Милан

Do

See the Districts articles for more listings. thumb | La Scala thumb | Hotel prices rocket in Milan Fashion Week Exhibitions - Many exhibitions are held during the year, ranging from wines to computers, industrial equipment and chocolate. The fieramilanocity is the old exhibitions ground in central Milan a few km northwest of Duomo (MM1 Amendola Fiera or MM1 Lotto - Fiera 2 Stations), the new fairgrounds of fieramilano are in Rho (northwest of Milan, MM1 Rho Fiera Station, A4 highway Pero exit). La Scala, one of the world's most famous opera houses, is in Milan. It also hosts classical music concerts. Other places to enjoy classical music include Teatro dal Verme, Auditorium di Milano and the Giuseppe Verdi conservatory. If you like theater and preferably understand Italian, there are a couple of theater houses in Milan. Piccolo Teatro di Milano has three theaters, Teatridithalia - Elfo e Portaromana Associati has two. From Torre Branca and the roof of Duomo you have good views of the city - certainly worth taking a couple of photos of. Watch football: The city has two teams playing soccer in Serie A, Italy's top tier, AC Milan and Internazionale. They share the San Siro stadium, capacity 80,000, which is 3 km west of city centre with its own metro stop. Matches between the two teams are known as the Derby della Madonnina, which while lacking the intensity of its counterpart in Rome, is also a fairly heated one, with occasional crowd violence between the supporters. Watch …

Buy

See the Districts articles for more listings. Milan, being a worldwide trendsetter, is a fashion shoppers' paradise.

There is pretty much every form of shopping in this city that one can imagine: from the designer's prestigious emporia, retail giants' outlets, small entrepreneur's tiny and funky boutiques, to second-hand average shops. thumb|right|Even if you don't quite have the budget for luxury shopping, just a visit to Galleria Vittorio Emmanuele II should be de rigueur

The main shopping area is the so-called Fashion Quadrangle (quadrilatero della moda), a set of blocks roughly between Duomo Square (Piazza Duomo), Cavour Square (Piazza Cavour) and San Babila Square (Piazza San Babila). Here in Montenapoleone Street (with prime brand shops), Della Spiga Street, Vittorio Emanuele Street, Sant' Andrea Street, Porta Venezia avenue and Manzoni Street, it contains the most prestigious boutiques and showrooms in the world. Everything reeks of ostentation and the splendor of a chic, fashionable lifestyle. Shop windows shine, exhibiting the trendiest shoes, coolest glasses, funkiest dresses, most glamorous clothes, and most luxurious crystal chandeliers.

Eat

thumb|Ossobuco thumb|Cotoletta alla Milanese thumb|Risotto alla Milanese See the Districts articles for more listings.

Although Milan is a city that changes its mind as quickly as fashion trends come and go, it remains one of the strongest bastions of traditional Italian cooking, where homemade elements are still very much praised and appreciated. There are trattorias, enoteche (wine bars) and restaurants (including luxury ones) everywhere that offer traditional Milanese and Italian dishes to eat. This city's traditional cooking is based on filling dishes like osso buco (braised veal shanks) and risotto alla milanese (chicken-broth risotto made with saffron).

Dining times tend to be a shade earlier than in Rome or Florence, with lunch generally served between 12:30 and 14:30 and dinner from 19:30 to 21:30. Dinner, and sometimes lunch, are usually preceded by that great Milanese institution, the aperitivo—a glass of sparkling wine or a Campari soda in a sophisticated hotel bar.

Avoid the restaurants around the Duomo: they tend to be tourist-only spots, with low-quality food at inflated prices. Be aware that most restaurants charge an extra "serving tax" or "table rent", called ', of about €2 per consumer. Also avoid restaurants or cafes around the central station, where it has been reported that hidden serving tax can be up to €5 per person with cheap quality food.

There is much confusion regarding tipping in Italy. Italians do not typically leave tips at restaurants. In t…

Drink

right|thumb|The simplest and plainest place to have a drink in Milan is a drinking fountain - there are loads of them around the city!

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There are plenty of bars and cafés in Milan of all kinds - from fancy old-fashioned ones, where you can enjoy a formal hot drink, to avant-garde modern places, and youthful spots for a happy hour/late-night drink. Some also offer some food too.

Sleep

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In the area just south of the Central railway station you can find a dense concentration of hotels. This is a rather shabby part of the city where you can run into dubious individuals especially at nighttime. On the other hand, the hotels are clean and safe, for the most part streets are lit and the metro station isn't far away. If you are arriving by car, save on accommodation expenses by staying at a hotel further away from the centre, preferably close to a metro station.

Stay safe

Unless you venture into the dangerous suburbs, Milan is a rather safe city. Certain areas near Loreto, the central railway station, and Porto di Mare (Southern end of the yellow metro line) can be unsafe at night. At the station, do not seek help from any random person offering to help with the booking machines or ATMs or under any other pretext. After they have helped, they will pursue you to get as much money as possible for their "help". Or they can pretend to be helpful, cheating instead. A possible scenario: they guide you through the interface of the ticket machine in a metro station, and advice you to pay using notes instead of coins (allegedly the ticket machine wouldn't accept coins). If you insert a €20 note, the machine would give it back after a few moments. However, before it happens, they will grab your attention saying that the ticket should appear in the bottom of the machine, and simultaneously an old beggar with body odor will appear begging for money. You wouldn't notice it but the beggar will collect the €20 note that the machine would give back to you. The "helper" would then show to you that the maximum amount of change given by the machine is less than €10. Pickpockets are active in busy places, including on metro trains.

Milan is home to two rival football (soccer) clubs; AC Milan and Internazionale. While not as heated as its counterpart in Rome, the Milan Derby (Derby della Madonnina) is still a rather intense one, and rioting has been known to occu…

Connect

As of September 2021, Milan has 4G from Iliad and 5G from the other Italian carriers.

The city has free WiFi through Open WiFi Milano, though you need to register.