Editor’s note: I spent ten days in Milan back in 2023, and I was very pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed my time and all the city had to offer. It is wonderful to read that our writer Sam Spector also enjoyed his time in Milan, even though he had only a single day. For more of Sam’s writing, click here to visit his index page. You can also click here to read my take on Milan’s top sights, and here to read some additional thoughts about the city.
Milan, dubbed Italy’s second city after Rome, is considered to be the fashion capital of the world. Indeed, when my schlubby-self showed up in Northern Italy’s primary city, I will admit that I felt a bit out of place. It seemed like everyone around me was a model and dressed to the 9s in high fashion. Upon my arrival in Milan, I noticed that the city felt more like a Central European city like Vienna architecturally, rather than the classic Italian cities of Rome and Florence. This influence comes from Milan being under Austrian control from 1714 to 1796 and then again from 1815-1859. Milan, with 1.3 million people in the city proper and 4.3 in the metropolitan area is hustling and bustling and has more of a fast-paced feel than many of its Italian counterparts. As an artsy city, the fashion district of the city had not only human models and clothing displays, but we found a modern furniture design section that had admirers marveling over items like a chair.
However, for those who lack fashion sense or care such as myself, Milan and the nearby lakes are still wonderful to visit for their famous attractions and distinct and delicious Northern Italian cuisine. In the center of the city is Milan’s most famous attraction, its beautiful gothic Duomo Cathedral-Basilica. This cathedral happens to be the largest in all of Italy (the larger St. Peter’s Basilica is in Vatican City, a separate sovereign state) and took six centuries to build, with the foundation stone being laid in 1386 and the cathedral being completed in 1965. While most of Italy’s cathedrals are built in Romanesque, Baroque, Neoclassical, or Renaissance style, the striking uniqueness of Milan’s Duomo from the large plaza in front of it has made it world famous. The cathedral is a bright white from its marble façade, and what stands out is its 135 narrow, intricately designed spires, which have statues atop them. In fact, the Duomo’s 3400 statues are more than any other church in the world, including 150 gargoyles. The interior, while beautiful and imposing, was more similar to other large Catholic cathedrals found throughout Europe, and not especially memorable. However, what attracts many tourists is getting a special ticket in advance to go onto the roof of the cathedral and see the spires and statues up close.
Next to the Duomo is another of Milan’s great attractions, the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II, a double four-story shopping arcade. This pedestrian mall connects the Duomo with Milan’s beautiful opera theater. The Galleria was built between 1865 and 1877, but designed only a couple years after Milan ceased to be part of the Kingdom of Austria (showing again an architecture more similar to that of Central Europe of the time) and became part of the newly established Kingdom of Italy, and was named for Vittorio Emanuele II, the first king of the kingdom. Above is a magnificent glass domed structure in the middle of the gallery that is the centerpiece of eight glass and iron arches coming together. On the floor beneath the dome are four mosaics representing the coat of arms for the then-capitals of Italy: Rome, Florence, and Turin, as well as that of Milan. For Turin, there is a bull on their coat of arms, and many people will stand on the testicles of the bull and spin around three times for good luck, which has led to the (perhaps unlucky) testicles of the bull having completely vanished.
Milan is also home to a beautiful castle, the Sforza Castle. This castle was built in the 15th century by Francesco Sforza, the Duke of Milan, on top of the remnants of a 14th century fortress, and enlarged over the following centuries. Today, there are numerous art museums inside the sprawling castle. Numerous rooms inside the castle were frescoed by famous artists, including Leonardo da Vinci; yet, today, much of the original artwork no longer exists or is badly faded. While tickets are needed to go into the museum, just being in the courtyard at no cost is well worth the visit, and my daughters had a great time playing there. The length of the walls of the castle is 200 meters and the red walls have a thickness of 7 meters, and the enclosure of the castle is the equivalent of eight football fields, and held 3000 garrisoned soldiers at one point. While there are several stout, round towers on the corners of the walls, a middle tower, the 70 meter tall Torre del Filarete stands equal parts beautifully and imposingly to the outsiders and passersby, with a large, two-tiered fountain in front of it.
In this city of artists, the most famous piece is, of course, da Vinci’s The Last Supper, depicting Jesus and his apostles on the night before Jesus’ arrest. Da Vinci worked tirelessly on this masterpiece over three years from 1495 to 1498. It is located in what was the dining room of the monks who lived where the piece is housed, the Convent of Santa Maria delle Grazie. He used his knowledge of light and geometry to purposefully make the painting appear as though it was an extension of the room itself and that the light from the room’s windows were shining into the room where Jesus himself was dining. The picture depicts all the apostles sitting on the same side of the table as Jesus to give the viewer the chance to see their reaction to the news that Jesus shares that one of them will betray him. Take time to look at the faces of each person and notice that Judas has his face largely hidden by shadows as he clutches a bag of money in his hand. You can spend hours reading and watching videos that reveal various secrets that da Vinci included in this piece. Having seen the Mona Lisa, da Vinci’s other famed masterpiece painting, a small 77 x 53 centimeter piece, next to the 4.6 x 8.8 meter mural of The Last Supper, I can say that I found myself far more enthralled with the latter piece.
The fact that this painting has continued to survive is itself a miracle. In da Vinci’s own time, the paint started to fade, and humidity contributed to its deterioration. Today, to preserve the painting as best as possible, you must get a ticket to visit far in advance and you will have a time slot, during which a maximum of only 25 people will be allowed in at a time for a 15 minute interval. This group will have to stand in a dehumidifying chamber prior to entering the room in order to reduce the amount of moisture that the painting is exposed to. Another miracle of the painting’s survival is that the convent, and much of Milan, was largely destroyed during Allied bombing campaigns of World War II. Knowing the masterpiece was threatened, quick thinking Italians built a wall of sandbags in front of the painting. Fortunately, while other parts of the convent were not as lucky, the wall with da Vinci’s painting avoided a direct hit, and the sandbags cushioned and blocked the painting from debris hitting it. While there, take time to admire another, yet less famous, masterpiece from the same time across from The Last Supper, which is Giovanni Donato da Montorfano’s Crucifixion showing the scene in a large mural of the crucifixion of Jesus.
I crammed all of this into a jam packed day in Milan. For Italy’s second largest city and unofficial northern capital, really allow yourself a few days to take in all the city has to offer, including its very own canals that I sadly did not have time to visit. This cosmopolitan city is also a great jumping off point for some of Italy’s best nature with the Italian Alps and Italy’s famed lake district not far away. Even if, like me, your sense of style does not improve from a trip to Milan, you are certain to be inspired by its art and glamor that have dominated the world scene for the last half millennium.
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