Wanderlust Traveler: Milan, Italy (Sightseeing, Dining, and Accommodation)

We spent one day and night in Milan in September of 2011 during our two week trip to Italy.

Sightseeing:

Milan Cathedral (Duomo):
This Gothic church, commissioned in 1386, is the fourth largest in the world and took nearly six centuries to complete. The entire cathedral was built from pink marble which now shines beautifully after a recent cleaning. Although both the exterior and interior of the church are impressive, the building is most famous for its amazing rooftop where visitors are able to climb the stairs and enjoy the amazing arches and spires. If you are short on time and are debating on touring the interior of the church or climbing to the rooftop, skip the interior and head straight up to the roof. You won't be disappointed!

Milan's Duomo

Shyawn standing in front of Milan's Duomo.

A view of Piazza del Duomo and the cathedral.

Milan's Duomo

Looking up at the entrance to Milan's Duomo.

Statue on Milan's Duomo.

Interior of Milan's Duomo:

Stained glass inside Milan's Duomo.

Interior of Milan's Duomo.

Stained glass inside Milan's Duomo.

Interior of Milan's Duomo.

Stained glass inside Milan's Duomo.

Interior of Milan's Duomo.

Reflections from the stained glass inside of the Duomo's Cathedral.

Interior of Milan's Duomo.

Interior floor of Milan's Duomo.

Interior of Milan's Duomo.

Rooftop of Milan's Duomo:

Rooftop of Milan's Duomo.

Statue on the rooftop of Milan's Duomo.

Rooftop of Milan's Duomo.

Detail from the rooftop of Milan's Duomo.

Rooftop of Milan's Duomo.

Shyawn on the rooftop of Milan's Duomo.

Shyawn admiring the rooftop of Milan's Duomo.

Rooftop of Milan's Duomo.

Galleria Vittorio Emanuele:
This glass-domed arcade, located on Piazza del Duomo, was built between 1865 to 1877. Walking below the four-story glass arcades provides great photographic opportunities to those with cameras. There are a variety of high-end stores mixed in with restaurants and cafes spread throughout the galleria. Many visitors stop in at one of those aforementioned cafes for a cup of ridiculously priced coffee. For a more affordable people-watching opportunity, stop in at the McDonalds and find a seat at one of the tables. A word to the wise: be careful of where you sit, as the table directly next to ours was freshly dusted with bird poop as we sat eating gelato.

Galleria Vittorio Emanuele

Re-tiling part of the mosaic floor inside the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele.

Galleria Vittorio Emanuele

Milan's symbol, the Torino (little bull) inside the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele.

Shyawn participating in the local tradition of stepping on the Torino's testicles inside the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele.

The Last Supper:
My main motivation for visiting Milan was to see Leonardo da Vinci's famous painting The Last Supper. The painting is located in the dining hall of the monastery of Santa Maria delle Grazie. Tickets to the sight must be booked several months in advance via a mandatory reservation on the official website. Unfortunately, even though I looked three months in advance, the tickets were sold out on the day we planned to be in town. Luckily, I was able to find tickets through a third party website, although I ended up paying three times more than the regular price of a ticket. I would recommend to start checking the official website as far in advance as you can and if that doesn't work, resort to what I did and use a third party service. If you happen to show up in Milan without a ticket you might be lucky enough to snag a spot from someone who fails to show up for their reservation, but it isn't likely. We saw at least a dozen people turned away during the short amount of time we spent waiting in line to pick-up our tickets.

The Last Supper was painted using an experimental fresco technique and unfortunately the painting began deteriorating within a few years of its completion. Over the next few centuries later artists attempted to "fix" the fresco by touching it up with new paint. During World War II the church was hit by a bomb and was significantly damaged although the wall on which the painting is affixed remained standing. Finally, in the late 70's a massive restoration project began that peeled away hundreds of years of touch ups and in 1999 the museum opened to the public.

Seeing the painting in person was quite impressive as it was much larger than I had anticipated it would be. However, I was most impressed by the fact that the delicate painting is still in existence after everything it has gone through over the course of several centuries. It was even exposed to the outside elements during the war but still managed to survive. If your visit to Milan is planned in advance, definitely make sure to secure a reservation to see it in person; you won't be disappointed.

The Last Supper

Piazza in front of Santa Maria della Grazie (home to The Last Supper).

Santa Maria della Grazie (home to The Last Supper).

Teatro alla Scala (Milan's opera house):

The exterior of this building provides no indication of the granduer of the theater that lies inside. Milan's famous opera house opened in 1778 and is known for being one of the leading opera and ballet theaters in the world. For those of you that don't want to spend the big bucks to watch one of the performances you can instead purchase much cheaper tickets to tour its museum. The small museum contains various opera-related objects including costumes, stage sets, and musical scores. Additionally, on most days visitors are able to peek into the sumptious theater. Unfortunately, our visit occurred on an early performance day so we weren't able to look.

Exterior of Teatro all Scala.

Museum inside of Teatro all Scala.

La Rinascente:
This multi-story upscale department store is located across from the Duomo. It is an Italian chain and was originally founded in Milan in 1865. After a busy day of sightseeing wandering through a massive department store sounded fun and relaxing to us both. Unfortunately, we couldn't afford anything in the store except for a few Christmas ortnaments but still had a great time.

La Rinascente

La Rinascente's food hall.

Dining:

Since we had less than a full day in Milan we only had one real meal during our stay. As we had an early train to catch the following morning to Venice we wanted to stick close to the hotel. Luckily for us there happened to be a restaurant called Calimero Cafe and Cucina that was connected to the hotel that served the one dish we were seeking while in Milan: Risotto alla Milanese. In addition to us each ordering one of Milan's signature dishes as our main course, we also ordered bruschetta as an appetizer. The bruschetta was surprisingly delicious and the risotto was absolutely incredible as it was flavored with saffron which gives the risotto its signature yellow color. Unfortunately the restaurant did not have a dessert menu but in its place had a cart of different cake slices to choose from. In hindsight we should have skipped dessert as the cake was dry and flavorless.

Enjoying my wine at Calimero Cafe and Cucina.

Shyawn enjoying his wine at Calimero Cafe and Cucina.

Bruschetta at Calimero Cafe and Cucina.

Risotto alla Milanese from Calimero Cafe and Cucina.

A slice of cake from Calimero Cafe and Cucina.

Accommodation:

When choosing where we would stay for our one night in Milan I was faced with a difficult decision. There did not seem to be many mid-range options to choose from; it was either an expensive business hotel or a cheap hostel. After much searching and deliberation I ended up selecting Hotel Romana Residence Milan. The regular rate was 149 Euro per night but because I paid in full in advance I received a 15% discount, which brought the rate down to 126.65 Euro.

After we checked in and walked up to our room we discovered that they had "upgraded" us to a large two room suite. The room was simple and outdated but we did enjoy having all of the room to spread out to. I am unsure if I would stay here again; the location was close to a metro stop but in the future I think I would choose to spend a little more and stay in a nicer place.

Our room at Hotel Romana Residence Milan.

Sunday, February 19, 2012

Milan, Italy (Sightseeing, Dining, and Accommodation)

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