Visit Milan - 5 Things You Will Love & Hate about Milan, Italy

The Best & Worst of Milan, Italy for Travelers. From the Last Supper & walking on the top of the Duomo. Eat some Panzerotti, see fashion before its fashion, but watch out for the aggressive beggars, high prices & make sure you reserve your tickets for the Last Supper! Da Vinci would want you to.
Filmed in Milan, Italy
Copyright Mark Wolters 2015

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[eminiospgwelund]

Hi I am from Milan and I have a suggestion for beggars and sellers: IF you don't want to buy anything and don't want to be annoyed, literaly IGNORE them, don't answer to them, don't look them in the eyes, say nothing to them, walk your way or continue talking with your friends, and after a minute they will leave you alone. That's rude but it's the easyer and faster way.

[reezlaw]

Guys, don't get all upset. I'm from Milan just like many of you and I find the (mild) criticism very reasonable. From a tourist's point of view, our city doesn't have the same immediate impact that most other famous Italian places have. I personally wouldn't live anywhere else in this country, but that's a completely different story. Of course we, as locals, know all the hidden beauties and the surprises this city has to offer, but you cannot expect someone coming from so far away to be able to find them and appreciate them. Milan will always be this anomaly, mostly loved by those who live there and hated by other Italians because, basically, they don't understand us. A few livid comments below this video show just that. Commuters coming here every day and complaining about the traffic that they generate themselves... we're used to that. But hey... find me another Italian city with 4 metro lines, 2 more under construction, 14 suburban railways, cable cars so cool San Francisco wanted a few for their collection, stores open 24/7, hundreds of restaurants delivering at your doorstep (some even at night), all the concert venues, car/moped/bike sharing, outlets for electric cars in the streets, an actual Downtown complete with a fairly decent skyline in the middle of the city, and I could go on and on!

[dragunov]

I lived in Milan for 6 years or so now, I can confirm pretty much everything you said, but I wouldn't call it overrated, because it's often actually underrated if you compare it to other Italian cities ;)

[mariashaki]

I've been to Rome and Milan. Milan is a very lively city, i loved the aura and attitude better than Rome. People were friendly and very well dressed, i found some cool restaurants that were 10 times better than the ones in Rome and i loved my time there. The Navigli area is gorgeous and i totally recommend it. It is also close to other beautiful Italian towns. Traveling isn't only about sightseeing and visiting ruins.

[robertowens]

I've been to Milan at least once a year for the last 20 years. Io sono un pazzo tifosi per INTER (crazy Inter fan). What I have learned is that Milan is like New York, you either love it or hate it. I LOVE IT. You hit some high points but the real allure of Milano are the subtle local experiences. Here are eight that immediately come to mind: Apertivo and dinner on the Navigli (all you can eat happy hour buffet and a beer for 11 Euro!), brunch in the Brera district (NW of La Scala). Wandering through the myriad of local markets ( mercato) on a Saturday morning ranging from rare coins and books to full blown flea markets with local foods, antiques and artwork (check on the huge one that engulfs the Navigli area the last Sunday of every month, the party tram! ( you and your guests can rent a street car for a white linen dinner service while it traverses the various routes through and around Milan). Watching the fashionistas as they promenade through the court yard of La Castello Sforzesco on their way to the fashion house runways. Experiencing an Inter match at La Scala Dello Calcio the Giuseppe Meazza Stadium with 80, 000 of your best friends ( or better yet the local derby!!). Parco Sempione in a light winter snow dressing, train to Varenna and the ferry to the REAL Bellagio. Love it or hate it solo uno Milano! Ciao!

[jadedaggs]

I was in Milan last November and OMG I LOVED Milan!!!! We spent the afternoon at La Vigna de Leonardo. After that we spent hours just taking in the Duomo area and in the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II. We were on our Honeymoon and we chose to stay just outside of Turin. This was an easy day trip but wow the people were so friendly. I fell completely in love with this city. I went into Prada knowing I couldn't afford almost anything in the store but I had never seen Prada in person before. (I'm from Oklahoma City so we lack exposure.) I walked in, and a sales associate asked if she could help me, I said "No, I'm just dreaming." she said "make sure you go to our next floor and finish the dream." Oh and the people at Lush were just sweet. We had a bit of a rough time on our first few days trying to drive in Turin in the ran and our first foreign country, plus figuring out the hours and how stuff works. Our spirits were sagging a bit just from the culture shock. We walked into this city and bam! Suddenly we feel welcome and wanted. We are by no means rich and we only bought a simple pair of earrings at Tiffany's, went to one museum and found a lovely little restaurant that brought us complementary limoncello. Milan will always have a little piece of my heart. I plan to go back as soon as possible. Honestly when we went to Florence the next day it was incredibly crowded and wasn't quite as welcoming? It was beautiful but I don't know, the atmosphere in Milan was definitely my preference over Florence. It was so laid back and easy!!! It really felt like vacation.

[VeneratioDiaboli]

Milan isn't more expensive than Venice, for sure!

[Rovilla]

Milan is ancient, Milan is art but most of all, Milan is wounded.

Many cities in Italy were bombed during the last Great War and Milan was buried under thousand of tons of explosives. To give an idea, just after the war a local architect (Piero Bottoni) built a park arranged as a hill 50 m high and 370.000 m2 large in the north west part of the town using as a base the rubble caused by bombardaments and the last demolished remains of the town's ancient walls (the spanish ones, built between 1548 and 1562).

You can visit many places in our country and see many things, beautiful things, but Milan is an old lady not as flamboyant as Rome or many, many lovely towns in Tuscany, in which you can actually walk along medieval streets and inhabit historical buildings (you can actually do this also in Milan but you will have to find those places, they are well hidden). Milan is reserved, introvert, humble, her beauty is a little faded by age but still there if you want to see it, if you wish to explore it, if you ask her kindly to show you what of good she still has.

Milan is not a city to look, is a city to find, in old cloisters of aristocratic palaces (if you see a large building that look baroque or classical in its architecture, it's probably some centuries old, please, if the door is opened, you may not be able to enter but, nevertheless, look inside! The inner courts are really beautiful), in little churches (Milan is overflowing with churches, so many that actually a lot survived the bombings, and almost all of them conserve frescos, sculptures and paintings worth seeing), in inscriptions (if you see a memorial stone somewhere, be sure to try knowing what's written: many are memorials of the war but there are others, much older and written in latin, such as the one that was originally on the "column of infamy", now in the court of the castle), in the pavimentation of streets itself (during fascism many canals and rivers in Milan were buried and made flow underground for sanitary reasons, modernism and other apparently extremely important reasons like ruining the little Venice that was Milan; however, something that not everyone knows is that where they once flowed there were buildings and shops and those shops collected provisioning coming on boat from those same canals and rivers and now that the rivers and the canals are underground you can still somewhere find stairs and rooms in basements open to the outside where once were shops, maybe still are)... Just around the area of the Scala theater, you can trace an elliptical sequence of streets that is thought to follow the shape of the celtic temenos, the sacred area that romans respected (and did not cross with roads: we are talking VERY ancient here!) and if you wish to see something considered celtic, in the underground station of Duomo, you can atually see an altar, found inside one of the churches that existed before the Duomo was built.

Milan is like this and I know it can be disappointing to people used to visit Europe and see things every step they make. You can't always do it in Milan but indeed, if you take your time, it can be really worth it.

[matteofalduto]

I would also recommend the Cimitero Monumentale, the monumental cemetery, where all the richest families of Milan have their graves and their living relatives used to meet in the Sundays afternoon. It's really an open air museum.

[BeaCostanzo]

As a real Italian living in Milan I can tell you are definitely missing having a drink and eating "aperitivo" at Navigli! Just head to "via torino" road from the Duomo, walk down "corso di porta ticinese" and you will discover the best part of our city :)

[TeddyAura]

No mention of the Pinacoteca di Brera? OMG.

[MrFleggy]

... and you can't forget "Navigli" by night. Remember Navigli, a lot of good people having fun along a system of water channels built by Leonardo da Vinci. Pubs, restaurants, pizzerie and so on. (Sorry for my poor english).

[giovannimodica]

Only tourists who love stereotypes of rural, ancient and fishermen's Italy could dislike Milan. Yes, in Milan there are no jelous guys with Beretta nor screaming people in the streets. For an American or an English this should be a loss and a delusion

[silviasellerio]

I am a Milanese too, but I wouldn't say the video is necessarily "wrong". Yes this town can get expensive; you _can_ eat for a few bucks but you need a street-savvy friends to guide you, as we sadly _do_ tend to milk tourists. I don't personally believe that the traffic and beggars are noticeably worse than in other towns, but maybe it's just because I'm used to that.
And yes, if you're coming for the monuments and museums you're better off visiting Rome or Florence or Venice or Sicily. But the Greek monuments in Southern Italy, the Roman monuments and the Renaissance are the stuff our past is made of. Yes they're (deservedly) famous in the world and great to see in person, but Milano is alive in the here and now. You'll go to those other places if you love art, but come here if you love people!

[amonte]

Approssimativo. 9.58 min spesi a ripetere La Scala, la Cattedrale, la Galleria. Si dimentica: i Navigli coi suoi cortili, Porta Ticinese, Basilica di San Lorenzo e colonne, La Darsena, la basilica di Sant'Ambrogio, la Cattolica e il Tempio della Vittoria, Ca' Granda (Università degli Studi) San Bernardino alle Ossa, San Carlo al Corso, San Maurizio Maggiore (la Cappella Sistina di Milano), Triennale, Gallerie d'Italia, Brera e la Pinacoteca, Buenos Aires e la sontuosissima zona residenziale di Porta Venezia, i nuovi quartieri di Porta Nuova, Corso Como... insomma si è dimenticato tutto tranne i panzerotti, che non sono di Milano e che a Milano fanno veramente schifo.

[Papusiakk]

I live in Milan and I don't agree with the fact that it's overrated. Usually tourists visit only the Duomo and the stuff nearby, but there's so much more to see: hidden churches with works from famous artists of the past, museums, the new district of Porta Nuova with skyscrapers and enjoyable places to hang out, the "Navigli" for nightlife and a lot of other things I've discovered and learnt to love during the years; plus, Milan has the best service of public transportation in Italy, so it's easy to move from place to place. I don't blame you and the tourists for having this opinion of Milan, maybe some cool places have to be commended more, cause people who come here see just 10% of what the city has to offer, and this is proven by your video. We may not have the number of museums of Florence, the history of Rome or the appeal of Venice, but I can name just a few cities in Italy that are as enjoyable and comfortable to live as Milan (maybe that's the point, you have to live here for a while to appreciate it and see everything). Thanks for the video, it leads to think about the main problems of tourism here. 
p.s. I think I've seen your recording in Vernazza, Cinque Terre last winter, just a few days before New year's eve, was it you?

[emilianocolangelo]

I love the 'when you cross make sure its green for you' as if in america you can just cross with a red light and your eyes closed and not get hit

[matteodepi]

I am also from Milan and I also have to say that most of the negative things you listed are really wrong... I'm not going over the touristic things that other people listed, I just want to say that yes, 5 days are maybe too much, but you can easily fulfill at least 3 days considering also all the excursions you can do from Milan! Have you ever been to Como? Varese? Bergamo? Pavia? the lakes? all at less than 1 hour of train... Second I want to talk about the Last Supper... Do you know that during the 2nd WW a bomb was dropped only some meters away? and that this same bomb almost destroyed it? Well... they have all this glass doors because they have to keep the temperature and the humidity of the air perfectly controlled. In fact just imagine how much your breath can damage! They have such small groups because of that and in fact after each group there is a short period of time with nobody in so that the levels of temperature and humidity can restore. Otherwise it would break peace by peace since it is an "affresco", painted directly on the wall. That's why you need to buy the tickets it advance!
About the third, You can not say Milan is the most expensive city for tourist... It is for people living there (it's the 13th most expensive city in the world, you know...) but you can not even hardly compare it like to Venice for example! You mentioned a pizza for 8 euros in the rest of Italy! I hope not a Margherita pizza for 8 euros! 6 euros for a margherita is already too much!! And Milan is not excluded... Of course if you have supper at Savini, in the gallery, you would spend definitely more than that... it's one of the most expensive restaurants in town... But if you just do your reserch i'm sure you'll be able to find a place for your pockets (Tripadvisor says there are 6244 restaurants in Milan) Plus, the center of Milan is full of places where you can go get a sandwich... I always go to Spontini, 2 minutes from the cathedral, a slice of Margherita for 3.50, or to Luini that you mentioned, or to Piadineria, on Via Torino, 5 minutes from the cathedral, you get "piadine" for about 5 euros, or Panini Durini, in San Babila square, really good sandwiches.
4th... Traffic. Do you know that to enter by car the "inner circle" of Milan you have to pay almost 5 euros? In the city center there are very few cars and that's because everybody uses the public transportation. There are many no traffic zones, where cars can not pass, but even no buses, so you can walk or bike freely. In the city center traffic is not crazy at all and that's why many pedestrians cross on red, because in many cases there are no cars coming. Can you compare the traffic in the city center of Milan with Rome's? Via del Corso and Piazza Venezia, right in the heart of the city, just to list a couple of them, are not even closed to traffic! And about the last one, that's right there are beggars in the city center trying to give you bracelets "for free" but honestly I never quarreled with any of them in all my life, I'm sorry if you had a bad experience. I watched the other video you recorded in Rome, didn't you find them near the Colosseum? Or didn't you see the Centurioni? I'm sorry but that's not even only Italy, that's worldwide, just like the people selling souvenirs on the Brooklyn Bridge in New York.
I know that there was probably not a bad purpose behind your video, but it was sad for me to see a video about my city with a list of untrue facts that you are sharing with the wolrd on youtube, right in the moment of its new rise. Milan is living one of the best periods in the last decades, with international architects building new skyscrapers, requalification of old ares, giving them a new rebirth and international companies coming to invest. I felt bad for my city, the one and only where I would ever live.

[giacomolocati]

I study in Milan and I can't say I'm an expert, I actually agree with most of your description (at least from a tourist's point of view). The only problem is that you talk about traffic jams to get to Malpensa, when there is a fast and easily accessible train to get to the airport, and that you criticise the transport when its probably the best in Italy. Anyway, I love your videos!

[blikzpimp]

its more about living in milan, not for tourism. once you settle in, its gonna be the best city in the whole italy.