By Peggy Karas

Set in the Lombardy Plain of Northern Italy, Milan, with a population of 1.3 million, is often dismissed as an industrial centre known mainly for its fashion industry and perhaps La Scala, its fabled opera house. A  visit in early July confirmed that the city is indeed a mecca for fashion and that it can be hot and muggy. The first week of July is the beginning of the much vaunted sales by the fashion houses and my husband and I were astonished by the numbers of visitors and even more so by the numbers of visitors carrying many bags (representing hundreds if not thousands of euros spent) from the exclusive designer  stores. Purchases from Louis Vuitton, Gucci, Prada were all well in evidence. It became a game as we sat in the streetside cafes and wandered  through the fashion district deciding who was a “looker” and who was a “buyer”. I am definitely of the “looker” variety. A Louis Vuitton bag reduced to 500 euros from 700 euros was still too expensive for me (I would spend more time worrying about losing it than enjoying it). However we discovered there is much more to Milan than fashion sales.

One of the pleasant surprises of the city was the number of pedestrian walkways.  Large sections of the centre city are closed to all vehicular traffic and some open only to trams and taxis. This provides lovely areas for walking, window shopping and best of all sidewalk cafes where you can enjoy your food and watch people with no traffic noises or smells. One of our favorite areas was near the Pinacoteca di Brera where several streets are closed to cars and you can wander along checking out the many restaurants, pastry  and gelato shops—definitely not for people on diets!  Also from La Scala you can walk across the Piazza Scala through the Galleria Vittorio into the Piazza Duomo and from there into several pedestrian areas in and around the Duomo.  This area is also well represented with restaurants, but it also contains many shops and boutiques for all the fashion hunters. If you seek open space and fresh air, Castello Sforzesco is located near a  large park  (Parco Sempione) which provides a quiet place to rest and can be reached through the pedestrian walkways in the Brera area.

The Castello itself was another surprise containing as it did an interesting collection of art works by artists such as Bellini,  Michelangelo and Leonardo da Vinci. The salons are found around the castle’s large central courtyard and seem to go on forever. The galleries of the Pinacoteca di Brea were similarly large and well endowed, and  apparently are the result  of Napoleon, who stored the art he confiscated from holdings  throughout northern Italy.  My favorite was the “Kiss” by Francesco Hayez. Since so many of the paintings in both the Castello and the Brea were centered on saints and religious subjects my husband and I created a game. Before looking at a title we tried to decide which saint or saints were being represented and later as we became more expert which painting portrayed Saint Sebastian in the most realistic death pose.

The area around the Duomo and the Duomo itself is a lively area for relaxing and people watching. The Duomo was begun in 1386 and took five centuries to complete. It is an enormous Gothic cathedral which dwarfs the square on which it is centered. Add to that the fact that the Galleria Vittorio Emmanuele feeds into the square and there is a constant parade of tourists and shoppers crossing the square. Toronto’s Eaton Centre is modeled somewhat after the Galleria as are many enclosed shopping malls around the world. The Galleria has some of Milan’s top fashion stores as well as several lovely cafes and restaurants. 

Another area for people watching and dining is in the navigli or canal area. This can be reached with a 20-minute walk from the Duomo area. The restaurants in this area seem to have embraced the Italian custom of “antipasti” in the extreme. From 6 to 9 pm with the purchase of a drink many of the bars and restaurants in navigli area offer excellent selections of antipasti which could almost be enough for a meal. This is a trendy area much frequented by the young professionals after work.  We visited on a Friday evening and found the area crowded with young people walking, drinking and partying.   

If you are so inclined and have a couple of hundred euros to spare, you can get the best seat for the last performances at La Scala before it closes for the season. There are less expensive seats for those on a tighter budget available at the theatre in the day of the performance.

Milan has much more to offer than fashion, opera  and industry (although these are present as well). It is a lively city with excellent museums, dining areas and streetscapes designed for relaxation. I have only one question: Why can’t North American cities provide room for people as well as cars and industry the way Milan seems able to do?

If you go:

Castello Sforzesco, Piazza Castello, Tel: 02-8846-3700, Tues–Sun: 9:00 am to 5:30 pm

Duomo, Piazza del Duomo, Tel: 02-7202-3375, daily 8:30 am to 6:45 pm

Galleria Vittorio Emanuele, between Piazza del Duomo and Piazza della Scala

Pinacoteca di Brera, Via Brea 28, Tel: 02-722-631, Tues–Sun: 8:30 am to 7:15 pm.

Written by :

Peggy Karas