MILAN
Survival Guide
Arrival & transport
Milan has two airports. Malpensa is the main one, a 40-minute journey to central Cadorna metro station on the half-hourly Malpensa Express (top picture). Linate handles mainly short-haul flights and is connected by city bus No 73, journey time 30 minutes. Milan’s city transport authority ATM runs a three-line metro system, plus buses, trams and trolleybuses. A daily passis valid for all.
Hotels
The mid-range Ariosto (Via Ariosto 22; +39 02 481 7844; €200/£140), with art nouveau touches, is handily located for the San Siro, as is the comfortable and cheaper Piemonte (Via Ruggero Settimo 1; +39 02 463 173; €100/£70). The main APT tourist office (Via Marconi 1; +39 02 7252 4301) can help with hotel bookings.
Eating & drinking
Milan is a business city. Deals are closed over lunch or drinks in the evening, and neither will be particularly cheap. Rice is more prevalent than pasta, butter more than olive oil. To try a risotto milanese, head to Da Abele (Via Temperanza 5; +39 02 261 3855; evenings only) or the 180-year old Trattoria Madonnina (Via Gentilino 6; +39 02 8940 9089). The pricey Bistrot Duomo (Via San Raffaele 2; +39 02 877 120) has views of the cathedral. The intimate Osteria delle Vigne (Ripa di Porta Ticinese 61; +39 02 837 5617) offers decent, cheap lunches.
Bars and nightclubs around the fashionable Corso Como include footballers’ hang-out Hollywood (No 15; +39 02 659 8996) and the Casablanca Cafe (No 14; +39 02 6269 0186). More laid back is the scene around the canals, where you’ll find the football-themed Osteria del Pallone (Viale Gorizia 30). Back in town, the English Football Pub (Via Valpetrosa 5) is filled with souvenirs.
Daytime entertainment
Any sightseeing tour must begin with the Duomo, the vast Gothic cathedral. Take the lift to the top for breathtaking views as far as the Alps. The Castello Sforzesco (bottom picture) is a monolith built in the mid-1300s. After falling into disrepair, it reopened as a museum in the early 1900s. Today, it houses Egyptian sarcophagi and masterpieces of the Renaissance. By day you can tour the vast opera house, La Scala.
Milan is a fashion capital – Via Montenapoleone and Via Manzoni are the sites of the flagship Gucci, Gianni Versace and Louis Vuitton stores, and the Giorgio Armani superstore.
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