Milan, Italy in 72 Hours

“Milan is one of those cities that you need to know and have rifled your way through, like a good book,” said Kristen Scott Thomas, the prolific British/French actress. I rifle through as much of Milan as I can, trying to pack the long and short of its story and colorful pages into 72 hours. In this pulsating city, that is no small feat. It’s during an evening cocktail respite — to break up my tour of discovery — that I meet Scott Thomas. We’re at the Grand Visconti Palace, a historic hotel on the outskirts of Milan’s city center that’s part of a collection of “hotels with a soul,” for which Scott Thomas is an ambassador. I guess, like me, she is drawn to places with character more than glitz and glamour.

We talk about The English Patient, in which she starred. “It was a good film, wasn’t it?” I take it as a rhetorical statement more than a question. Reflecting on the film, I surmise this actress surely knows about the role of “soul.” (She played the tragic character that the Englishman fell in love with before he became the “patient.”) Scott Thomas transports herself, she says, in film. I transport myself in travel, and so the next morning, I continue on my discovery of Milan’s soul. Here’s some of the best of what I found:

Piazza del Duomo is the heart of Milan, an enormous, sweeping plaza that marks the city center. Majestically towering over the plaza is one of the largest cathedrals in the world, the Duomo, a gothic structure completed over the course of 500 years. From its rooftop I can see the 135 spires of Milan (or at least, that’s what my guide says; I take her word for it). In front of the cathedral, I watch the square coming alive as Milan wake ups. Birds flock, children play, tourists pose, couples steal kisses. It’s like a bustling town square of old, complete with a central fountain but updated with iPods and Armani suits. On a sunny day, like the one I am experiencing, it’s glorious.

I stroll through a huge archway into the adjacent Galleria Vittorio Emanuele, an elegant, open air shopping arcade named for an Italian king (who perhaps liked shopping). The galleria is architecturally stunning, in the shape of a Latin cross and crowned with a glass dome. The coat of arms of the House of Savoy, which ruled the region for centuries, is depicted in a large mosaic centered on the floor. Encircling it are the symbols of Italy’s four major cities: the wolf of Rome, the lily of Florence, the bull of Turin, and Milan’s red cross on white. Like everywhere in Milan — even in a shopping gallery — works of art take front and center placement.

Cafés are interspersed among the galleria’s boutiques. People spill out from them on to the promenades, socializing or strolling off toward the Piazza Duomo and nearby avenues like Via Montenapoleone, the ultra-chic shopping street.

I opt for VUN, a Michelin rated restaurant in the tony Park Hyatt Milan, just around the corner from the galleria. Taking a seat, I soon meet the Napoli chef, Andrea Aprea, who tells me he features traditional dishes of Italian origin, mainstays like a Caprese salad, a risotto and Tiramisu. That, however, is where tradition ends at VUN — in the names of the dishes. When the salad is delivered to my table, I admire it in awe. It is not just any Buffalo mozzarella, tomato and basil dish. Aprea has taken white sugar and hand-blown it — like Murano glass — into a creation that looks exactly like a mound of fresh mozzarella, but instead it’s a sugar “bowl” as delicate as an eggshell, and inside is mozzarella foam made from buffalo milk. If the description sounds savory rest assured that words do not compare to the luscious taste, which combines different flavors and textures, among them sweet and salty. The chef strives for contrast; the mozzarella filled shell rests on a tomato coulis with a basil pesto emulsion and the croutons have hints of anchovies and sundried tomatoes. Yes, it is a mozzarella, tomato and basil dish — but more like art for the palette of Milan.

 

Masterpieces of Milan

In need of a good walk, I then head to Sforza Castle, once a 15^th century ducal residence, later one of the largest citadels in Europe. Napoleon captured and destroyed much of it, but it was restored and is now filled with museums. The Sforza complex almost seems like a small city of museums. There is a museum featuring antique furnishings, one loaded with historical musical instruments, another with archaeological finds and still another museum displaying ancient art. A marble Pieta by Michelangelo is among the many highlights. This Pieta is stylistically very different than the one in St. Peter’s Basilica, but it’s still moving and beautifully presented. Sforza Castle’s courtyard grounds are also pretty to stroll, and the complex is little more than a ten minute walk from Piazza Duomo.

Yearning for more soul, I pop my head into that most majestic of Milan institutions — La Scala.  What is Italy without opera, and what is opera without a theater like La Scala? It’s here where Verdi’s masterpieces were first performed, where Toscanini conducted and Maria Callas debuted to renown. It’s also where The Three Tenors corralled their vocals for many gala performances. The theater, one of the most famous in the world, gives backstage tours for visitors who want a peek behind the curtains. Unlucky me, I arrive as the curtain is rising on a sold out performance. Likewise, I am shut out of seeing Leonardo Da Vinci’s mural, “The Last Supper,” in the church of Santa Maria delle Grazie. I find out that you have to plan weeks in advance — months in high season — to see the masterpiece, since the church only permits 25 visitors per hour.

With the help of the Grand Visconti Palace, however, I have a Da Vinci Plan B. The hotel, a member of Accor’s MGallery line, has a “Memorable Moments” program — part of its “hotels with a soul” repertoire. In this case, the program whisks me to a special viewing of Biblioteca Ambrosiano. This historic library and museum served as Milan’s first art gallery, so to speak, and became the cultural heart of the city in the early 1600’s. Now it features masterpieces like “Portrait of a Musician” by Da Vinci and “Basket of Fruit” by Caravaggio — one of the most famous still lifes. The museum also features masters who followed Da Vinci’s style, “Leonardists,” (a new word for my artistic vocabulary). And, the museum holds the world’s largest collection of Da Vinci drawings.

I am especially mesmerized by the latter, over a thousand pages worth of Da Vinci drawings and writings, portions of which are on display and with exhibit pages rotated quarterly. Da Vinci’s artwork is spectacular, but in viewing these drawings, I discover a unique insight into the master’s brilliance. There is an illustration of his idea for the first ever parachute (paratroopers in the 15^th century!); an outline for an oven with mechanical ventilation; a study of an equestrian monument, and so on. This Da Vinci Plan B gives me ample fill of the genius, though I feel oh-so plebian after viewing. Below the fascinating library can also be seen Roman ruins that once served as the civic center of Milan.

 

Out of This World Fashions

With my Milan clock now quickly ticking I need a fashion fix in this, Italy’s fashion capital. That means it’s time for another memorable moments excursion, a behind the scenes tour of a very different kind — in the design studio of an up and coming couture and ready to wear designer. I visit the showroom of the handsome and debonair Gianluca Saitto.

Gianluca (he prefers a single name) studied architecture in Florence before turning toward fashion. I immediately see that influence in the line, angularity and construction of his designs. Gianluca confesses he is ever cognizant of the ultimate end wearer of his apparel, mentioning for example Patty Pravo, a famous Italian pop singer, for whom he has designed many costumes. He says of doing custom work, “You have to understand the person who’s going to wear it. Perfection doesn’t exist, so custom can really work with highness, wideness and varying sizes.” (At last, a man who realizes that we can’t all be catwalk models.)

Gianluca’s designs can be flamboyant at times, though still elegant and even in his ready-to-wear he always exhibits his architectural bent. “You can’t be extreme. You have to understand that a lot of people will wear it.” I detect that thinking behind the designer’s futuristic spring collection, “Galaxy.” It’s very whimsical — with styles like the “moon shot” skirt that uses a NASA photo in the design. I could see myself strolling Greenwich Village in it; its whimsy is still wearable. Also inspirational is his menswear especially the stunning dinner jackets. Again, he’s careful not to be too extreme, explaining, “Men do want something different but at the same time are afraid of judgment.”

Gianluca takes my small group through the process of transforming visions into fashion realities. “Everything starts with inspiration,” he says, “everyday life … a journey.”

And so wraps up my own journey to Milan, brief yet inspiring. It’s been filled with moments far more interesting, vibrant and varied than I imagined possible in a fashion and financial capital. Perhaps it’s because I was searching for a little bit of the city’s soul, rather than its glitz. And therein lies a secret to some of the many treasures to be found there.

The international dialing code for Italy is 39 then 02 for Milan.