When I was 23 and still learning the travel ropes, I took a solo trip to Liguria in August. I felt smugly pleased with the timing of this visit, soaking in the sunlight amongst the locals with their ferragosto vibes. For some reason I decided to leave my relaxing premises and venture to Milan for the day, since it was “right there.” One of my top 5 ill-informed travel moves: visiting Milan on a Sunday in August. I wandered the hot empty streets parched, with barely anything open aside from a random restaurant where I sadly ate gnocchi and phoned my parents who pitied me, paying for my pathetic dinner. Similar to the Parisian mishap of my teen years, it took nearly 15 years to return to Milan and defy my twentysomething misadventures.
En route to a wedding in Florence and jaunt back in beloved Liguria, we spent a few magical days in Milan during the summer of 2022. A monied town that is the capital of not only Italian design and finance, it is a multicultural melting pot, with parallels as a NYC sister city. I never found Milan – or many northern Italian cities – to be particularly beautiful in the same way as southern cities, where you are held visually and emotionally captive. Architectural opulence is undeniably everywhere, but the regional color palette feels a bit more muted and staid – with an overarching regional arrogance that is hard to ignore. And that is fine. Milan spends every minute reminding you that you are here to be indulgent – to surround yourself in all things Italian luxe – whether it is gawking at Fornasetti or buying a piece of fashion you’ll have forever – while eating rich cotoletta Milanese and risotto accompanied by a decadent velouté.
Landing in Milan Malpensa, there is a direct train to the city center, including a stop in the Porta Garibaldi neighborhood, a lively area and convenient access point to stylish enclaves like Brera – aka retail heaven. Staying around Porta Garibaldi also makes for a good point to explore nearby Chinatown, along Via Paolo Sarpi, a main drag brimming with Asian street foot spots and probably one of the coolest wine bars ever – Cantine Isola dal 1896 (Via Paolo Sarpi, 30, 20154). This is the best way to start your evening, spilling out onto the street and sipping wine paired with free savory snacks (cheese, picked veg, cured meats). Aside from discovering your favorite wine stop, one cannot visit Milan without sampling its signature drink – the spritz. This now globally-loved tipple is ingrained in daily life, especially during the sacred ritual of apertivo – something the Milanese do not mess with. While time did not allow for a stop at the famed Bar Basso, Saturday night around Porta Garibaldi on Piazza Venticinque Aprile did the trick and was fueled by fizz. A duo of fizz purveyors set up shop in the middle of the piazza, slinging spritzes to the cool kids all night long as music blasted and crowds grew larger – an impromptu street party at its best.
Trying traditional Lombardian delicacies is a big departure from what most people think of when getting stereotypical about Italian food. Red sauce and seafood abundant this region is not. Rather, it is meaty, rice-y, and not shy of featuring rich sauces. Heading to the nearby Moscova (bordering Brera) neighborhood, La Vecchia Lira (Largo la Foppa, 5, 20121) makes for a reliable foray into regional fare – where you’ll find large groups alongside regulars. Standouts were the riso riserva San Massimo with an asparagus veloute and stracciatella, vitello tonnato, the unique riso al salto allo zafferano farcito con fontina – (a fried risotto oozing with fontina) – and of course the near-perfect cotoletta Milanese. Nearby, another standout yet more obscure spot was Al Matarel (Via Laura Solera Mantegazza, 4, 20121). While my first trip to Milan resulted in a top 5 travel fail, visiting Al Matarel made this trip a top 5 travel win. This was one of the most visually stunning restaurants I have ever visited. A cosy, family-run tavern with wooden accents overtaken by dazzling, primary colored-Murano lighting and an eye-popping colorful mid-century wall mural were enough to make any design enthusiast squeal, alongside nearly perfect food that scales from typical Lombardian favorites you’ll see on most local menus, to the showstopping tortelloni, ossobucco, trippa, or polenta. It was hard to make a wrong move, and just soaking up smartly dressed Milanese families of all generations enjoying Sunday dinner was a delight.
With only 2.5 days in town (and many shops closed on a Sunday), fast-tracking my design fix was a challenge. Walking through Via Brera, there is something for anyone wanting to snag a piece of design – from affordable fast fashion to stores that are worth a moment and a bow – including the beautiful, museum-like Ginori 1735 (Piazza S. Marco, 3, 20121). Keep walking down Via Brera and you’ll arrive at the inevitable mecca of fashion, Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II (Piazza del Duomo, 20123), where any luxe lover would be fortunate to spend time gawking at the goods in Fendi or Prada, or even just to soak in the glorious sunlight that bathes the arcade. That being said, the balance of old and new requires taking a few footsteps back to Via Brera, to the popular and well-stocked Cavalli e Nastri Brera (Via Brera, 2, 20121) – sure to quench the palette of someone looking for a piece of vintage Italian design – from Versace to Gucci, and it made for fun hunting and thinking about the city’s noted fashionistas of yesteryear.
But, the most standout experience was the hidden treasure trove Magazzino76 (Via Merano, 18/interno cortile, 20127). If you care about modern Italian design and want to score a piece that screams Memphis Milano, Gio Ponti, Kartell – or anything spanning 1950s-80s – this is your place. Browsing two stories stocked with some of the coolest antiquities (at fare prices) was mind-boggling. While I couldn’t fit a banana yellow table into my luggage, the cool and knowledgeable staff managed to rewire a 1970s Guzzini lamp for me – and I am still dizzy thinking of this stimulating shop (and the impressive array of ashtrays of all shapes and sizes that those fashionistas of yesteryear probably owned). Back to making the most of the city with limited time, we did (literally) run off the plane, arrive in town, and taxi to the outskirts to the indoor antique market Di Mano in Mano Milano | Collezionismo Rarità Modernariato Antiquariato Vintage (Viale Carlo Espinasse, 99, 20156). But, like all antique shops, it is luck of the draw – an interesting array of anything from vintage Cinzano bottles to 1950s dining room furniture.
Back in Porta Garibaldi, if you want to visit somewhere with prices that are out of reach for most – and also one of Milan’s flagship destinations – then spend some time browsing the best of modern European design (or sipping an espresso) ensconced in the signature black and white interiors of 10 Corso Como (Corso Como, 10, 20154). Around the corner is another flagship destination – Eataly Milano Smeraldo (Piazza Venticinque Aprile, 10, 20121). I literally ate my words thinking this location would be akin to the chaos of the NYC branch – and I was wrong. This is the megamall of Italian gastronomy, in a beautiful spacious layout that will impress any commercially-branded skeptic. It was also my last stop before departing Milan, where I awoke bright and early, lining up for opening doors to score a fresh loaf of bread to house the previous night’s cotoletta for the plane ride home – a fitting end to an indulgent few days.
elbows on the table 