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Milan is the capital of Lombardy in northern Italy, famous for fashion, design and finance, and for Milan Cathedral, Leonardo's Last Supper and the opera house of La Scala. The city was a Roman capital, the seat of Saint Ambrose and the court of the Visconti and Sforza dukes, who brought Leonardo da Vinci and Bramante here.
Its treasures sit close together. The Duomo, the glass-roofed Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II and La Scala share a few blocks, Sforza Castle and Parco Sempione lie a short walk away, and the Pinacoteca di Brera anchors a quarter of cobbled lanes. Early Christian basilicas hide on side streets, while Porta Nuova and the Bosco Verticale show the new skyline.
Book the Last Supper well ahead, then let evenings run late along the Navigli canals over an aperitivo. Lake Como, Bergamo and the Certosa di Pavia are all within about an hour by train, which makes Milan an easy base for day trips.
Milan Cathedral, the Duomo di Milano, is the vast Gothic church on Piazza del Duomo, begun in 1386 and only declared finished in the 20th century. Inside, look up at the huge stained-glass windows, then take the lift or stairs to the roof terraces among the spires and the golden Madonnina.
Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II is Milan's grand 19th-century shopping arcade, linking Piazza del Duomo with Piazza della Scala under an iron-and-glass roof and dome designed by Giuseppe Mengoni. Historic cafes sit beside luxury shops, and spinning on your heel on the mosaic bull brings luck.
Sforza Castle, the Castello Sforzesco, is the red-brick fortress in central Milan rebuilt by Francesco Sforza in the 15th century and now home to civic museums. The highlight is Michelangelo's Rondanini Pieta, his last, unfinished sculpture. The courtyards are free and open onto Parco Sempione.
Teatro alla Scala in Milan, opened in 1778, is one of the most celebrated opera houses in the world, its plain neoclassical facade hiding tiers of red-and-gold boxes. The theatre museum shows costumes, instruments and portraits, and when no rehearsal is on you can look into the auditorium.
Leonardo's Last Supper, the Cenacolo Vinciano, is the mural Leonardo da Vinci painted in the 1490s in the refectory beside Santa Maria delle Grazie in Milan, one of the most famous images in the world. Visits are timed and short, and tickets sell out far ahead, so book as soon as you can.
The Pinacoteca di Brera is Milan's leading art gallery, filling the upper floor of the Brera palace with Italian painting from the Middle Ages to the 19th century. Look for Mantegna's Dead Christ, Raphael's Marriage of the Virgin, Caravaggio's Supper at Emmaus and Hayez's The Kiss. Allow two hours.
The Museo del Novecento in Milan shows 20th-century Italian art inside the Arengario palace on Piazza del Duomo, with works by Boccioni, Modigliani, de Chirico and Fontana. A spiral ramp leads up from the entrance, and the top floor gives one of the best views of the cathedral.
The Pinacoteca Ambrosiana in Milan was founded by Cardinal Federico Borromeo in the early 17th century alongside an old public library. Its treasures include Caravaggio's Basket of Fruit, Raphael's cartoon for The School of Athens and a portrait of a musician attributed to Leonardo.
The Basilica of Sant'Ambrogio is one of the oldest churches in Milan, founded by Saint Ambrose in the fourth century and later rebuilt in Romanesque brick. Enter through its arcaded atrium, then see the ninth-century golden altar and the crypt where Ambrose rests. It is a calm escape.
San Maurizio al Monastero Maggiore is a former convent church on Corso Magenta in Milan, covered from floor to vault with Renaissance frescoes, many by Bernardino Luini and his circle, hence the nickname Milan's Sistine Chapel. A wall divided the public hall from the nuns' hall, both painted.
The Basilica of San Lorenzo Maggiore is one of Milan's oldest churches, keeping its central-plan layout from late Roman times. In front stand the Colonne di San Lorenzo, 16 Roman columns where people meet on summer evenings. Inside, the Chapel of Sant'Aquilino has early Christian mosaics.
Santa Maria presso San Satiro is a small church a few steps from the Duomo in Milan that hides one of the cleverest tricks of the Renaissance. With no room for a real choir, Bramante built a shallow apse that uses painted perspective to look deep. Walk up the nave and watch the illusion change.
The Navigli are Milan's canals, the Naviglio Grande and Naviglio Pavese, last open stretches of a network that carried goods and marble into the city. Towpaths are lined with bars, restaurants and workshops, busiest at aperitivo time, with an antiques market on the last Sunday of the month.
The Brera District is Milan's old artists' quarter around the Pinacoteca, a pleasant tangle of cobbled lanes, galleries, design shops and cafes with outdoor tables. Via Fiori Chiari is a good street to wander, and the small Brera Botanical Garden hides behind the palace. Evenings are liveliest.
Parco Sempione is Milan's big central park, stretching from Sforza Castle to the Arco della Pace, where locals come to jog, picnic and relax. Inside are the Triennale design museum and the Torre Branca, a slender metal tower with a lift to a viewing platform. The lawns are lovely on a warm evening.
Bosco Verticale is the pair of residential towers in Milan's Porta Nuova district, designed by Stefano Boeri and completed in 2014, with hundreds of trees and thousands of shrubs on their balconies. View them from the Biblioteca degli Alberi park, beside the skyscrapers of Piazza Gae Aulenti.
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