Home of Italy’s stock exchange, an industrial powerhouse and the internationally accepted arbiter of taste in fashion and design, Milan is a seething metropolis. At times it can seem brash, but beneath the veneer is a serious sense of history and place. The grand Gothic cathedral lies at the heart of this one-time imperial Roman capital, and expresses the love of beauty and power that still drives the city today. Art collections old and new, unparalleled shopping, sparkling nightlife, the prestige of opera at La Scala, the mark of Leonardo da Vinci’s genius, a religious addiction to calcio (football) and endless opportunities to eat the best Lombard and Italian food make Milan much more than the puritanically work-obsessed city it is often portrayed as. Today the city leads the way with the largest postwar redevelopment in Italy, impressive, sustainable architecture and a futuristic skyline modelled by the late Zaha Hadid, Daniel Libeskind and César Pelli.
