Milan: the capital city of fashion

I have heard that Milan (in Italian Milano) is not the typical Italy, and you cannot really experience the Mediterranean culture if you visit this European metropole. But because it was my very first destination in this country, I experienced some culture shock right at the beginning of my journey. For instance, Italian drivers are quite crazy and that there are motorbikes everywhere. You can only see a few cyclists and pedestrians should be very careful when crossing the road as drivers often don’t stop at the zebra crossing. The other thing I had to get used to is that Italians have a different sense of time than for instance in Western European countries. Right after my arrival, when it was late in the evening, I ordered some food online. I had to wait about double the time than I was supposed to. You really need to be patient if you visit Italy because time is quite relative here.

Fashion, style, etc.

I must say that I liked Milan a lot, probably it was my favorite city among the ones I have visited in Italy. It’s true that this metropole is a center of fashion, style, design…, but it also has a lot of beautiful churches and other famous buildings, as well as some nice museums. People in Milan are very well-dressed, the average Milanese dresses just like in the theater! It was a shock for me at the beginning, because I had to think about the people in Berlin where they usually wear jeans and T-shirt even in the theater. Most people in the German capital city never dress up like the Italians in Milan on a weekday! But I must say, I liked this stylish place where everything and everyone has a taste. I have once seen a bit elderly gentleman taking his dogs for a midday walk in suit and tie, and it was not even in the city center!

I stayed in not a very nice district of Milan, but it was okay for working from home, going to the supermarket or for short walks in the neighboring park. The colorful houses with their balconies have already reminded me of the Mediterranean world. But I knew I’ll see a lot more of these once I’ll travel further to the South. The public transport was very good, I could easily get to the city center by subway. Buying the ticket is very comfortable, because you don’t need to use neither the machines nor the application, you can also pay by card at the entrance, at the gates.

Milan Cathedral and the Scala

On the first day when I had time to actually go to the center, the first thing I saw when coming up from the subway station was the famous Milan Cathedral (the Duomo, which is also the name of the subway station). It was an unbelievable feeling to see this beautiful church right in front of me! Of course, the square in front of it is always crowded, tourists take a lot of photos, but it was Friday late in the morning, and it was not yet as bad as during the weekend; regarding the crowd I mean. Then I had a ticket for a guided tour in the world-famous Opera House of Milan, the Scala. The tour was in Italian, but there were only a few other people (Italians) in my group, so I could always ask questions and the guide even explained a few things in English to me. It is a beautiful place, indeed, and I was very lucky to see it from different perspectives and to hear about interesting facts, history, etc. Of course I couldn’t understand everything in Italian, but it was also a good practice for my language skills. 😉

On the next day, Saturday evening, I had the chance to participate in a service (holy mess) in the famous Duomo. I only had to say to the security guards that I wanted to go to the service, and I was told to go to that short line for a quick security control. After a few minutes I was there, inside the church. It was a very special feeling, especially to be at a holy mess in this so famous and well-known church where many people come to visit. I tried to pay attention to the Italian texts and the speech, but I was so tired after the whole day of sightseeing, that it was a bit of a challenge. Fun fact is that the choir came from Germany, they sang some of the songs in German, and the Italian priest thanked them in German at the end of the mess. I could not do anything but to smile a lot. The German culture seemed to follow me a bit, even in Italy.

Churches and luxurious shops

As I was in a religious, catholic country, it was natural to see and visit so many churches. In most cities, they are free of charge, so if they are open, it’s a good idea to walk inside a spend at least a couple of minutes there. My favorite one was the so called Sistine Chapel of Milan. It’s far not as crowded as the Cathedral, I think that many tourists don’t know this place. It’s free to enter, but I had to wait a few minutes in the line. It was a beautiful church with amazing frescos. I recommend it to you, if you visit Milan. That was one of the first places in Italy where I had this wow-experience and I could hardly believe my eyes that it’s all real in front of my eyes. So much beauty everywhere!

Of course, Milan is also the perfect destination, if you like shopping. You can find a great variety of different types of shops, in different price ranges. There is a famous shopping street with luxurious brands in the downtown. When I was walking there, I could see people lining up in front of some shops, because you need to wait for the security guard to let you in. On the next corner, after this shopping street, there is an Armani shop with a church across the street. When I saw it, I had the feeling that this is a good representation of this metropole: fashion and religion can be found here side by side. By the way, did you know that many popular fashion brands come from this city?

Museums and arts

If you are interested in arts, Italy is a great place for you. Visiting museums and galleries is always a good option, whether you are fed up with the crowd on the streets, or the weather is either rainy or too hot. I visited two museums in Milan, one of them is a modern constellation, a combination of modern art and architecture. Although the concept is quite interesting, modern, alternative art is not my cup of tea, so I didn’t enjoy this exhibition very much. On the other hand, I found a traditional museum or gallery not far from the Cathedral and I had a nice time there. It’s not very well-known, I think, because there were mostly Italians in the museum. It was an interesting experience that Italians don’t really take photos of paintings or other pieces of art. They rather just enjoy all of it what they are seeing. And they take their children to museums and show them everything. During my visit in Italy, I could see and feel that arts are very important for the Italians. A good example for that are the public pianos where you can sit down and play – the slogan for that is to share your music. I saw these at the train station and at the airport in Rome.

My favorite places in Milan

One of the most famous places in the center of Milan was the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II, a passage with shops, cafés and restaurants. It’s well-known for its luxury brands as well as for the architecture and design of the passage with its spectacular roof. It is beautiful both during the day and at night, but I was amazed by its illumination as it was getting dark outside. It was really spectacular to look around in front of the Milan Cathedral, surrounded by illuminated buildings. A special feeling that describes my trip to Italy very well.

Another place that I really liked in Milan, and it didn’t seem to be so popular at all, is the office district with modern office houses and with a huge open park. I actually went there because of a famous building, the Bosco Verticale, a special piece of architecture. What I hadn’t thought was that I will spend more than an hour in this park, looking around, amazed by the numerous glass buildings with interesting, special forms and designs. The park itself was very calm that Sunday morning and noon when I was there. After some time I found a shopping area, actually a famous square (Piazza Gae Aulenti) with fountain, shops and cafés. Although it was Sunday, everything was open and people enjoyed walking around, doing some shopping or sitting down for a coffee or brunch. I enjoyed this atmosphere a lot. It turned out to be a very nice and special area which is not crowded with tourists and therefore is a quite place for walking and seeing a bit more of Milan.

One thing that I missed in Milan was the water. There are no rivers or lakes in the city center, but there is a channel a bit further away from downtown. The place is called Navigli where you can see a bit of water, walk along the channel and enjoy the Mediterranean atmosphere. This place is full of small cafés and restaurants as well as some souvenir shops. I spent a nice time there one evening.

There are some other nice places in the city, for instance the Sforzesco Castle with a nice courtyard, so if you visit Milan and you have the time, I recommend you explore different spots in the city.

Leaving the Northern metropole

After one week in the capital city of fashion, I took a train and went down to Parma which is actually close to Milan. You can read about my stay in Parma as well as about my day-trips to Florence and Bologna in the other blogs. Keep reading, if you are interested. 😊

As a last thought I’d like to mention that I really enjoyed using Italian in real life. After a few days it felt natural to order in Italian in the restaurant or to ask someone about directions or the transport. Slowly I got used to it, even if it was much harder than using English or German. But it was definitely a good practice, and I was happy that I could understand so much, if in the subway or at the guided tour in the Opera House. And it’s such a beautiful language and such a beautiful culture! But my stay in Milan was just the beginning…