When we were planning this trip way back when, Nick and I really wanted to experience Italy again after our mishap in Rome a couple years ago. After our trip to Rome, we weren’t very eager to return to Italy for a number of reasons, but when I tell people that, I get this look of shock like I’m utterly crazy. So we decided we needed to try Italy again and when this trip came about, we wanted somewhere central between Paris and the French Riviera and a place from where we could do a day trip to a smaller Italian city too. So that’s how Milan came about and to be honest, I was really curious to try Northern Italy and Milan specifically. We didn’t have a lot of time though so here’s how we ended up exploring Milan in a day.
In the end, it wasn’t my favorite place but I liked it much better than Rome in the small amounts of the city I saw. In all honesty, we really only spent a day here, as our second day we used to take the train to Verona (which I liked a lot.) So in the day we spent wandering around Milan, it was also freezing cold and rainy but I did enjoy seeing the city.
We started the day off with the Duomo, a couple blocks from our hotel and wandering around the Piazza in front of the grand church. It truly was remarkable. Next we jumped on the metro and headed to Santa Marie delle Grazie to see Da Vinci’s Last Supper painting. This was one of my favorite moments of the trip and this painting is seriously incredible. I was expecting it to be like 4′ wide…. in reality it’s an entire wall of a chapel and totally spellbinding. To sit in the chapel right where Da Vinci painted that work of art, to imagine him there was truly incredible.
I also really liked that neighborhood of Milan, grand big apartment buildings with intricate detailing,the quintessential hanging lights known to Milan and streetcar tracks running down the cobblestone streets… it was the kind of scene where you know you could only be in Italy.
Following our viewing of The Last Supper, Nick and I finished off the evening wandering around the Duomo and Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II shopping mall. We had dinner in one of the cafes in the Galleria, watching the people go by and totally in awe of the building itself with its glass domes.
Overall, I enjoyed Milan, at least the day we spent here. It was definitely a different feel than Rome, more cosmopolitan but also I felt less chaotic than Rome. It didn’t have the “romantic” quality that Rome can have, but is unique all its own in a whole different way. I’m glad we gave Italy a second chance and even though we tend to connect more with France, Italy definitely has a character all its own that is truly memorable.
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Traveling to Italy?
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Helene says
take me with you. goodness this is so gorgeous! he is a seriously great photographer!
Casey Martin says
I’ll pass that along to him! 🙂 I love coming home after each trip and seeing his photos that I really didn’t even realize he was taking during the trip.
Bonnie Rose says
Glad you were able to come back to Italy after not having such a great time in Rome. Next time in Italy you will have to go to my home of Napoli and take day trips to Capri, Ischia, Sorrento, and Pompeii. Plus I may be biased but Napoli, the birthplace of pizza has the best pizza in the world.
Bonnie Rose | A Compass Rose
Casey Martin says
Yea we need to make it down to Southern Italy one of these days 🙂
Nicole Marie says
have you been to florence? i studied aborad there and am obsessed. way better than rome. gotta get to the amalfi coast! it’s beautiful!
Casey Martin says
I haven’t… but I hear such good things about Florence… we’ll make it there someday 🙂
tiarenie says
EXCELLENT photos! i agree with you, rome is my least favorite city in italy! milan is a close second.. you must, must visit florence! and the amalfi coast. and now i’m reading the comment above from nicole and its the same, haha! trust us!! 😉
Casey Martin says
hahah! yes you guys are right! Florence is on the list and Amalfi coast 🙂
Steph Gregerson says
These photos are beautiful, seriously.
Elizabeth Icenhauer-Ramirez says
Florence is a must! Beautiful photos!!
Nick Nieto says
It truly is too bad the weather was so wet. Would of loved some extra time around the Duomo to shoot something a bit more interesting.
ifs ands Butts says
Wow – some really spectacular photos! Love the B&W witht he Vespa. I haven’t been to Milan because a lot of people have told me it’s “skippable” but it does seem to have some great things to offer!
Casey Martin says
Yea it wasn’t my favorite place ever but I think still worth seeing if only for the Duomo, Galleria and Da Vinci’s Last Supper painting. It was a good place to “go through” if you know what I mean.
Kayla C says
Wow! Great photos!