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Milan was made for slow Saturdays and Sundays. Despite its reputation as an aesthetically banal backwater to showy sister Roma, it can be transcendentally beautiful. Behind groaning wooden doors, up worn stairs, your eyes are drawn to the dark stone beauty of the Duomo (cathedral), to Baroque palazzos and to Da Vinci frescoes.
And for all its lightning-speed lunches and northern European work ethic, Milan is a red-blooded Italian at heart. Treat the city like a tiramisu (another Milanese invention). Spoon through the layers and you’ll find it’s all there , verdant corners of Parco Sempione crackling with smooching duos; 80-something latte lovers twinkling as if auditioning for one of those healthy-margarine TV ads. In humble backstreet trattoria, as well as the smart canalside haunts of the Tortona district, everyone subscribes to la dolce far niente (the sweetness of doing nothing) come the weekend. Regain your Milanese poise in the city of thousands of chefs with the simple pleasure that beats them all,a saffron-spiked risotto alla Milanese, or baked polenta with veal and mushrooms,dished up in generous helpings to share with friends over a glass of blood-red Pinot Nero. Now settle back – Monday is light years away.
WEEKEND BEGINS:SATURDAY
- Hop in the elevator to the roof of Milan’s brooding Duomo as the morning light illuminates one of Europe’s best city views, bordered by a fairytale froth of pinnacles and flying buttresses. The interior is equally fabulous, 40 terrific columns reaching to a faraway roof,stained-glass rippling and refracting like spent sweet wrappers,everywhere the organic scent of incense and human ambition. The macabre bits are best, especially the moody Scurolo di San Carlo, housing the bones of the saint who waged a one-man war against bubonic plague.
- Pick a tram, ideally the number one route, featuring the iconic orange Carelli coaches with their brass fittings and seen-a-thing-or-two teak seats. You can spend a long morning winding through the Centro Historico. Stamp your ticket and sit back for a bird’s-eye ride along Via Settembrini and Manzoni, through Piazza Cordusio, and back up towards the moody mass of Sforzesco Castle.
- Refreshed by lunch, tick off the obligatory Milanese fashion-shopping haunts. The boutiques of Milan’s Quadrilatero d’Oro shopping district – Via Montenapoleone[all the hugely expensive brands], Via Sant’Andrea, Via Della Spiga will turn you into Holly Golightly.If you tire of struggling into frocks, head to the surprisingly easygoing Casa Armani,a mirror-and-steel-clad hymn to the super-brand, with a home store,cafe and fine chocolatier. Or try 10 Corso Como,a bohemian department store that overflows with designer one-offs and objets d’art handpicked by fashionista and founder Carla Sozzani.
- Like most 18th-century gardens, Milan’s Giardini Pubblici (Via Palestro) subject nature to all sorts of ornamental nonsense, including waterfalls, but are much loved by sketchers, snoozers and wan students penning their journals. Join them in the idle afternoon hours, lounging on benches. You’ll pass through grass thick with clover,pack a bottle of Prosecco and a frittata for two.
- Once a neighbourhood of dim repute, these days Tortona district IS GAINING POPULARITY. It’s southwest of the city, on the green subway line, direction Abbiategrasso, disembarking at Porto Genova. It’s a top spot for dinner and drinks, so amble along the Naviglio Grande, littered with pop-up art spaces, second-hand bookshops, bohemian bars and movie-star Latin lookers. You’ll find some excellent people-watching from the plant-festooned terrace of Café Homemade Delicate at Via Tortona 12.
WEEKEND CONTINUES:SUNDAY
- Here’s proof that prodigious dottiness wasn’t the preserve of Victorian Brits. Museo Bagatti Valsecchi showcases the lifestyle of brothers Fausto and Giuseppe Bagatti Valsecchi, Milanese gentlemen whose whimsies ranged from tandem-cycling to hot-air ballooning. This,their 19th-century palazzo, is an ab-fab replica of a 16th-century Milanese nobleman’s abode, complete with ivory sundials and a plenitude of marble.
- Anchoring Parco Sempione, Sforzesco Castle (free entrance!) is a former ducal crib turned cultural centre that’s lost little of its sky-darkening punch, despite a post-war rebuild. Exhibits sprawl, so cherry-pick your favourites. The Pinacoteca museum is a highlight,along with Michelangelo’s last sculpture and the Trivulzio Madonna by Renaissance painter Andrea Mantegna.
- If you make it into the nave of Santa Maria delle Grazie , one of the art world’s greatest showstoppers awaits: Il Cenacolo, or Da Vinci’s The Last Supper. It’s all here :a nine-metre tableau of covert glances, snickering asides and shimmering divinity.[tIP: Book at least four days ahead]
- In the honeyed afternoon sunshine, make for Como – ‘the Lake’ – Milan’s celebrated weekend getaway, an easy hour or so on the Ferrovia Nord Milano trainline from Cadoma station . Verdant Lombardy smudges by, and you’re soon staring into Como’s fathomless green-glass waters. Towns hemming the lake compete over their gelato ,you’ll find the creamiest in Tremezzo.
- In a city of air kisses, business is conducted, alliances are forged and well-clad derrieres sashay over an evening aperitif – taken, as is the Milano way, with a hillock of free bar snacks. Current hotspot is the D&G Martini bar, and the cocktail of choice is a sinful Negroni,Campari, gin and Martini Rosso. Add a pile of ice to leaven its bitter taste.
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