Milan

The Duomo, always being tended

The Veneranda Fabbrica, the body that built the Duomo di Milano and still looks after it, was founded in 1387 by Gian Galeazzo Visconti, then lord of Milan. He switched the plan from brick to marble, and on October 24 that year he handed the Candoglia quarry over to the Fabbrica. The Fabbrica still manages that quarry and keeps repairing the cathedral. Its work site starts in a fenced-off area on the south side and reaches up to 108.5 meters, and from the rooftop terraces you walk among the spires and statues close enough to see that work. Large bags aren't allowed inside the cathedral, so leave yours at your hotel.

The Last Supper: fifteen minutes in the room

Leonardo da Vinci introduced himself to Milan's ruler in a long letter listing what he could do as a painter, musician, military engineer and architect, and arrived in the city in 1482. That ruler, Ludovico Sforza, handed him the wall of the dining hall at the monastery of Santa Maria delle Grazie and asked for Christ at the Last Supper with the twelve apostles. Leonardo stayed at Ludovico's court until 1499. To protect the painting, the air in the hall is now specially controlled and visitor numbers are limited. Up to 40 people go in at a time, for 15 minutes. Tickets are €15 if you're 25 or older and €2 if you're 18 to 25; under-18s go free.

Through the Galleria to La Scala

On the north side of Piazza del Duomo, the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II is a cross-shaped arcade under a glass roof. Walk out the other side and you're on the square in front of the Teatro alla Scala; a few blocks further northeast is the Quadrilatero della Moda, the fashion district around Via Montenapoleone. The theater opened on August 3, 1778, with Salieri's opera L'Europa riconosciuta. Its name comes from the church of Santa Maria alla Scala that once stood on the site. When it reopened after restoration on December 7, 2004, it staged the same opera again, with Riccardo Muti conducting. Since 1951, the season has opened every year on December 7, the feast day of Milan's patron saint, Ambrose.

Brera and the Castello Sforzesco

North of La Scala, Brera is a neighborhood of stone-paved streets lined with galleries and small restaurants. One Grande Brera ticket (€20) at the Pinacoteca di Brera also covers the collection at nearby Palazzo Citterio, which you can visit on the ticket date or any of the six days after. Walk west from Brera to reach the red-brick Castello Sforzesco, the castle of the Sforza family whose court kept Leonardo. Michelangelo's last sculpture, the Rondanini Pietà, is here. Behind the castle, Parco Sempione stretches out.

The Navigli: the marble's waterway

The Duomo's marble left Candoglia by boat, traveling down the Toce River, across Lake Maggiore, along the Ticino and then the Naviglio Grande canal to the Sant'Eustorgio docks in Milan. Shipping by water continued until 1920, and the neighborhood around those canals is today's Navigli. As the light fades, the bars along both banks fill up and aperitivo begins—Milan's habit of a drink and a few small bites before dinner. Streetlights spill across the water where marble barges once passed. About once a month, on a Sunday, the Mercatone dell'Antiquariato antiques market sets up along the canal; the dates go up in advance on navigliogrande.mi.it.

Milan at the table

Traditional Milanese cooking reaches for butter more than olive oil, and rice more than pasta. Risotto alla milanese is cooked yellow with saffron and sometimes shares a plate with ossobuco, veal shank braised for hours. Cotoletta alla milanese is bone-in veal, breaded and fried in butter. For lunch on the move, stop at Luini on Via Santa Radegonda, just off Piazza del Duomo. It's known for panzerotti: half-moons of dough filled with tomato and mozzarella, then fried. In winter, panettone, the Christmas bread that began in Milan, is stacked in every bakery window.

New Milan, and three days

In Porta Nuova, the Bosco Verticale is a pair of apartment towers, 110 and 76 meters tall, planted with 800 trees. At Largo Isarco, on the city's southern edge, Fondazione Prada is an art museum in a converted gin distillery built in 1910. Spring brings design week: in 2027, the Salone del Mobile furniture fair runs April 13–18 at the Rho fairground, and the Fuorisalone events in town run April 12–18. • Day 1 — Duomo rooftop terraces → Galleria → La Scala → Brera → risotto for dinner • Day 2 — The Last Supper → Castello Sforzesco and Parco Sempione → Porta Nuova → aperitivo on the Navigli • Day 3 — Fondazione Prada, or a day trip by train to Lake Como

What to eat

• Risotto alla milanese (saffron risotto)
• Cotoletta alla milanese (veal cutlet fried in butter)
• Ossobuco (braised veal shank)
• Panzerotti (Luini)

Handy tips

• Last Supper tickets are released each quarter, several months at a time, and the on-sale date is announced on the official site. If it's sold out, try again on a Wednesday at noon, when extra tickets for the following week go online.
• On the metro, tap in at the gate with a contactless card or phone wallet, and tap out with the same one. Several rides within 90 minutes cost just €2.20, and once you go past your fourth ride within 24 hours of the first, you're charged the daily fare (€7.60 for zones Mi1–Mi3).
• On Mondays, The Last Supper and the Pinacoteca di Brera are both closed. Both are free on the first Sunday of the month, but you still need to book (for The Last Supper, online only, from noon the Wednesday before).