Milan: Warm with Sunshine
After London, I couldn’t resist the excellent weather conditions in Milan to explore one step at a time, from the monumental Stazione Centrale with its blend of Art Noveau, Art Deco and Rationalist styles, to the Pirelli Tower, a landmark of Italian architecture, the ultra-modern Torre Diamante, the tallest steel-framed building in Italy, the striking Chiesa di San Marco, one of the city’s oldest churches dating back to the 13th century, La Scala, one of the world’s most prestigious opera houses renowned for its 18th-century architecture, the Monument to Leonardo Da Vinci in Piazza della Scala, created by the Milanese sculptor Pietro Magni inaugurated in 1872, the mesmerising 19th century Galleria Vittorio Emanuelle II, nicknamed “il salotto di Milano” (Milan’s drawing room), and the breathtaking Duomo, a Gothic masterpiece and largest church in Italy dating back to 1386 taking nearly 600 years to build, the superlative Pinacoteca di Brera, housing one of Italy’s most important collections of medieval and Renaissance art, Via Dante with its grand palazzi serving as a direct link between the Duomo and Castello Sforzesco, the massive 15th century castle home to an array of specialised museums and treasures, the neoclassical Arco della Pace, commissioned by Napoleon Buonaparte in 1807, the Basilica of Santa Maria delle Grazie, home to Leonardo da Vinci’s Il Cenacolo (Last Super), the Tre Torri at CityLife that redefine the city’s skyline, and, finally, a visit to the 17th-century baroque Villa Arconati in Castellazzo, often called the Italian Versailles, which is part of Bollate close to Milan.
Stazione Centrale
Pirelli Tower
La Torre Diamante
La Chiesa di San Marco
Monument to Leonardo Da Vinci and La Scala
Galleria Vittorio Emanuelle II
Il Duomo
Il Duomo from Piazza Mercanti
Vaulted Ceiling of the Basilica of Santa Maria delle Grazie
Pinacoteca di Brera
Via Dante and Castello Sforzesco
Arco della Pace
Tre Torri at CityLife
