Milan/Centro Storico

The Centro Storico is the historic centre of the city of Milan, contained within the area once delimited by the medieval city walls and today by the streets forming the Corso Navigli easily distinguishable on the map of the city. Centro Storico encompasses Milan's perhaps most famous landmarks and tourist attractions, including the Duomo (cathedral), Galleria Vittorio Emmanuelle shopping arcade and the Teatro alla Scala opera house. Compact in size and easily walkable, the Centro Storico is just as full of historic monuments as it is of designer boutiques and showrooms, restaurants and caffes - you will find almost all one comes to find in Milan for within not more than a quarter's walk.

The defunct old Milan district of Centro Storico included a broader area; the area covered in this guide corresponds to the Quartiere 101 - Duomo of the present-day Zona 1.

Get in


Reaching Milan by rail, or by air then bus or train to the city, will usually bring you to Milano Centrale station, as described in Milan. That's 3 km north of Centro Storico. From there you can:
 * Take Metro line 3 (yellow, south for San Donato) to, right by the cathedral in the heart of the district.
 * Take Metro line 2 (green, south for Assago Milanofiore/Abbiategrasso) to or to Cadorna, and start your tour at Castello Sforzesco.
 * Or walk straight down Via Vittor Pisani, onto Piazza della Republicca and Via Turati, about 45 min to come into the centre.

From Malpensa Airport you can also take the train to next to the Castello. Then for the Duomo walk east, or take Metro Line 1, or Trams 1 or 27.

From Linate Airport, bus lines 73 and X73 run to just east of the centre.

Churches

 * Milano Piazza Duomo.jpg

Squares

 * North side of Piazza Mercanti, Milan.jpg

Historic monuments




Buy


Milan's 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.

The district (Lanza, or Montenapoleone metro stops) is also not to be missed for trendy and young, yet stylish, boutiques. The Brera district is great for other things, such as browsing through ancient rare art stores and galleries, sipping a hot drink at a refined-air cafe, attending a funky disco, or looking for exotic furniture. However, today, there are a lot of young designers who have up-and coming boutiques, which are slightly less expensive than their Montenapoleone counterparts, but are quite fashionable and of high quality. The Brera district is great because it combines chic, old-air shops, with zeitgeist, modernist and youthful ones. Jewelry stores include Papic oro e argento or Alcozer & J. Bijoux, fashion shops include Accessori or Laura Ashley, and furniture stores include Zohar or Lucitalia.

Let us not forget, the, , , and the which are excellent shopping places. In the Galleria, you get brand fashion stores, two bookstores (Rizzoli and Libreria Bocca) and a silverware store called Bernasconi plus a Gucci cafe (and many, many more!). In the Corso Giacomo, you can find Abercrombie & Fitch, in Piazza del Duomo you have Grimoldi, Ruggeri, Donna and La Rinascente department store, in Piazza San Babila you can find Upim, Eddy Monetti, Guess and Valextra, and there are loads of shops in the Via Dante, so there are really heaps of shopping opportunities in this area.



Budget
There are many budget-friendly restaurants in the city center of Milan.



Drink
Nights are overwhelmingly crowded at the (not far from Navigli quarter), and in the cozy Latin-quarter of.



Splurge