24 hours in Milan: coffee, fashion, pizza, churches, crystals and a castle on an economical trip around Italy’s second city
- There is too much in Italy’s second most populous city to pack into 24 hours, so our visitor restricts himself to the north of the centre
- On the way, he experiences Italian espresso, fashion-filled streets, the country’s oldest shopping gallery – and even tucks into a Chinese meal
It’s 9am and I’ve just dropped my suitcase off at a hotel by Milan’s Centrale railway station, having arrived on an overnight flight from Hong Kong.
I don’t want to commit to any activity in advance and I want to keep costs low. I limit myself to the northern part of the city centre, to avoid spreading myself too thin.
The Duomo di Milano, the city’s grand cathedral church, is roughly 40 minutes’ walk from my hotel.
Not wanting to follow the wide and empty-feeling Via Vittor Pisani, I head down Via Fabio Filzi, passing the first of the many churches I will see – San Gioachimo – and the Diamond Tower, Italy’s tallest steel building, which marks the southern corner of Milan’s central business district.
I stop at Milanese Café, on Piazza Cavour, for a tuna baguette and an espresso. Instantly realising the truth in what people say about Italian coffee, I cannot help but order a second.
