This Milan itinerary allows you to see the most attractions in the shortest amount of time. As
a tour guide, I want to show you the best way to see all main attractions of Milan, Italy.
Most Milan attractions can be found in the city centre and one of the best places to start is its
centrally located city park Sempione. It starts with the impressive Sforzesco castle built by the
Dukes of Milan as their residence. It was built and decorated in the 15th century by some of the
finest architects and artists of the era, as at the time Milan was one of the leading cities of
the Italian Renaissance. If you have time for a deep dive, you should visit some of the museums
and art collections around the castle. For a quick visit walk through the courtyards as they're open
to the public with no admission. Behind the castle starts a spacious park. A 10-minute walk through
the park will get you to the historic lookout tower of Torre Branca. Thanks to its central
location and 300 feet high observation deck, the tower offers one of the best views of Milan. From
its scenic terrace you can embrace the entire city. On the top you'll have about seven minutes
to admire the view as the visit is time limited and restricted to five people. Unfortunately,
the tower is open only four days a week and can also be closed in the case of bad
weather or strong wind. The city park ends with the triumphal Arch of Peace. In 1800 Napoleon
conquered northern Italy and to commemorate his victories, he commissioned the building of this
arch. But before the work could be completed, Napoleon was defeated and Milan became part of the
Austrian empire. So it was Austrian emperor Franz Joseph who completed the arch. If you have time,
sit down and enjoy a drink in one of nice nearby coffee shops and enjoy the view.
From the edge of the park, you can hop on a tram and in about 15 minutes,
you'll get to the most fashionable and historic cemetery in Milan. This is a final resting place
for many of Italy's most renowned architects, sportsman, actors, journalists, musicians,
and influential families. Walking through the cemetery resembles an open-air art gallery as the
cemetery is full of marble and beautiful statues created by the greatest sculptures of the time.
Another short ride with public transport will get you to a beautiful Brera neighborhood. Here is
one of Italy's largest art museums, the Brera Art Gallery. Milan's main gallery has a collection
that includes top shelf Renaissance and Baroque art. Among many priceless masterpieces you can
admire Raphael's Marriage of the Virgin from 1504, beautiful Supper at Emmaus from Caravaggio, famous
The Kiss from Francesco Hayez, Cagnacci’s Death of Cleopatra and Rubens Last Supper.
Besides historic architecture and art, Milan is also famous for high-end fashion. A short walk
from the Art Gallery is Milan fashion district with some of the most expensive streets in the
world. In this high-end shopping area, you can find most luxurious stores and big designer names.
It's worth coming here just to do some window shopping. After feasting your eyes on high end
fashion, hop on a tram or metro and head to the western part of the city centre. Here you'll find
Santa Maria delle Grazie, a church and Dominican convent. Church holds beautiful frescoes,
but the monastery walls are decorated with one of the biggest masterpieces in the world,
Leonardo Da Vinci’s Last Supper. Famous mural was painted on the wall of the dining hall in 1497
using a dry technique with a special tempera Leonardo had invented. Soon after completion the
painting begin to deteriorate. To preserve it, a constant room temperature is required and
the entry is restricted to 25 people on every 15 minutes, so be sure to book well in advance.
One of the best ways to get in is to join a guided tour listed in the description below.
Only five minute walk away is one of the largest science and technology museums in Europe. Museum
is full of extremely interesting technological artifacts from moon rock to ocean liner,
a submarine and even a rocket. Part of the museum is dedicated to Leonardo da Vinci and
shows a collection of his devices. This historical models were made from Leonardo’s original drawings
and were built by architects, engineers and model makers. You can easily spend half a
day here. I'll put the link to the tickets in the description below. From the museum,
head over to the southern edge of the city centre and it's Navigli neighborhood. Since
Milan doesn't have a river like other major inland cities, a network of man-made canals
was created in order to enable transport of goods, building materials and provide
irrigation for the city. The canals are lined by bars and restaurants creating a relaxed
atmosphere. This is considered to be one of the best areas to experience nightlife in Milan and
a perfect place to try a Campari Spritz, a drink invented in Milan as the world's first aperitif.
From Navigli use a tram or metro to get to the very heart of Milan. There is one of the most
famous opera houses in the world, La Scala, where great composers like Verdi and Puccini premiered
their works. Here you can admire the world's greatest opera singers. If you have time you
should attend a 60 minutes guided tour to explore the opera. Otherwise, visit only the opera's
museum from where you can have a glimpse of the theater interior if rehearsals and performances
are not in progress. Just across the street from the opera house is an entrance to Italy's oldest
active shopping gallery built in the 1860s. It was named after the first Italian king and features
two arcades intersecting in a large glass dome. Under the dome the floor is decorated by mosaics,
portraying the coat of arms of Milan and three other capitals of the kingdom of Italy, Turin,
Florence and Rome. Beautiful gallery is home of luxury retailers selling exclusive high-end
fashion, jewelers, restaurants and cafes, and even a luxury hotel. Shopping gallery also
houses the Leonardo3 Museum. It is dedicated to Leonardo Da Vinci as he spent many years in
Milan. This is a museum and a research center where you can see more than 200 interactive
3D reconstructions of working models and machines based on daVinci's designs. You
can also see the digital collection of more than 22 hundred pages of notes and sketches
made by Leonardo and a digitally restored The Last Supper with interesting facts.
The Shopping Gallery leads straight to the largest church in Italy, the second largest in Europe,
and the third largest in the world. Milan cathedral took nearly six centuries to
complete. Its massive gothic marble exterior is covered with thousands of intricately
carved spires and statues. Cathedral has an impressive interior with 52 massive marble
columns with carved statues that reach the ceiling. It guards a relic of the sacred nail,
allegedly one of the nails from the cross of Christ’s crucifixion. But the biggest
attraction is a visit to the rooftops known as Duomo terraces from where you can admire
the panorama of Milan. Be aware that the timings in this itinerary don't include the time spent in
queues. Still, if you stick with my quick visit plan, you start early, skip lunch,
and buy tickets online it is possible to see everything in one very long summer day. On
the other hand, the deep dive plan allows you to properly explore the sites. By adding time
for lunch, drinks and coffee you should plan for three full days to properly see all Milan main
attractions. In both cases I would recommend you to buy tickets online and I'll put the
links in the description below. But before you go to Milan, you should also check this video.