The Essential Option for Milan Tours
Admission is free as is free in another little-known jewel of the city: the church of San Maurizio at the Maggiore Monastery, in Corso Magenta. The two churches are not too far, and indeed go from one to the other passing through the internal streets that touch Piazza San Sepolcro, the Braidense but also Piazza della Borsa with Cattelan’s finger and via Meravigli is a walk that makes good the ancient soul of Milan that is not hidden only inside the Castello Sforzesco. Once you have arrived in San Maurizio, lengthen your walk just enough to make a trip to Sant’Ambrogio. The full name is a Roman minor basilica collegiate abbey-abbey church of Sant’Ambrogio and is one of the places where Milan’s history is most breathed. The milan tours are the perfect option.
Afternoon
Visiting a city during the week has the undeniable advantage that allows you to watch what the people living there do, outside the tourist circuits. Just a step beyond the circle of canals that in Milan marks the gap between what is downtown and what is not, the area of Paolo Sarpi is perhaps the best place to breathe the cosmopolitan soul of the city. It’s the Chinese neighborhood, true. And there is not much to see, just as true. But it is a neighborhood attached to the Sempione park, and it is not far from the nightlife of Corso Como and Corso Garibaldi. Indeed now that the Feltrinelli foundation designed by Herzog & de Meuron (pictured) has also been opened, it has also gained in architectural attractions.
Since it became pedestrian, the central street, Paolo Sarpi , is pleasant to walk around and very tempting for those who like to experiment in the kitchen. There are several shops where you can stop and taste good Chinese ravioli like the ones they make in Beijing, especially at the Ravioleria Sarpi (via Paolo Sarpi 27): a little shop of takeaway Chinese dumplings. But the whole area is a nice place just to get an idea of what a great European city is. Lovers of urban cosmopolitanism can also take a tour of the nineteenth-century streets of Porta Venezia . The Ethiopian and Eritrean community has been the ruler here for years, with its spicy restaurants and dark bars, but today the area has also become the epicenter of the city’s large gay community that around Via Lecco and Via Melzo has some of its meeting points.
Evening
Needless to say, so much cosmopolitanism can be breathed even at the table: for the past few years, Milan has been offering an ever-increasing variety of ethnic restaurants where you can try dishes that are difficult to taste elsewhere in Italy. Among these, according to the experts of the Fine Dining Lovers site, do not miss a couple of Japanese that go well beyond sushi: like the Okonomiyaki (a typical omelette pizza from Osaka) served by Maido, or Nozomi where the sushi is not contemplated and offers authentic and homemade cuisine or even the excellent ramen of Ryukishin.