of the mural could be discussing a football match or the latest government scandal in any bar in Italy today. The only disciple not gesticulating or protesting in some way is the recoiling Judas who has one hand clenched while a bread roll has just dropped dramatically out of the other. Christ is calmly reaching out to share his bread with him while his other hand falls open in a gesture of sacrifice.
If you feel you need any confirmation of the emotional tenor or accomplishment of the painting, take a look at the contemporary Crucifixion by Montorfano on the wall at other end of the refectory, not a bad fresco in itself, but destined always to pale in comparison with Leonardo’s masterpiece.
Booking for The Last Supper
To visit The Last Supper, you need to book in advance, at least a month (or more) in summer and at weekends (English-speaking reservations line Mon–Fri 9am–6pm, Sat 9am–2pm; 02.92.800.360, www.cenacolovinciano.org; viewing Tues–Sun 8.15am–6.45pm; €6.50, plus €1.50 obligatory booking fee). If it’s fully booked when you call, try going to the desk and asking about cancellations: people don’t always turn up for the early-morning viewings so it might be worth chancing your luck. At your allotted hour, once you’ve passed through a series of air-filtering systems, your fifteen-minute slot face-to-face with the masterpiece begins.
Museo Archeologico and Roman remains
The Museo Archeologico, in the ex-Monastero Maggiore at Corso Magenta 15 (Tues–Sun 9am–1pm & 2–5.30pm; €2, free on Fri after 2pm), is worth a quick visit for a glimpse of the city’s Roman heritage. The displays of glass phials, kitchen utensils and jewellery from Roman Milan are compelling, and though there’s a scarcity of larger objects, you can see a colossal stone head of Jupiter, found near the castle, a carved torso of Hercules, and a smattering of mosaic pavements unearthed around the city. Perhaps the most interesting sight, though, is the 24-sided tower in the internal courtyard of the museum that was part of the Roman wall of the city.
One block east from the museum, Via Brisa runs south alongside the ruins of the imperial palace of the Roman emperor Maximian, unearthed after World War II bombing. South of here towards Via Torino, the medieval plan of the streets belies the Roman origins of the neighbourhood, where remnants of ancient mosaics and masonry are incorporated into the current buildings.
Sant’Ambrogio
A few minutes’ walk southwest from Corso Magenta, the church of Sant’Ambrogio (Mon–Sat 7.30am–12.30pm & 2.30–9pm, Sun 7.30am–1pm & 3–8pm) was founded in the fourth century by Milan’s patron saint, St Ambrose. The saint’s remains still lie in the church’s crypt, but there’s nothing left of the original church in which his most famous convert, St Augustine, first heard him preach.
The present twelfth-century church, the blueprint for many of Lombardy’s Romanesque basilicas, is, however, one of the city’s loveliest, reached through a colonnaded quadrangle with column capitals carved with rearing horses, contorted dragons and an assortment of bizarre predators. Inside, to the left of the nave, a freestanding Byzantine pillar is topped with a “magic” bronze serpent, symbolizing Aaron’s rod. Look, too, at the pulpit, a superb piece of Romanesque carving decorated with reliefs of wild animals and the occasional human, most of whom are intent on devouring one another. There are older relics further down the nave, notably the ciborium, reliefed with the figures of saints Gervasius and Protasius – martyred Roman soldiers whose clothed bodies flank that of St Ambrose in the crypt.
Outside (entrance to the left of the choir) is Bramante’s unfinished Cortile della Canonica. The side that Bramante did complete, a novel concoction incorporating knobbly columns and a triumphal arch, was shattered by a World War II bomb and reconstructed from the fragments; the second side was added only in 1955. The adjacent Benedictine monastery that the Sforza family commissioned Bramante to restructure has housed the Università Cattolica since the 1920s.
Eating
Milan has restaurants and cafés to suit every pocket and perhaps the widest choice of cuisine in Italy. Whether you’re looking for a neighbourhood trattoria, want to watch models pick at their salads or crave a bit of well-priced ethnic food, Milan has it all – usually within easy reach of wherever you’re staying. If you don’t fancy a sit-down meal, make the most of the Milanese custom of aperitivo to curb your hunger.
Lunch and snack food
There are street markets every day, except Sunday, scattered throughout the city, selling all the cheese, salami and fruit you need for a picnic lunch; a complete list is given daily in the Corriere della Sera under “Mercati”. Alternatively, the mercato comunale in Piazza Wagner sells similar fresh produce but under one large, colourful roof. For supermarkets, some of the handiest are Standa at Via Torino 37, near the Duomo; Esselunga at Viale Piave 38, near Porta Venezia; and the overpriced Centro Commerciale in the Stazione Centrale (daily 5.30am–midnight).
Café Design La Triennale, Viale Alemagne 6 02.875.441. The chairs are all design classics in this spacious, informal place with windows overlooking Parco Sempione. The good lunchtime menu (noon–2.30pm) features light dishes such as a trio of smoked fish or quiche and salad; Sunday brunch is a relaxed, civilized affair that you’ll need to book for. In good weather, head outside to sip an aperitivo beside sculptures by the likes of De Chirico and Toyo Ito. Closed Mon.
Da Claudio Via Ponte Vetrero 16. Mouth-wateringly fresh sashimi and shellfish is served at the central bar amid the bustle of this traditional fishmonger on the edge of Brera. Lunch (noon–2.30pm) and aperitivo-time only (5–9pm). Closed Sun & Mon.
La Rinascente Top floor, La Rinascente, Piazza del Duomo 12. A recent refurb finally allows you to enjoy one of the best views in town with a plate of nibbles or a full-blown meal to match. The top floor of this department store is divided between the city’s best breadmakers, mozzarella specialists, sushi chefs, experts in Milanese cooking and chocolatiers to provide a gourmet pick-and-mix to please all tastes. Choose a table on the terrace outside and you can almost reach over and feed the gargoyles on the Duomo roof.
Luini Via S. Radegonda 16. A city institution that’s been serving panzerotti (deep-fried mini calzone) round the corner from the Duomo for over 150 years. Standing room only; grab a bench in nearby Piazza San Fedele if you want to eat sitting down. Closed Sun.
Vecchia Latteria Via dell’Unione 6. Delicious vegetarian dishes are prepared by the owners in this tiny neighbourhood joint just off Via Torino. Closed Sun.
Cafés and gelaterie
Caffè Miani Piazza del Duomo 21. Opened with the Galleria in 1867, Caffè Miani, also known as Zucca in Galleria and Camparino, was where David Campari invented Milan’s famous sticky red drink. These days it’s both expensive and touristy, but the price of a coffee standing at the tiled bar is easier to swallow. Closed Wed.
Chocolat Via Boccaccio 9. A small, modern bar beside Milano Nord station, with comfy sofas, offering thirty different chocolate-flavoured ice creams plus some refreshing fruit ones, too; there’s hot chocolate to die for in winter. Closed Sun morning.
Cova Via Montenapoleone 8. Fin-de-siècle surroundings set the scene for this elegant tearoom dating from the Napoleonic era. Discreet service and starched linen accompany the mouthwatering chocolate delicacies, although they don’t come cheap.
Grom Via Santa Margherita 16. Practically opposite La Scala, the central branch of this specialist ice-cream chain serves up traditional flavours using top-quality organic ingredients.
Sartori Piazza Luigi di Savoia. This legendary kiosk up against one side of the Stazione Centrale (by the airport buses) serves some of the city’s best ice cream, including avocado and lychee flavours. Closed Thurs.
Restaurants
Predictably, the centre of Milan has numerous expensive, business-oriented restaurants, but usually, just round the corner, there is somewhere more atmospheric or better value. South of the centre, the area around the Ticinese and Navigli is full of restaurants and cafés, but this is a touristy area and quality is not always a priority. We’ve also included a couple of bargain places around the budget hotels near Porta Venezia.
Anema e Cozze Via Palermo 15 02.8646.1646. This bright, lively Neapolitan spot is a good choice for tasty, informal meals. The pizzas are crispy, the seafood fresh and the flavoursome salads make a pleasant change from pasta; expect to pay around €30 per person. Branches at Via Casale 7 and Via Orseolo 1 are equally recommended.
Joia Via P. Castaldi 18 02.2952.2124. Well-established foodie haven, serving highly imaginative combinations of vegetables and fish. The lunchtime menu is good value, but in the evenings expect to pay around €70 per person. Closed Sat lunch, Sun & Aug.
La Latteria Via San Marco 24 02.659.7653. This cosy trattoria is a favourite with the designer types of Moscova. Delicious home-made pastas and roast meats are served up by the owner; reckon on around €15 for a main course. Closed Sat, Sun & Aug.
Le Vigne Ripa di Porta Ticinese 61 02.837.5617. One of the best spots in the canal area for a relaxed meal. Good-value secondi cost around €15 – including fine vegetarian dishes – featuring regional influences from across the country. The cheese selection and the wine list are particularly impressive. Closed Sun.
L’Osteria del Treno Via San Gregorio 46–48 02.670.0479. The welcome couldn’t be friendlier at this elegantly converted railworkers’ canteen. Many diners opt for the delicious house platters of cold meats or cheese (€12), although the pasta dishes are recommended, too. Closed all day Sat & Sun dinner.
Oskar Via Palazzi 4. A popular restaurant with plenty of local atmosphere, serving fantastic-value pasta dishes in huge portions. Don’t be put off by the voluble owners or the Mussolini memorabilia in the corners. Closed Sun.
Pizza OK Via Lambro 15. Very busy pizzeria that serves some of the best – and biggest – pizzas in town. Huge choice of toppings and good prices that start at €4 for a margherita. Open until 12.30am. Closed Sun lunch.
Torre di Pisa Via Fiori Chiari 21 02.874.877. An authentic Tuscan restaurant offering delicious antipasti (around €9) and great cuts of meat, in the heart of pedestrian Brera. Closed Sun.
Tradizionale Ripa de Porta Ticinese 7 02.839.5133. Tasty pizzas and mouthwatering fish dishes are on offer in the rustic atmosphere of this popular canalside joint. There’s another branch at Via de Amicis 26.
Trattoria Milanese Via Santa Marta 11 02.8645.1991. An elegant but well-priced neighbourhood restaurant in the labyrinth of ancient streets a ten-minute walk west of the Duomo. Risotto and ossobuco take pride of place among all that’s best in Milanese cooking. Closed Tues.
Warsa Via Melzo 16 02.201.607. An Eritrean restaurant near Porta Venezia serving delectable bargain food; good variety of vegetarian dishes as well as various meat options. Around €15 for a full meal. Closed Wed.
Regional food and wine
Lombardy is distinctive in its variations in culinary habits. For example, the sophisticated recipes of the Milanese contrast sharply with the more rustic dishes of the Alpine foothills and lakes. The latter are sometimes known as piatti poveri (poor food): devised over centuries, these employ imagination and often time-consuming techniques to make up for the lack of expensive ingredients. Pizzocheri, buckwheat noodles from the Valtellina valley, are a good example of this. Risotto alla Milanese, on the other hand, golden yellow with saffron, is Milan’s most renowned culinary invention – and, it is said, only truly Milanese if cooked with the juices of roast veal flavoured with sage and rosemary. Ossobuco (shin of veal) is another Milanese favourite, as is panettone, the soft, eggy cake with sultanas eaten at Christmas time.
The short-grain rice used for risotto is grown in the paddy fields of the Ticino and Po valleys; other staples include green pasta and polenta. The latter – made from maize meal which is boiled and patiently stirred for around forty minutes, all the time watched with an eagle eye so it doesn’t go lumpy – is found all over northern Italy. It can be eaten straightaway, or else left to cool and then sliced and grilled and served as an accompaniment to meat.
From Cremona comes mostarda di frutta (pickled fruit with mustard), the traditional condiment to serve with bollito misto (boiled meats). Stuffed pastas – for example, around the Po valley, ravioli filled with pumpkin – and veal eaten hot or cold in dishes like vitello tonnato (thin slices of cold veal covered with tuna mayonnaise) are also popular, as are wild funghi (mushrooms).
Lombardy is also one of the largest cheese-making regions in the country. As well as Gorgonzola there are numerous other local cheeses: among the best known are parmesan-like Grana Padano, smooth, creamy Mascarpone (used in sweet dishes) and the tangy, soft Taleggio.
Although Lombardy is not renowned internationally for its wines, supermarket shelves bulge with decent reds from the Oltrepò Pavese, and “Inferno” from the northern areas of Valtellina; while around Brescia, the Franciacorta area has earned plaudits for its excellent sparkling whites.
Drinking and nightlife
Milan’s diverse nightlife is centred on three main areas: the chi-chi districts around Corso Como and further south around Via Brera; Corso Sempione, which draws people after work for an aperitivo and keeps them there until the small hours; and the lively bars, restaurants and clubs of the Navigli and adjacent Ticinese quarter.
The city’s clubs are at their hippest midweek: at weekends out-of-towners flood in and any self-respecting Milanese heads for the coast or mountains. Assuming you get in (this is Milan: dress to impress), you’ll be given a tessera or card to be punched for each drink you buy, there’s usually a minimum consumption and you settle the tab when you leave (around €25 minimum).
For an antidote to all the preening, check out Milan’s healthy alternative scene, which revolves around the city’s many centri sociali – essentially squats, where committees organize cheap, sometimes free, concerts, film screenings and the like. They also contain bars and – often good – vegetarian restaurants. Check out the flagship Leoncavallo, Via Watteau 7 (02.670.5185, www.leoncavallo.org), or find other centri listed in Il Manifesto newspaper.
Bars
See Hotels and B&Bs for details of the bars located in the fashion stores around the Quadrilatero d’Oro.
Atomic Via Felice Casati 24. Refreshing spot just north of Porta Venezia where you can have an after-dinner drink and a dance in a cool but relaxed atmosphere – most un-Milanese. Closed Mon & Aug.
Bar Bianco Parco Sempione. Right in the heart of the park, this unassuming café kicks into action on summer nights as a late-night bar with thumping music. Closed Mon.
Bar Jamaica Via Brera 32. This bar, made famous by the Arte Povera set of the 1950s, is right in the heart of Brera. Pop in for a coffee or snack during the day or keep drinking well into the early hours.
Bhangrabar Corso Sempione 1. Opposite the Arco della Pace, this Indian-themed bar is a trendy option at aperitivo-time (6.30–9pm) or later, as the DJs crank up the latest electronic or world music.
Corso Como 10 The bar is the best bit of this complex of boutiques, exhibition space, restaurant and a courtyard café-bar. Prices are extortionate but the atmosphere is very chic.
Cuore Via G. Mora 3. Hidden away down a side street opposite San Lorenzo alle Colonne, this cool, friendly bar is well worth including in your night out. Good music with occasional live bands and DJs set the mixed crowd at their ease.
Gattopardo Café Via Piero della Francesca 47. This ultra-fashionable spot, located in a deconsecrated church, is decked out in homage to Visconti’s film The Leopard. It opens at 6pm and the door policy gets stricter after 10.30pm when the extensive aperitivo buffet is cleared away and the DJ turns up the music. Closed Mon.
Le Biciclette Conca del Naviglio 10. Smart young things prop up the bar in this swish, modern joint in a leafy street near the Navigli. The definitive aperitivo bar.
Lelephante Via Melzo 22. Cocktails are the speciality at this good-time bar popular with a mixed crowd. Hardly a poseur in sight.
Roialto Via Piero della Francesca 55. This huge converted garage on various levels is done out in every conceivable style from 1930s colonial to chill-out lounge. Closed Mon.
L’aperitivo
An Italian custom that has been honed to a fine art in Milan is the aperitivo, or pre-dinner drink, usually taken between 6 and 9pm. As well as another opportunity to preen and pose, aperitivo-time – or “happy hour” as it is also called – is a boon for budget travellers: bar counters are often laden with hot and cold food, all of which is included in the price of your drink (somewhere between €3 and €10, depending on the establishment). Take a plate and help yourself, although if you’re really planning to fill up, it’ll go down better if you go back several times rather than piling your plate high. If you choose your venue wisely you won’t need to spend another penny on food all night. The food in most aperitivo bars winds up as the evening goes on: the lights dim and the volume of the music increases and you can settle in for the night. Reviews are available on city’s best aperitivo bars further in this guided.
Clubs and music venues
Blue Note Via Borsieri 37 www.bluenotemilano.com. Jazz club in the alternative neighbourhood of Isola, just north of Porta Garibaldi station. Big names and a relaxed atmosphere make this place a top venue. There’s a small restaurant, as well as the bar.
Gasoline Via Bonnet 11/A www.discogasoline.it. Small, dark, funky club near the bars of Brera and Corso Como. Thursdays are particularly popular for the “Popstarz” electro-fest.
Hollywood Corso Como 15 www.discotecahollywood.com. Long established as the place to go (until dawn) if you want to be surrounded by beautiful people. Very Milanese but certainly no mould-breaker. Wed is gay party night (“Sodoma”).
Rocket Via Pezzotti 52 www.therocket.it. Free entrance and a great mix of music makes this intimate little club popular with a hip crowd, especially on Thursday evenings. Closed Sun.
Scimmie Via Ascanio Sforza 49 www.scimmie.it. Ticinese club that is one of Milan’s most popular venues, with a different band every night and jazz-fusion predominating. Small and fun, with a decent restaurant – and a barge on the canal in summer.
Opera, classical music and film
Milan’s La Scala, Via dei Filodrammatici 2, is one of the world’s most prestigious opera houses, staging opera from early December to July. It also puts on some classical concerts and ballet between September and November (occasionally in the less atmospheric Teatro Arcimboldi, located outside the city centre). Tickets cost about €60 on average – and sell out months in advance. Buy by phone or online (02.860.775, www.teatroallascala.org), or in person at the Central Box Office, Galleria del Sagrato, underground in the corridors of Duomo metro station (Sept–July daily noon–6pm). A number of tickets for each performance are set aside for sale on the day.
Sound and Motion Pictures (www.spaziocinema.info) shows original-language films at the following cinemas: Anteo, Via Milazzo 9; Arcobaleno, Viale Tunisia 11; and Mexico, Via Savona 57.
Shopping
Milan is synonymous with shopping. If your pockets are not deep enough to tackle the big-name designer boutiques of the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele you could always rummage through last season’s leftovers at the many factory outlets around town, or check out the city’s wide range of medium- and budget-range clothes shops. Milan also excels in furniture and design, with showrooms from the world’s top companies, plus a handful of shops offering a selection of brands and labels under one roof.
Most shops open Tuesday to Saturday (10am–12.30pm & 3.30–7pm), plus Monday afternoons, although some larger places also stay open at lunchtime and on Sunday afternoons. The summer sale usually lasts through July and August, the winter one around mid-January to mid-February.
La Rinascente (www.rinascente.it) on Piazza Duomo has had a revamp in recent years and has become Milan’s best one-stop shop: each department is divided up into boutiques so browsing among the designer goods, from bed linen to bridal wear, toasters to top-quality togs is a joy. The top-floor food hall is a great refuelling stop (see Lunch and snack food).
Fashion
Milan’s top-name fashion stores are mainly concentrated in three areas. The Quadrilatero d’Oro – Via Montenapoleone, Via della Spiga and around – is the place for Versace, Prada et al. Corso di Porta Ticinese houses funkier, more youth-oriented shops – independents as well as global names like Diesel, Carhartt and Stussy. Head to Corso Vittorio Emanuele or Via Torino for large branches of Italian mid-range chains, including Max Mara, Benetton and Stefanel, plus H&M and Zara.
Designer
Below is just a taster of what Milan has to offer in terms of the top-label shopping experience. These days the concept of a shop is being extended further and further: in-house cafés are springing up, as are exhibition spaces, spas, barbers and even gyms.
Dolce & Gabbana Menswear at Corso Venezia 15. Go through to the courtyard on the ground floor of this eighteenth-century palazzo to find a wonderful space dedicated to enhancing your shopping experience. There’s an old-fashioned barber’s, a small beautican’s and the oh-so stylish Bar Martini. Womenswear at Via della Spiga 26; D&G line, including D&G junior, at Corso Venezia 7.
Gianfranco Ferré Via Sant’Andrea 15. The sculptural designs of this master of couture are mirrored by the decor of his boutique with its stunning red-resin wall, but it’s the adjoining day-spa that makes it really special. Mon–Fri 10am–10pm, Sat 10am–9pm, Sun 11am–6pm.
Gianni Versace Via Montenapoleone 11. Unusually for Versace, this store, spread over five storeys, is remarkably understated. The clean lines provide a perfect backdrop for the luxurious ostentation of the clothes, shoes and accessories in glinting gold and swirling colours.
Giorgio Armani Via Manzoni 31. This temple to all things Giorgio is more of a mini-shopping centre than a shop. There are boutiques for all his ranges – womenswear, menswear, furnishings and homeware – accompanied by Armani Café, a relaxed pavement café, and Nobu, a pricey, high-tech Japanese restaurant with fantastically offhand service. With a book corner selling design and coffee-table books, an in-house florists and a chocolate counter, you really won’t need to spend your money anywhere else in town.
Gucci Via Montenapoleone 5–7 & Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II. Every desirable fashion item imaginable is available in the warren of sleek showrooms in Via Montenapoleone, while the newer store in the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II has the Gucci Café: revitalize in an atmosphere of elegant minimalism with a freshly squeezed fruit juice or a coffee.
Just Cavalli Boutique Via della Spiga 30. The ultimate in bling. Cavalli’s leopardskin-clad clientele feel wonderfully at home in the white-cloud lift or shimmying up and down the giant central staircase. The pièce de résistance, however, is down in the café, Just Cavalli Food, where a saltwater aquarium swims with brightly coloured tropical fish.
Prada Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II. The original Prada store, dating from 1913, stands in the centre of the galleria. Much of the elegant interior is original, including the monochrome marble floor and polished wood display cabinets, but the best bit is the central staircase swirling down past the leather goods to the men’s and women’s collections in the basement. Accessories, including shoes, at Via della Spiga 18; menswear at Via Montenapoleone 6; womenswear at Via Montenapoleone 8; sportswear at Via Sant’Andrea 21.
Trussardi Via Sant’Andrea 3–7. A spacious boutique across three floors with the über-chic Trussardi-Marino Alla Scala Café on the ground floor and a huge video wall to keep you entertained while you sip your coffee. On the floor above the soft leather bags and crisp linens is the formal but well-priced restaurant, and one floor higher still is a contemporary gallery space. Accessories and homeware at Piazza della Scala 5.
Factory outlets
In and around Milan are outlets or factory shops galore, selling last season’s designer-label fashions for half-price or less. Aim for the multi-label D-Magazine, Via Montenapoleone 26; the hard-to-find Basement, entered through the door to the left of no. 15 on Via Senato, with bargains from all the top labels; and DT Intrend, Galleria San Carlo 6, near the Duomo, offering discounts on the Max Mara brands. Others demand more of a hike, although the savings are higher: the grande dame is Il Salvagente, Via Bronzetti 16, fifteen minutes east of San Babila by bus (#54 & #61), where, with a little rummaging, you can bag a designer label for around a third of its original price.
Furniture and design
To pick up Alessi, Gio Ponte or Castiglione designer furniture, make for the broad streets off San Babila: Corso Europa, Via Durini, Corso Venezia and Corso Monforte are home to the furniture and lighting showrooms that made Milan the design capital of the world in the 1950s.
For a more relaxed, but very Milanese, shopping experience, try a concept store that sells a bit of everything: High Tech, at Piazza XXV Aprile 12, is great for getting lost among designer, imitation and ethnic knick-knacks; while 10 Corso Como sells a few perfectly chosen design and fashion objects, as well as books and music, alongside a café and art gallery.
B&B Italia Via Durini 14 www.bebitalia.it. International name that specializes in stylish contemporary furniture with collections by big names in modern Italian design.
Cassina Via Durini 16 www.cassina.it. The showroom of this legendary Milanese company is always worth a visit for both new designs and their range of twentieth-century design classics including Eames, De Stijl and Rennie Mackintosh chairs.
De Padova Corso Venezia 14 www.depadova.it. Two floors of elegant own-brand furniture and housewares artfully displayed in a light, stylish showroom. Their collections are designed by big names including Vico Magestretti and Patricia Urquiola.
Driade Via Manzoni 30 www.driade.com. A wonderful multi-brand store with their own designs, as well as work by designers like Ron Arad and Philippe Starck. The collection includes furniture, tableware, kitchen and bathroom accessories, but the real treat here is the showroom housed in an elegant nineteenth-century palazzo.
Listings
Bicycle rental If you want a bicycle for longer than is possible with the BikeMi scheme, head for AWS, Via Ponte Seveso 33 (www.awsbici.com), or La Stazione, beside San Donato Milanese metro station (www.lastazionedellebiciclette.com).
Consulates Australia, Via Borgogna 2 02.776.741; South Africa, Vicolo San Giovanni sul Muro 4 02.885.8581; UK, Via San Paolo 7 02.723.001; US, Via Principe Amadeo 2/10 02.290.351.
Football Inter Milan (www.inter.it) and AC Milan (www.acmilan.it) play on alternate Sundays at the G. Meazza (San Siro) stadium (02.404.2432; metro Lotto, then a 10–15min walk). The stadium has hourly guided tours (Mon–Sat 10am–5pm from Gate 14, Via Piccolomini 5; €12.50; www.sansirotour.com). Buy match tickets here and from New Milan Point, Piazza San Fedele (AC Milan games), or branches of Banca Popolare Milano (Inter games).
Gay and lesbian Milan Milan is one of Italy’s most gay-friendly cities. The gay bookshop Libreria Babele Galleria, Viale Regina Giovanna 24/B (02.3656.1408, www.libreriababele.it; metro Pora Venezia), is an institution, albeit in a new location. They organize events and stock the Gay Milan map as well as having details of the ArciUno Club Card, which many gay establishments require for entry. In May/June, a gay and lesbian film festival (www.cinemagaylesbico.com) includes fringe events.
Left luggage Stazione Centrale (daily 6am–midnight; €3.80/5hr, then small increments up to a max of five days). Stazione Nord/Cadorna has lockers (daily 5am–11.30pm; €3.50–6.50/2hr 30min).
Medical facilities English-speaking doctors and dentists at International Health Center (02.7634.0720, www.ihc.it). 24hr pharmacies include Stazione Centrale and Carlo Erba on Piazza del Duomo. Ospedale Maggiore Policlinico, Via Francesco Sforza 35 (02.55.031), near Piazza del Duomo, has 24hr casualty.
Police 113.
Post office Via Cordusio 4, off Piazza Cordusio – not the building marked “Poste”, but around the corner (Mon–Fri 8am–7pm, Sat 8.30am–noon).
Taxis To book, call 02.6767, 02.4040 or 02.8585.
Train enquiries Ferrovie dello Stato 848.888.088 (daily 7am–9pm; www.trenitalia.com); Ferrovie Nord 02.20.222 (daily 9am–6pm; www.lenord.it).
Southern Lombardy
Apart from Milan, much of Lombardy’s wealth is concentrated in the cities and towns of the broad plain of the River Po, which forms the southern belt of the region. It’s a wealth that is obvious in the well-preserved medieval towns (and the industrial estates that surround them), not to mention in the well-designed clothes and new cars of its citizens.
Pavia is a pretty medieval town that makes an attractive introduction to his part of Lombardy, its cobbled streets and ancient churches taking a back seat in terms of sights to the fabulous Certosa monastery nearby. In the east, Cremona, birthplace of the violin, has a neat, well-preserved centre, but does not demand lingering attention. Mantua, on the eastern edge of the region, is Lombardy’s most visually appealing city: the powerful Gonzaga family ruled for three hundred years from an extravagant ducal palace and later the Palazzo Te, on the outskirts of the city, which contains some of the finest (and most steamily erotic) fresco-painting of the entire Renaissance.
Pavia and around
PAVIA, 55km south of Milan, is close enough to be seen on a day-trip, yet retains a clear identity of its own. A comfortable provincial town with an illustrious history, it boasts one of the masterpieces of Italian architecture in the nearby Carthusian monastery, the Certosa.
Founded on an easily defendable stretch of land alongside the confluence of the Po and Ticino rivers, Pavia was always an important staging post en route to the Alps. Medieval Pavia was known as the city of a hundred towers, and although only a handful remain, the medieval aspect is still strong, with numerous Romanesque and Gothic churches tucked away in a wanderable web of narrow streets and cobbled squares. The town reached its zenith in the Dark Ages, when it was capital of the Kingdom of the Lombards: emperors – including Charlemagne in 774 and Frederick Barbarossa in 1155 – subsequently came to Pavia to receive the Lombards’ traditional iron crown. This all came to an end in the fourteenth century when Pavia was handed over to the Viscontis and became a satellite of Milan.
Arrival, information and accommodation
Regular trains make the thirty-minute journey from Milan. Buses from Milan Famagosta metro station drop you at Pavia’s bus station, round the corner from the train station, on the western edge of the centre. Buses #3 and #6 connect the train station with the centre, or it’s about a ten-minute walk down Corso Cavour to Piazza della Vittoria.
The tourist office is in Piazza della Vittoria in the Palazzo del Broletto (Mon–Fri 9am–1pm & 2–5pm, Sat & Sun 10am–6pm; 0382.597.001, www.turismo.provincia.pv.it). Most of Pavia’s unexciting hotels are near the station, including Aurora, Via Vittorio Emanuele 25 (0382.23.664, www.hotel-aurora.eu; €91–120), and the rather smarter Moderno, Via Vittorio Emanuele 41 (0382.303.401, www.hotelmoderno.it; €121–150), which has a small spa and offers free use of bicycles.
The Town
Wandering is the nicest way to spend time in Pavia: pick any side street and you’re almost bound to stumble on something of interest – a lofty medieval tower, a pretty Romanesque or Gothic church, or just a silent, sleepy piazza. Getting lost is difficult, as the town is still based around its Roman axes: Corso Cavour – which becomes Corso Mazzini – runs east–west along the route of the decamanus, while Strada Nuova runs north–south following the cardo.
Piazza della Vittoria
The large, cobbled Piazza della Vittoria, lined with bars, gelaterie and restaurants, stands in the centre. At the square’s southern end, the Broletto, medieval Pavia’s town hall, abuts the rambling Duomo. An early Renaissance sprawl of protruding curves and jutting angles, the cathedral is best known for its huge nineteenth-century cupola, which dominates the skyline. Its facade was only added in 1933 and the building’s exterior is still mainly unfinished. At the time of writing, most of the church was under restoration, due to reopen in 2014. Beside the west front of the Duomo, facing Piazza del Duomo, are the remnants of the eleventh-century Torre Civica, a campanile that collapsed without warning in 1989, killing four people.
San Teodoro to the Borgo Ticino
Southwest of the piazza, cobbled streets lead to the charming neighbourhood church of San Teodoro (daily 3–7pm). The twelfth-century basilica was clumsily restored at the end of the nineteenth century, and the main reason for visiting is to see the fresco on the left-hand side of the nave near the entrance: the View of Pavia by Bernardino Lanazani illustrates the city in 1522 with its hundreds of civic towers built by Pavia’s noble families to show their superiority over their rivals.
Also featured in the painting is the Ponte Coperto, the covered bridge over the River Ticino just south of the basilica. The current bridge was rebuilt slightly downriver in the 1940s after the medieval one was bombed; you can still see remnants of the original jutting out into the water. The bridge leads over to the Borgo Ticino, a riverside neighbourhood traditionally inhabited by fishermen and raniere (frog-catchers); these days there are several popular local restaurants. An open park runs along the shore of both banks west of the bridge.
San Michele and north
The best of Pavia’s churches is the beautiful Romanesque San Michele, a five-minute walk northeast from the bridge along Via Capsoni. This is where the kings of Northern Italy were crowned: Federico I (Barbarossa) came to receive the title here in 1155. The friezes and capitals on its broad sandstone facade are carved into a menagerie of snake-tailed fish, griffins, dragons and other beasts, some locked in a struggle with people, representing the fight between good and evil. Despite restoration work in the 1960s, the sandstone is eroding and some of the figures are being lost for good.
North of here lie the attractive courtyards and sandstone buildings of the University of Pavia, founded in 1361 by Galeazzo II Visconti, and particularly renowned for its medicine and law faculties. Crossing Piazza Castello, you reach the Castello Visconteo (Tues–Sun: July, Aug, Dec & Jan 9am–1.30pm; March–June & Sept–Nov 10am–5.50pm; €6), also initiated by Galeazzo II Visconti in 1360, and added to by the Sforzas. Although it’s been restored, the rooms that remain are unremarkable. The Museo Civico inside includes a handful of Venetian paintings, Roman artefacts and medieval architectural fragments.
Eating
Pavia’s best restaurant, with attractive outdoor tables in summer, is in an alleyway by the church of San Michele. Villaglori al San Michele, Vicolo San Michele 4 (0382.220.716; closed Mon & lunch Tues–Fri), offers excellently priced local wines to accompany interesting dishes like rabbit and asparagus lasagne or a mouthwatering selection of cold meats and cheeses in an elegant modern restaurant. Across Corso Strada Nuova, Osteria della Madonna del Peo, Via Cardano 63 (0382.302.833; closed Sun), is a good central option serving local specialities, such as risotto with frogs’ legs, in a cosy vaulted trattoria. If you’d prefer to grab a sandwich and head down to the river, the Punto Bar, Strada Nuova 9, is a first-rate paninoteca.
Certosa di Pavia
One of the most extravagant monasteries in Europe, the Certosa di Pavia (Charterhouse of Pavia; Tues–Sun 9–11.30am & 2.30–5.30pm; Oct–March closes 4.30pm; free), 10km north of Pavia, was commissioned by the Duke of Milan, Galeazzo II Visconti, in 1396 as the family mausoleum. Visconti intended the church here to resemble Milan’s late-Gothic cathedral and the same architects and craftsmen worked on the building throughout its construction. It took a century to build; by the time it was finished tastes had changed (and the Viscontis had been replaced by the Sforzas). As a work of art the monastery is one of the most important testimonies to the transformation from late-Gothic to Renaissance and Mannerist styles, but it also affords a wonderful insight into the lives and beliefs of the Carthusian monks.
The Certosa is easily reachable from both Milan and Pavia. Buses run hourly from Milan’s Famagosta station (€3) and from Pavia’s bus station, dropping you a fifteen-minute walk from the Certosa. Arriving by train, turn left out of the station and walk (15min) around the Certosa walls to the entrance.
The complex
The monastery lies at the end of a tree-lined avenue, part of a former Visconti hunting range that stretched all the way from Pavia’s castello. Encircled by a high wall, the complex is entered through a central gateway bearing a motif that recurs throughout the monastery – “GRA-CAR” or “Gratiarum Carthusiae”, a reference to the fact that the Carthusian monastery is dedicated to Santa Maria delle Grazie, who appears in numerous works of art in the church. Beyond the gateway is a gracious courtyard; on the right is the seventeenth-century Palazzo Ducale, while rising up before you is the fantastical facade of the church, festooned with inlaid marble, twisted columns, statues and friezes – though in fact unfinished: the tympanum was never added to the top, which gives the church its stocky, truncated look. The church interior is no less splendid, its paintings, statues and vaults combining to create an almost ballroom glamour. Look out for the tombs of Lodovico Il Moro and Gian Galeazzo Visconti, masterpieces of the early Renaissance.
Tours
To visit the rest of the monastery you need to join a guided tour (free; contributions welcomed) of just under an hour, led by one of the monks released from the strict Carthusian vow of silence. Tours start from the church when a group has gathered; they are in Italian, but are well worth doing even if you don’t understand a word, as they allow you to explore the best parts of the monastery complex. They move first to the small cloister, with fine terracotta decoration and a geometric garden around a fountain, then to the nearby refectory, where monks would eat together on Sundays and holy days; the Bible was read throughout the silent meal from the pulpit (with a hidden entrance in the panelling). The dining room is divided by a blind wall, which allowed the monastery to feed lay workers and guest pilgrims without compromising the rules of their closed order. Further on, the great cloister is stunning for its size and tranquillity. It is surrounded on three sides by the monks’ houses, each consisting of two rooms, a chapel, a garden and a loggia, with a bedroom above. The hatches to the side of the entrances were designed to enable food to be passed through without any communication. The final call is the Certosa shop, stocked with honey, chocolate, souvenirs and the famous Chartreuse liqueur.
Cremona
A cosy provincial town in the middle of the Po plain, CREMONA is renowned for its violins. Ever since Andrea Amati established the first violin workshop here in 1566, followed by his son Nicolò and pupils Guarneri and – most famously – Antonio Stradivari (1644–1737), Cremona has been a focus for the instrument. Today the city hosts an internationally famous school of violin-making, as well as frequent classical concerts.
Cremona has some fine Renaissance and medieval buildings, and its cobbled streets make for some pleasant wandering, but it’s a modest sort of place: target it as a half-day trip from Milan, en route towards the richer pickings of Mantua.
Arrival, information and accommodation
Cremona’s train station is on Via Dante, ten minutes’ walk north of the main Piazza del Comune, linked to the centre by bus #1. The tourist office (daily 9am–12.30pm & 3–6pm, June–Aug closed Sun afternoon; 0372.407.269, turismo.comune.cremona.it) is on Piazza del Comune, opposite the Duomo.
As for accommodation, the Duomo, Via Gonfalonieri 13 (0372.35.242, www.hotelduomocremona.com; €61–90), is very central, offering bright, air-conditioned rooms, while Dellearti Design Hotel, Via Bonomelli 8 (0372.23.131, www.dellearti.com; €121–150), is aimed at chi-chi urbanites who like their contemporary styling – rather incongruous for sleepy Cremona. The campsiteParco al Po is at Lungo Po Europa 12 (0372.21.268, www.campingcremonapo.it; April–Sept; bus #1).
The Town
The centre of Cremona is the splendid Piazza del Comune, a narrow space dominated by monumental architecture. The town’s other main sight, the Museo Civico, is a short stroll from here, while there are a couple of appealing churches a little further out of the centre.
Piazza del Comune
The west side of Piazza del Comune is the least dramatic, though its buildings, both thirteenth-century – the red-brick Loggia dei Militia (formerly headquarters of the town’s soldiery) and the arched Palazzo del Comune – are lavish.
In the northeast corner of the square looms the gawky Romanesque Torrazzo, at 112m one of Italy’s tallest medieval towers. Built in the mid-thirteenth century and bearing a fine Renaissance clock dating from 1583, it can be climbed for excellent views (Tues–Sun 10am–1pm & 2.30–6pm; €4, joint ticket with Baptistry €5). Adjacent stands the Duomo (Mon–Sat 7.30am–noon & 3.30–7pm, Sun 10.30–11am & 3.30–5.30pm), connected to the Torrazzo by way of a Renaissance loggia. The Duomo’s huge facade, made up of classical, Romanesque and fancy Gothic elements, focuses on a rose window from 1274. The interior is rather oppressive – lofty and dim, marked by the dark stone of its piers, and covered by naïve frescoes done in the sixteenth century. Also of note are the fifteenth-century pulpits, decorated with fine reliefs. The south side of the square features the octagonal Baptistry (Tues–Sun 10am–1pm & 2.30–6pm; €2, joint ticket with Torrazzo €5), dating from the late twelfth century. Its vast bare-brick interior is rather severe, though lightened by the twin columns in each bay and a series of upper balconies.
Directly opposite the Duomo, the Palazzo del Comune has a small exhibition of nine historic violins in its upstairs Sala dei Violini (Tues–Sat 9am–6pm, Sun 10am–6pm; €6, joint ticket with Museo Civico €10), including a very early example made by Andrea Amati in 1566, as well as later instruments by Amati’s pupils, Guarneri and Stradivari. There are recordings of the different instruments; at certain times of the day you can hear one of them being played live (check times with the tourist office).
The rest of town
The pilastered Palazzo Affaitati, at Via Ugolani Dati 4 – a pleasant ten-minute stroll north of Piazza del Comune – holds the Museo Civico “Ala Ponzone” (Tues–Sat 9am–6pm, Sun 10am–6pm; €7, joint ticket with Sala dei Violini €10), displaying a pedestrian collection of mainly Cremonese art. Head upstairs to a suite of eighteenth-century rooms – filled with the sound of recorded violin music – which hold the Museo Stradivariano, displaying models, paper patterns, tools and acoustic diagrams from Stradivari’s workshop. An informative video helps to unravel the mysteries of the violin-maker’s art.
Southwest of Piazza del Comune, on Via Tibaldi, the church of San Pietro al Po has better frescoes than the Duomo; look for Bernadino Gatti’s hearty Feeding of the Five Thousand in the refectory next door. If you like that, you’ll love San Sigismondo in the eastern outskirts (bus #2 from Piazza Cavour). Built in 1441, its Mannerist decor is among Italy’s best, ranging from Camillo Boccaccino’s soaring apse fresco to Giulio Campi’s Annunciation, in which Gabriel floats in mid-air.
Eating and drinking
Numerous cosy osterie serve Cremona’s excellent local specialities, especially bollito misto – a mixture of boiled meats, served with mostarda di frutta (also known as mostarda di Cremona), fruit suspended in a sweet mustard syrup. The excellent gastronomie that cluster around Corso Garibaldi and Corso Campi make good places to put together a picnic.
Duomo Via Gonfalonieri 13, down the side of the Palazzo del Comunale 0372.352.96. The tables outside this popular restaurant/pizzeria make a fine, sunny spot to tuck into a crispy pizza. Closed Sun.
La Sosta Via Sicardo 9 0372.456.656. By the main piazza, this attractive osteria does a great line in Cremonese specialities at reasonable prices. Closed Sun dinner & Mon.
Porta Mosa Via Santa Maria Betlem 11 0372.411.803. This simple osteria, a 10-minute walk east of Piazza del Comune, serves delicious local dishes, washed down by well-chosen wines. Closed Sun.
Portici del Comune Piazza del Comune 2. Nicest – and best-located – of the many pleasant pavement cafés and gelaterie dotted around the main squares, in a plum position under the arches directly opposite the Duomo’s facade. Closed Tues.
Mantua (Mantova) and around
Aldous Huxley called it the most romantic city in the world. With a skyline of domes and towers rising above its three encircling lakes, MANTUA (Mantova) is undeniably evocative. This was where Romeo heard of Juliet’s supposed death, and where Verdi set Rigoletto. Its history is one of equally operatic plots, most of them acted out by the Gonzaga, one of Renaissance Italy’s richest and most powerful families, who ruled the town for three centuries. Its cobbled squares retain a medieval aspect, and there are two splendid palaces: the Palazzo Ducale, containing Mantegna’s stunning fresco of the Gonzaga family and court, and Palazzo Te, whose frescoes by the flashy Mannerist Giulio Romano encompass steamy erotica and illusionistic fantasy. Mantua’s lakes, and the flat surrounding plain, offer numerous boat cruises and cycling routes.
Exploring Mantua: bikes and boats
Several companies offer cruises on Mantua’s lakes – bulges in the course of the River Mincio – and on the river itself down to its confluence with the Po, ranging from one-hour jaunts (around €8) up to full-day voyages as far as Venice (around €77). All run daily but must be booked in advance: usually a day ahead, but sometimes an hour or so will do. The leading company is Motonavi Andes Negrini, whose ticket office is at Via San Giorgio 2 (0376.322.875, www.motonaviandes.it), three minutes’ walk from its jetty on Lago Inferiore. Navi Andes (0376.324.506, www.naviandes.com) is a separate concern, based at its jetty on Lago di Mezzo. Alternatives include the Barcaioli del Mincio (0376.349.292, www.fiumemincio.it), local boatmen operating small craft upstream from Mantua. Many of the boats accept bikes, so you can make a great day-trip – a morning on the boat, a picnic lunch at, say, Rivalta, then a gentle cycle-ride back in the afternoon. The tourist office has a good map (also on their website) detailing cycle routes, plus information on bus, boat and train combinations. You can rent bikes (around €10 a day) from Mantua Bike, Viale Piave 22/B (0376.220.909), and La Rigola at Via Trieste 7 (0376.366.677).
Arrival, information and accommodation
Mantua’s train station – with services from Milan, Cremona and Verona – and nearby bus station are a ten-minute walk west of the centre (buses from Verona drop off first in the more convenient Piazza Sordello). The city is small enough to cover on foot: even the walk south to Palazzo Te is only twenty minutes, although you’ll feel like a local if you pedal around on a bike. Bus #1 follows a circular route linking the train station, the central squares and Palazzo Te. The well-organized tourist office is at Piazza Mantegna 6 (daily 9.30am–6.30pm; 0376.432.432, www.turismo.mantova.it). If you want to stay in the countryside, ask the tourist office about the numerous agriturismo options (www.agriturismomantova.it) in this part of Lombardy.
Hotels and B&Bs
Armellino Via Cavour 67 346.314.8060, www.bebarmellino.it. Three large beautifully furnished double rooms in an eighteenth-century palace right in the heart of town. There’s a pretty garden for drinks and breakfast is served in the period dining room. No credit cards. €61–90
Broletto Via Accademia 1 0376.326.784, www.hotelbroletto.com. Newly refurbished boutique hotel in the very centre of town. Service is cheery and the smart en-suite rooms are attractive if a little small. €121–150
Corte San Girolamo Via San Girolamo 1, Gambarara 0376.391.018, www.agriturismo-sangirolamo.it. Occupying a renovated watermill 3km north of town on the cycle route from Mantua to Lake Garda, this serene agriturismo has en-suite doubles, plus a four-person apartment. Bicycles available. €61–90
Rechigi Via Calvi 30 0376.320.781, www.rechigi.com. Professional four-star hotel in the historic centre. The lobby is all gleaming marble and contemporary art; the rooms are calmer, while still being modern and functional. Private parking. €151–200
Hostel
Ostello del Mincio Via Porto 23, Rivalta 0376.653.924, www.ostellodelmincio.org. Fine hostel 10km west of town, in a sleepy village on the River Mincio, with canoes and bicycles available for rent and boat trips. It stands 5km from Castellucchio train station (on the Cremona–Mantua line), and the hourly bus #13 (Mantua–Asola; www.apam.it) stops outside. There are double and family rooms as well as dorms. Dorms €14.50, rooms €60 and under
The City
The centre of Mantua is made up of four attractive squares, each connected to the next. Lively Piazza Mantegna is overlooked by the massive Sant’Andrea church. Beside it is the lovely Piazza delle Erbe, with fine arcades facing the medieval Rotonda church. To the north, through medieval passageways and across Piazza Broletto, the long, cobbled slope of Piazza Sordello is dominated by the Palazzo Ducale, the fortress and residence of the Gonzaga, packed with Renaissance art.
Mantua’s other great palace stands in its own gardens 1.5km south of the historic centre – Palazzo Te, adorned with sensational frescoes.
Piazza Mantegna
Dominating Piazza Mantegna – a wedge-shaped open space at the end of the arcaded shopping thoroughfares of Corso Umberto and Via Roma – is the facade of Leon Battista Alberti’s church of Sant’Andrea, an unfinished basilica that says a lot about the ego of Lodovico II Gonzaga, who commissioned it in 1470. He felt that the existing medieval church was neither impressive enough to represent the splendour of his state nor large enough to hold the droves of people who packed in every Ascension Day to see the holy relic of Christ’s blood which had been found on the site. Lodovico brought in the court architect, Luca Fancelli, to oversee Alberti’s plans. There was a bitchy rivalry between the two, and when, on one of his many visits, Alberti fell and hurt a testicle, Fancelli gleefully told him: “God lets men punish themselves in the place where they sin.” Work started in earnest after Alberti’s death in 1472, and took more than two decades to complete.
The Classical facade is focused on an immense triumphal arch supported on giant pilasters. Inside (daily 8am–noon & 3–7pm), the vast, column-free space is roofed with one large barrel-vault, echoing the facade. The octagonal balustrade at the crossing stands above the crypt where the holy relic is kept in two vases, copies of originals designed by Cellini and stolen by the Austrians in 1846; to see them, ask the sacristan. The painter Mantegna is buried in the first chapel on the left, his tomb topped with a bust of the artist that is said to be a self-portrait. The wall-paintings in the chapel were designed by Mantegna and executed by students, Correggio being one.
Piazza delle Erbe and around
Beside Sant’Andrea, Piazza Mantegna gives way to atmospheric Piazza delle Erbe, with a small daily market and cafés sheltering in the arcades below the thirteenth-century Palazzo della Ragione. Sunk below the present street level is the eleventh-century Rotonda di San Lorenzo (daily 10am–1pm & 3–6pm, Sat & Sun 10am–6pm), which was partially demolished in the sixteenth century and used as a courtyard by the surrounding houses. Rebuilt in 1908 and beautifully restored in recent years, it still contains traces of twelfth- and thirteenth-century frescoes.
At the northern end of Piazza delle Erbe, a passage leads under the red-brick Broletto, or medieval town hall, into the smaller Piazza Broletto, where you can view two reminders of how “criminals” were treated under the Gonzagas. The bridge to the right has metal rings embedded in its vault, to which victims were chained by the wrists, before being hauled up by a pulley and suspended in mid-air; while on your far left – actually on the corner of Piazza Sordello – the tall medieval Torre della Gabbia has a cage attached in which prisoners were displayed.
A diversion up Via Accademia leads to the Baroque Teatro Bibiena (Tues–Sun 9.30am–12.30pm & 3–6pm; €2), a splendid, intimate theatre, its curved walls lined with boxes. Mozart gave the inaugural concert here on January 16, 1770, a few days before his fourteenth birthday.
Piazza Sordello and the Palazzo Ducale
Northeast of Piazza Broletto, Piazza Sordello is a large, sombre square, headed by the Baroque facade of the Duomo. Flanked by touristy pavement cafés and grim crenellated palaces built by the Bonacolsi (the Gonzagas’ predecessors) the Duomo conceals a rich interior, designed by Giulio Romano after the church had been gutted by fire in 1545.
Opposite, the Palazzo del Capitano and Magna Domus form the core of the Palazzo Ducale, an enormous complex that was once the largest palace in Europe. In its heyday it covered 34,000 square metres and had a population of over a thousand; when it was sacked by the Habsburgs in 1630 eighty carriages were needed to carry away the two thousand works of art contained in its five hundred rooms.
Palazzo Ducale practicalities
Admission (Tues–Sun 8.45am–7.15pm, last entry 6.20pm; €6.50; www.mantovaducale.it) is from Piazza Sordello, where you can also pick up an audioguide (€4, or €5.50 for two). In winter (Nov–March) you must take a guided tour (free); these start every fifteen minutes, or when twenty people have gathered, and last an hour and a half.
For conservation reasons, only 1500 people a day are allowed to visit the Camera degli Sposi (also called the Camera Picta). In the peak season for school trips (mid-March to mid-June and Sept to mid-Oct), individuals must book in advance for a timed slot for admission to this room, on 041.241.1897 (press 1 for English-speaking operators; Mon–Fri 9am–6pm, Sat 9am–2pm). Booking costs €1 extra, payable on arrival.
Inside the Palazzo Ducale
The tour starts in the Corte Vecchia, the oldest wing of the palace. In the Sala del Morone (room 1) hangs a painting from 1494 by Domenico Morone showing the Expulsion of the Bonacolsi from Piazza Sordello, with the Duomo sporting its old, Gothic facade (replaced in the eighteenth century). In the Sala del Pisanello (room 3) are the fragments of a half-finished fresco by Pisanello, discovered in 1969 behind two layers of plaster.
The splendid Neoclassical Sala degli Specchi (Hall of Mirrors; room 6) was originally an open loggia, bricked up in 1773; the barrel-vaulted ceiling holds a fresco depicting teams of horses being driven from Night to Day. In the Sala degli Arcieri (Hall of Archers; room 7), a huge canvas by Rubens shows the Gonzaga family of 1604 seated comfortably in the presence of the Holy Trinity; look out for Vincenzo with his handlebar moustache. The picture was originally part of a huge triptych, but Napoleonic troops carried off two-thirds of it in 1797 (one part is now in Antwerp, the other in Nancy) and chopped the remaining third into saleable chunks of portraiture; some gaps remain. Around the room is a curious frieze of horses, glimpsed behind curtains. Beyond the Sala del Labirinto (room 9), named for the maze on its painted and gilded wooden ceiling, the Sala di Amore e Psiche (room 11) is an intimate space with a wooden floor and an eighteenth-century tondo of Cupid and Psyche in the ceiling.
From here follow signs along corridors, down stairs and over a moat into the fourteenth-century Castello di San Giorgio, which contains the palace’s principal treasure: Mantegna’s frescoes of the Gonzaga family in the Camera degli Sposi (room 17). Painted between 1465–74, they’re naturalistic pieces of work, giving a vivid impression of the Marquis Lodovico, his wife Barbara and their family, and of the relationships between them. In the main fresco Lodovico discusses a letter with a courtier while his wife looks on; their youngest daughter leans on her mother’s lap, about to bite into an apple, while an older son and daughter look towards the door, where an ambassador from another court is being welcomed. The other fresco, divided into three sections, shows Lodovico welcoming his son Francesco back from Rome. In the background are the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick III and the king of Denmark. Don’t forget to look up: the ceiling features another nice piece of trompe l’oeil, in which two women, peering down from a balustrade, have balanced a tub of plants on a pole and appear to be on the verge of letting it tumble into the room.
Next comes the sixteenth-century Corte Nuova wing, designed by Giulio Romano for Federico II Gonzaga. After several formal audience rooms you come to the Sala di Troia (room 22), decorated with Romano’s brilliantly colourful scenes from the Iliad and Aeneid. The adjacent Galleria dei Marmi (room 23), with delicate floral and wildlife motifs, looks out over the Cortile della Cavallerizza (Courtyard of the Riding School). Along the courtyard’s long side runs the immense Galleria della Mostra (room 24), once hung with paintings by Titian, Caravaggio, Breughel and others, all now dispersed; in their place are 64 Roman marble busts. Push on through the smaller rooms and up more stairs to the stunning Sala dello Zodiaco (room 33), whose late sixteenth-century ceiling is spangled with stars and constellations. The adjoining Rococo Sala dei Fiumi (room 34) features an elaborate painted allegory of Mantua’s six rivers, flanked by two over-the-top stucco-and-mosaic fountains.
Save some wonder for rooms 35–37, beside the Sala dello Zodiaco. These comprise the Stanze degli Arazzi, three rooms (and a small chapel) altered in the eighteenth century to house nine sixteenth-century Flemish tapestries of exceptional virtuosity, depicting stories from the Acts of the Apostles, made from Raphael’s cartoons for the Sistine Chapel (now in London’s Victoria and Albert Museum).
The Gonzaga
At the time of the coup of 1328, when Luigi Gonzaga seized Mantua from the Bonacolsi, the Gonzaga family were wealthy local landowners living outside Mantua on vast estates with an army of retainers. Luigi nominated himself Captain of the People, a role which quickly became hereditary, eventually growing to that of marquis.
Mantua’s renaissance began in 1459, when a visiting pope complained that the city was muddy, marshy and riddled with fever. This spurred his host, Lodovico II Gonzaga, to give the city a facelift, ranging from paving the squares and repainting the shops to engaging Andrea Mantegna as court artist and calling in the prestigious architectural theorist Leon Battista Alberti to design the monumental church of Sant’Andrea, one of the most influential buildings of the early Renaissance. Later, Lodovico’s grandson, Francesco II (1466–1519), swelled the family coffers by hiring himself out as a mercenary – money his wife, Isabella d’Este, spent amassing a prestigious collection of paintings, sculpture and objets d’art.
Under Isabella’s son, Federico II, Gonzaga fortunes reached their height; his marriage in 1531 to the heiress of the duchy of Monferrato procured a ducal title for the family, while he continued the policy of self-glorification by commissioning an out-of-town villa – the Palazzo Te – for himself and his mistress. Federico’s descendants were for the most part less colourful characters, one notable exception being Vincenzo I, whose debauchery and corruption provided the inspiration for Verdi’s licentious duke in Rigoletto. After Vincenzo’s death in 1612, the then-bankrupt court was forced to sell many of the family treasures to Charles I of England (many are still in London’s Victoria and Albert Museum), just three years before the arrival of the Habsburgs.
South of the centre
A twenty-minute walk from the centre of Mantua, at the end of the long spine of Via Principe Amedeo and Via Acerbi, the Palazzo Te is the later of the city’s two Gonzaga palaces, and equally compelling.
On the way is Giulio Romano’s Fish Market – to the left off Piazza Martiri Belfiori – a short covered bridge over the river, which is still used as a market building. Following Via Principe Amedeo south, the Casa di Giulio Romano, off to the right at Via Poma 18 – overshadowed by the monster-studded Palazzo di Giustizia – was meant to impress the sophisticated, who would have found the licence taken with the Classical rules of architecture witty. A five-minute walk away on busy Via Acerbi stands the austere brick Casa del Mantegna, now used as a contemporary art space (hours and admission vary). Across the road, the church of San Sebastiano (mid-March to mid-Nov Tues–Sun 10.30am–12.30pm & 3–5pm; €1.50), the work of Alberti, is famous as the first Renaissance church to be built on a central Greek-cross plan, described as “curiously pagan” by Nikolaus Pevsner. Lodovico II’s son was less polite: “I could not understand whether it was meant to turn out as a church, a mosque or a synagogue.” The bare interior – now deconsecrated – is dedicated to Mantua’s war dead.
Palazzo Te
At the southern end of Via Acerbi, set in its own grounds, the Palazzo Te (Mon 1–6pm, Tues–Sun 9am–6pm, last entry 5.30pm; €8; www.palazzote.it) was designed by Giulio Romano in the 1520s for playboy Federico Gonzaga and his mistress, Isabella Boschetta. It’s the artist’s greatest work and a renowned Renaissance pleasure dome – originally an island connected to the mainland by bridge, an ideal location for an amorous retreat away from Federico’s wife and the restrictions of life in the Palazzo Ducale. Although the upstairs rooms display paintings and antiquities, the main reason for visiting is to see Giulio’s amazing decorative scheme on the ground floor.
A tour of the palace is like a voyage around Giulio’s imagination, a sumptuous world where very little is what it seems. In the Camera del Sole, the sun and the moon are represented by a pair of horse-drawn chariots viewed from below, giving a fine array of human and equine bottoms on the ceiling. The Sala dei Cavalli holds portraits of prime specimens from the Gonzaga stud-farm (which was also on the island), standing before an illusionistic background in which simulated marble, fake pilasters and mock reliefs surround views of painted landscapes through nonexistent windows.
The function of the Sala di Amore e Psiche, further on, is undocumented, but the graphically erotic frescoes, and the proximity to Federico’s private quarters, are powerful clues. The ceiling paintings tell the story of Cupid and Psyche with more dizzying sotto in su (“from the bottom up”) works by Giulio, while the walls are covered with orgiastic wedding-feast scenes, at which drunken gods in various states of undress are attended by a menagerie of real and mythical beasts. On one wall, Mars and Venus are climbing out of the bath together, their cave watered by a river-god lounging above who is gushing with deliberately ambiguous liquid, flowing from his beard, a vessel he’s holding and his genitals. Other scenes show Olympia about to be raped by a half-serpentine Jupiter and Pasiphae disguising herself as a cow in order to seduce a bull – all watched over by the giant Polyphemus, perched above the fireplace, clutching the pan-pipes with which he sang of his love for Galatea before murdering her lover.
Polyphemus and his fellow giants are revenged in the extraordinary Sala dei Giganti beyond – “the most fantastic and frightening creation of the whole Renaissance”, according to the critic Frederick Hartt – showing the destruction of the giants by the gods. As if at some kind of advanced disaster movie, the destruction appears to be all around: cracking pillars, toppling brickwork and screaming giants, mangled and crushed by great chunks of architecture, appearing to crash down into the room. Stamp your feet and you’ll discover another parallel to modern cinema – the sound effects that Giulio created by turning the room into an echo chamber.
Eating and drinking
Mantua has plenty of excellent, reasonably priced restaurants, many serving local specialities like spezzatino di Mantova (donkey stew), agnoli in brodo (pasta stuffed with cheese and sausage in broth) or the delicious tortelli di zucca (sweet pumpkin-filled pasta). If you’re in town on a Saturday, head for the tempting goodies at the farmers’ market in Lungorio IV Novembre (8am–1pm).
Al Quadrato Piazza Virgiliana 49 0376.368.896. A tranquil spot away from the fray, overlooking the Piazza Virgiliana park north of the centre. Serves good pizzas (€7–8) and tasty fish dishes. Expect to pay around €25. Closed Mon.
Aquila Nigra Vicolo Bonacolsi 4 0376.327.180, www.aquilanigra.it. A formal restaurant housed in an elegant palazzo just off Piazza Sordello, serving delicious seasonal dishes complemented by an impressive wine list. The fish and, especially, seafood are highly regarded. Menus are €70/80. There’s also a contemporary bistro next door with a briefer menu at lower prices. Closed Sun, Mon & Aug.
Fragoletta Piazza Arche 5/A 0376.323.300. Over towards the Lago Inferiore, this is a lively osteria shoehorned into a cramped little building. It’s been around since 1748 and remains popular with locals for its well-priced regional cuisine (meals for around €30 a head). Closed Mon.
Il Cigno (Trattoria dei Martini) Piazza d’Arco 1 0376.327.101. Wonderful restaurant occupying a sixteenth-century mansion in a quiet corner away from the centre, overlooking a beautiful private garden. Choose from the seasonal menu, which includes delectable tortelli di zucca with amaretti and the signature roast guinea-fowl. Service is discreet yet welcoming. There are no prices on the menu, but expect to pay around €80 per head. Closed Mon, Tues & Aug.
L’Ochina Bianca Via Finzi 2 0376.323.700. Cosy osteria where friendly staff serve tasty Mantuan dishes – this is a mainstay of the Italian Slow Food movement, dedicated to promoting quality and conviviality. Five-minute walk west from Piazza delle Erbe. Closed Mon.
Tiratappi Piazza Alberti 30 0376.322.366. Atmospheric old wine-bar on this little-visited square, down a concealed passageway beside the Sant’Andrea church. Its terrace tables are a sun-trap – perfect for sampling Mantuan vintages on a slow afternoon. The cuisine is all local as well: mid-priced specialities served with care. Closed lunch on Tues & Thurs.