MENTION Milan to many people and they think of one of two things – fashion or football. I’ve just been back to Italy’s second-largest city and I’m glad to report that it stacks up for a brilliant break – even if you’re not a dedicated follower of either.
A great base helps make for a great break. And the ODSweet Duomo Milano Hotel (www.odsweethotel.com) is an ideal bolthole handily located on the same square as the city’s most famous attraction – the Duomo cathedral.
Owned by the famous Italian confectionary maker, the hotel claims to be “the world’s first sweet hotel” and it is wonderfully over the top on the sweet theme. My room was bathed in a swathe of marshmallow, with a pink Smeg fridge and coffee maker, and loads of free sweets and marshmallows temptingly dappled around.
Milan is handily an immensely walkable city, given its compact core and the fact that it is so flat. The public transport system is also a joy to use, with a clean and efficient network of underground trains and trundling trams. You can use contactless and a single trip only costs €2.20.
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The Duomo is the city’s unmissable attraction – a gloriously gothic extravaganza and the largest of its kind in Italy. It’s worth paying to delve inside too and to ascend to the viewing deck where the city opens up all around. It’s a bit of a Marmite building – John Ruskin notoriously declared it borrows from “every style in the world” and he didn’t always think this was a good thing.
Milan is also a city of museums and a museum at the other end of the spectrum from the classic Duomo is the Museo del Novecento. This modern art gallery echoes New York’s Guggenheim with its spiral gallery. The sparkling art ranges from a sweep of Italian painters, through to Picasso and Kandinsky, with lashings of installations and pieces that test your idea of what is, and what can be, art.
Pushing across the heaving square in front of the Duomo – Italy’s cities are popular year-round these days – I brushed with the world of fashion in the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II. This has to be Europe’s poshest shopping centre – a grand old dame dating back to 1877. The vaulting arcaded ceiling impresses as much as the globally famous names that star all around – the likes of Chanel, Louis Vuitton and Dior.
At the other end of the gallery, Via Manzoni stretches off with the famous brands trying hard to outdo each other on its length and the surrounding streets. Armani even has its own hotel. More cerebral pursuits tempt here too with La Scala, one of the world’s great opera houses. If you have the chance, grab a ticket as it’s one of Italy’s great cultural experiences.
One part of the city that visitors often overlook, but locals and Italians holidaying here don’t miss, is Parco Sempione. This is Milan’s Central Park or Hyde Park, a green lung alive with walking trails, cafés and its own wee pond. There are views back to the old city from Milan’s largest park and also to the glass and steel jungle of Milan’s major financial district. This is the place the Milanese come to stroll, to fall in love and to walk with their wee ones.
Parco Sempione also houses the Sforza Castle. This grand edifice is Milan’s Louvre – an old fortress reinvented as the city’s premier museum. The sheer depth of the collection is remarkable, with myriad buildings and floors to explore. My highlights were the Rondanini Pietà, a beautiful sculpture from Michaelangelo (his last) and the brace of Venetian visions from Canaletto that took me right back to the Serene Republic.
North of Parco Sempione lies Milan’s thriving Chinatown. This is an eclectic and multicultural city and you really feel that in this vibrant quarter. We flitted between Chinese supermarkets, bubble tea cafés and dined here too. Award-winning La Tang is a no-frills eatery with bargain basement pan-Chinese cuisine and a leaning towards Shanghai. Their dim sum and beef noodle dish spiced with black pepper were both divine.
Milan is of course famous for its Risotto alla Milanese and version of the veal schnitzel. But there is strength in depth too. It’s easy to dine well in Milan. Some of the most interesting new haunts line one of the oldest navigable canals in Europe – the Naviglio Grande.
My best meal actually came at the OD Sweet Hotel without a marshmallow in sight. First up were delicious red prawns and oysters, before sweet Catalan lobster. The tiramisu to finish was a delight, a culinary world away from the straight-from-the-fridge job that many Italian restaurants in Scotland serve up.
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If Milan for you instantly conjures up images of either their football team or the world-famous fashion week, you’ll be surprised what else the city offers for a wee break. With one of Europe’s grandest cathedrals, a proper city park, a swathe of museums, great food and a lively Chinatown, Milan makes for an alternative Italian break for anyone already well acquainted with the likes of Rome and Venice.
EasyJet (www.easyjet.com) fly out to Milan from Edinburgh. Tourist information www.yesmilano.it
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