TOP 24 best attractions in Milan

Milan is the cap­i­tal of Ital­ian Lom­bardy, the rec­og­nized cen­ter of fash­ion and the birth­place of Leonar­do da Vin­ci. The city is known for its beau­ti­ful archi­tec­ture and many cul­tur­al sites, art gal­leries and the­atres.

What to do in Milan

The city will be of inter­est to every­one who cares about world his­to­ry. Milan has been stand­ing for more than 2600 years, remem­ber­ing the begin­ning and decline of the mighty Roman Empire, the leg­endary inven­tor Leonar­do da Vin­ci, Renais­sance artists and oth­er sig­nif­i­cant eras in his­to­ry.

Cul­tur­al attrac­tions beck­on art lovers to Milan. It has the largest con­cen­tra­tion of muse­ums and art gal­leries per square kilo­me­ter. And in the world-famous La Scala the­ater, any opera singer dreams of per­form­ing.

Believ­ers will want to bow to the patron saint of the city, Ambrose of Milan, so Chris­tians from dif­fer­ent coun­tries come to Milan.

Well, do not for­get that Milan is the rec­og­nized cap­i­tal of fash­ion and style, so fash­ion­istas from all over the world come here for shop­ping.

Architecture

Porta Nuovo

The arch for the solemn entry into the city has been pre­served from the time when Milan was still a fortress. The city was sur­round­ed by pow­er­ful walls, pro­tect­ing from the raids of neigh­bor­ing coun­tries. Only per­sons of roy­al blood could pass through this arch. Over time, the wall col­lapsed, and the arch became a cul­tur­al object.

Sforza Castle

Castel­lo Sforzesco is locat­ed near the city cen­ter. Sev­er­al muse­ums have found shel­ter in the 15th-cen­tu­ry cas­tle, dis­play­ing paint­ings, fur­ni­ture, works by da Vin­ci and Michelan­ge­lo, includ­ing the Pieta Ron­dani­ni sculp­ture. There is also a col­lec­tion of musi­cal instru­ments, Egypt­ian and pre­his­toric depart­ments of the archae­o­log­i­cal muse­um. The Sforza Cas­tle is a great place for walk­ing, and there is a small park in its court­yard.

Cemetery Cimitero Monumentale

Cimitero is not an ordi­nary ceme­tery. This open-air muse­um hous­es hun­dreds of graves, many of which belong to impor­tant cit­i­zens of the coun­try. Mon­u­ments are of par­tic­u­lar inter­est. Their designs vary, with a head­stone in the form of a four-poster bed or a mar­ble pyra­mid. It is like a com­pe­ti­tion among noble Milanese fam­i­lies for the most com­plex mau­soleum.

Royal Palace

The Roy­al Palace of Milan served as the seat of the city’s gov­ern­ment for decades and is now an impor­tant cul­tur­al cen­ter. The palace cov­ers an area of ​​just under a hectare and annu­al­ly hosts a num­ber of dif­fer­ent exhi­bi­tions show­cas­ing fash­ion, art, design and more.

It also hous­es valu­able paint­ings, many of which were tak­en from oth­er inter­na­tion­al insti­tu­tions. The muse­um of the palace is divid­ed into four parts-epochs: neo­clas­si­cal, Napoleon­ic, restora­tion and uni­fy­ing Italy.

Torre Branca Tower

The Torre Bran­ca obser­va­tion tow­er is locat­ed in Sem­pi­one Park. The majes­tic build­ing was built in 1933 by archi­tect Gio Pon­ti. An ele­va­tor deliv­ers vis­i­tors to the top, and on a clear day from the obser­va­tion deck you can see not only the city, but also the Alps and the Apen­nines.

Skyscraper “Pirelli”

The tallest build­ing in Milan has been adja­cent to the cen­tral sta­tion since the mid­dle of the 20th cen­tu­ry. Before the sky­scraper, there was a fac­to­ry here, the build­ing of which was dam­aged dur­ing the bomb­ing. The deci­sion to build a sky­scraper occurred to the man­age­ment of Pirelli. Thus, they want­ed to leave a mark in his­to­ry.

The idea was com­pli­cat­ed by the author­i­ties’ ban on the con­struc­tion of build­ings high­er than the sculp­ture of the Vir­gin on the Duo­ma. But the archi­tec­t’s minds found a way around the law: the roof of the 127-meter build­ing was dec­o­rat­ed with an exact copy of the stat­ue of Our Lady.

Piazza dei Mercanti

In the Mid­dle Ages Piaz­za Mer­can­ti was the cen­ter of Milan. This square is locat­ed between Piaz­za dei Duo­mo and Piaz­za Cor­duiso, with­in walk­ing dis­tance of Milan’s main attrac­tions.

There are sev­er­al beau­ti­ful old build­ings here: the Pal­la­da del­la Ragione, the Pal­la­da Delle Scuole Pala­tine and the Log­gia degli Hosia. The area is dec­o­rat­ed with sculp­tures and mon­u­ments of the Roman era.

Religious monuments

San Maurizio al Monastero Maggiore

The ancient Bene­dic­tine monastery began its exis­tence in the 9th cen­tu­ry. The order to which the monastery belonged was dis­tin­guished by strict rules and asceti­cism. A sis­ter com­mu­ni­ty lived in the monastery, wish­ing to spend their lives in the ser­vice of God. A dis­tinc­tive fea­ture of the monas­tic char­ter was that the novices and sis­ters did not appear in pub­lic and even in the church dur­ing the Litur­gy hid behind a spe­cial wall.

The monastery is dec­o­rat­ed with pic­turesque fres­coes, mas­ter­ful paint­ings and sculp­tures by stu­dents of Leonar­do da Vin­ci. This fact gives rea­son to con­sid­er San Mau­r­izio some­thing like the “Sis­tine Chapel” in Milan.

Milan Cathedral

The Duo­mo of Milan is the largest Goth­ic cathe­dral in the world. Its con­struc­tion began in 1386 and last­ed almost 500 years. Over 130 spiers and over 3,000 stat­ues adorn the roof of the cathe­dral, which can be reached by ele­va­tor or stairs. The obser­va­tion deck offers a mag­nif­i­cent view of the city.

Piaz­za del Duo­mo, where the Cathe­dral is locat­ed, has become the his­tor­i­cal cen­ter of old Milan. It also hous­es a stat­ue of Vit­to­rio Emanuele and the Roy­al Palace, home to the Duo­mo and Mod­ern Art Muse­ums.

Basilica of Sant’Ambrogio

One of the old­est church­es in Milan was built in the 11th cen­tu­ry on the site of an old­er tem­ple from the 4th cen­tu­ry. Saint Ambrose, the patron saint of Milan, rests in the crypt along with the mar­tyrs of the sec­ond cen­tu­ry.

The basil­i­ca itself is a fine exam­ple of Romanesque archi­tec­ture, its inte­ri­or dec­o­ra­tion is full of relics, carv­ings and mosaics. An inter­est­ing detail is the gold­en altar. The facade of the church is dec­o­rat­ed with two large tow­ers on the sides and a series of arch­es sur­round­ing the cen­tral court­yard.

Church of Sant’Eustorgio

The church is dec­o­rat­ed with a high bell tow­er, which offers a breath­tak­ing view of the sur­round­ings. But the basil­i­ca is famous not for this, but for the rel­ic kept with­in its walls — the shrine of the Three Kings, which is revered in the world of Chris­tian­i­ty. In addi­tion, the church has its own, very enter­tain­ing muse­um.

Church of San Babila

The ear­li­est Chris­t­ian church, built in the 5th cen­tu­ry on the site of a pagan tem­ple. The first basil­i­ca was named after the Union of Saints and the relics of two Anti­ochi­an saints were buried there. From time to time the church col­lapsed, but in the XI cen­tu­ry it was rebuilt and called San Babi­la.

Basilica of San Lorenzo Maggiore

The tem­ple is locat­ed on Cor­so di Por­ta Tici­nese, sur­round­ed by 16 Corinthi­an columns from a Roman tem­ple and dec­o­rat­ed with a bronze copy of the stat­ue of Emper­or Con­stan­tine. The basil­i­ca is a fine exam­ple of Roman and ear­ly Chris­t­ian archi­tec­ture. Its inte­ri­or is dec­o­rat­ed with fres­coes and mosaics of Chris­t­ian themes.

Monastery of Santa Maria delle Grazie

The monastery hous­es a frag­ment of one of the most rec­og­niz­able paint­ings in the world: The Last Sup­per by Leonar­do da Vin­ci. The fres­co is con­sid­ered one of the most impor­tant works of art by this artist. Dur­ing the Sec­ond World War, the wall with it was almost destroyed by bomb­ing, and this frag­ment was mirac­u­lous­ly pre­served.

Only thir­ty vis­i­tors can see the pic­ture at the same time and only for fif­teen min­utes. The whole process is strict­ly con­trolled. But this excur­sion is not lim­it­ed. The monastery itself also has a cer­tain charm and grace. It was built in 1497 in the Goth­ic style using red bricks.

Cultural attractions

La Scala Theater

One of the best opera hous­es in Italy opened in 1778. La Scala hous­es a col­lec­tion of musi­cal instru­ments, and the halls are dec­o­rat­ed with por­traits and busts of famous musi­cians, opera singers and com­posers.

The the­ater is famous for its unique acoustics and lux­u­ri­ous inte­ri­ors. There are 6 tiers of seats inside the main audi­to­ri­um. Indi­vid­ual box­es frame the stage in a semi­cir­cle. The hall is dec­o­rat­ed with red vel­vet cur­tains and gild­ing.

Vittorio Emanuele II Gallery

The Gallery is an extreme­ly opu­lent and extrav­a­gant indoor shop­ping area cre­at­ed in 1877 by Giuseppe Men­go­ni. The cross-shaped mall is cov­ered with four glass pan­els that let in sun­light.

The walls and facades are dec­o­rat­ed with stuc­co and mosaics with sym­bols of Ital­ian cities. The gallery has many brand stores: Pra­da, Ver­sace, Luis Vuit­ton and oth­ers.

Pinacoteca di Brera

The Pina­cote­ca di Brera is Milan’s main art muse­um, hous­ing a col­lec­tion of 600 paint­ings from the 14th to the 20th cen­turies, includ­ing works by lead­ing artists such as Raphael, Piero del­la Francesca and Belli­ni. The gallery was found­ed in the 19th cen­tu­ry in an ancient monastery.

Leonardo da Vinci National Museum of Science and Technology

Leonar­do da Vin­ci was a genius — his muse­um dis­plays incred­i­ble mod­els of cars and air­craft cre­at­ed from his designs, as well as a sol­id archive of draw­ings and sketch­es. Da Vin­ci was more than an artist — he was a true vision­ary, inven­tor and sci­en­tist. In addi­tion to his work, the local exhi­bi­tion con­tains a col­lec­tion of impor­tant sci­en­tif­ic inven­tions and break­through tech­nolo­gies that have changed the world.

Poldi Pezzoli Museum

The muse­um con­tains the largest pri­vate col­lec­tion of antiques, jew­el­ry with a rich his­to­ry, sculp­tures and weapons in Europe. The muse­um build­ing itself, which once belonged to the aris­to­crat Gia­co­mo Pol­di-Pez­zoli, is also inter­est­ing. The own­er of the man­sion wished to com­bine three archi­tec­tur­al styles in it. Now the build­ing, which com­bines Goth­ic, Roco­co and Renais­sance, has become a local land­mark.

Alfa Romeo Museum

A par­adise for motorists and fans of this brand of cars has opened in the sub­urbs of Milan. The for­mer fac­to­ry that hous­es the muse­um has enough space to house all the cars that have ever rolled off the Alfa Romeo assem­bly line, includ­ing rare cars and rac­ing cars. After view­ing the col­lec­tion live, you can learn about the his­to­ry of the brand in the cozy cin­e­ma hall of the muse­um.

Interesting places

Sempione Park

One of the best parks in the city cov­ers an area of ​​46 hectares and hous­es an aquar­i­um, a sports sta­di­um and the Sforza Cas­tle. The park was laid out on this site in 1888, remark­ably land­scaped and equipped with hik­ing trails, bike paths, sculp­tures and foun­tains. Trav­el­ers vis­it the muse­um and watch­tow­er of Torre Bran­ca, which offers a panoram­ic view of the city.

Brera District

The Brera area is com­pared with the Parisian Mont­martre. It hous­es an art gallery, the Acad­e­my of Fine Arts and the Pinakothek. This area, known for its nar­row cob­bled streets, is locat­ed north of Piaz­za Duo­mo, bor­der­ing the Sforza Cas­tle and Sem­pi­one Park. In addi­tion to the remark­able archi­tec­ture, the Brera dis­trict is home to the best shops in Milan, cafes, bak­eries and restau­rants.

Navilsky District

This cross-chan­nel area is home to some of the coolest bars, gal­leries and restau­rants in Milan. Miradoli Arte Con­tem­po­ranea show­cas­es the work of the best young artists in Italy. On the last Sun­day of the month, a flea mar­ket is held here along the Nav­igli Grande.

At one time, there were many canals in Milan, but in the sec­ond half of the 19th and ear­ly 20th cen­turies they were con­sid­ered obso­lete and closed. The appear­ance of rail­ways and trams final­ly decid­ed the fate of the water arter­ies. Today, only Nav­iglio Grande and Nav­iglio Pavese remain from their for­mer splen­dor.

Dur­ing the day, the Nav­il­sky dis­trict is quite calm, but after dark it comes alive with numer­ous night­clubs and restau­rants that attract vis­i­tors to the city and locals.

Fondazione Prada

Fon­dazione is a con­tem­po­rary art quar­ter found­ed by Mario Prada’s grand­daugh­ter. The muse­um func­tions on the ter­ri­to­ry of the plant, which ceased to exist. Sculp­tures, paint­ings, instal­la­tions and art objects by con­tem­po­rary artists are exhib­it­ed in three huge halls. The lob­by of Fon­dazione Pra­da is equipped with a cozy chil­dren’s area with dif­fer­ent lev­els, as well as a cafe with tra­di­tion­al Ital­ian cui­sine.