10 not so common places to visit in Milan: an alternative guide for Expo 2015 tourists – and “milanesi” too!

Tourism Milan

What a real tourist should do discovering a new big city? Visiting the most important monuments and places, of course, but… What about have the same fun of local people? Travelling means discovering new cities, but most of all it is about the customs and habits of foreign people and, for few days, acting like them.

So, what a tourist shouldn’t miss in Milan? Visiting Piazza Duomo, tasting a Luini panzerotto, going shopping in via Montenapoleone: but what a Milanese men or women do in this city? Which places does he/ she attend? What about the places tourist should not miss in order to know the story of our city from another, more unusual, point of view?

Milanoincontemporanea decided to choose 10 important but not so famous places tourists must know, so when they will come back to their country they can say: we were in Milan and we were Milanese. Welcome to Milan: to live like we use to do

Monumental Cemetery

Monumental Cemetery

Monumental Cemetery, Cimitero Monumentale in Milan

Despite it could seem a “gothic” destination, the Monumental Cemetery – or Cimitero Monumentale like Italian people say – is an important stop. One of the most famous cemeteries in Europe and one of the largest in Milan (with Cimitero Maggiore), for dimensions and important interments it can be compared to Zentralfriedhof, the Central Cemetery of Vienna (among them, Ludwig van Beethoven, Johannes Brahms and Antonio Salieri).
Designed by the architect Carlo Maciachini, it was planned to consolidate a number of small cemeteries that used to be scattered around the city into a single location. Opened in 1866, it combines different artistic periods: from Greek temples to majestic obelisks, from columns to contemporary sculptures. Immediately, it strikes for its Famedio, a kind of Hall of Fame with the tombs of city’s and country’s most honored citizens, like the novelist Alessandro Manzoni. Despite it is a Catholic cemetery, it hosts a Jewish section. Sometimes, on Sunday, guided tours to discover this incredible place are planned: they are called Domeniche a cielo aperto (open air sundays, ndr).
In Cimitero Monumentale people can find the tombs of important men and women who marked the story of the city and of Italy too: from the famous actor Walter Chiari to the painter Francesco Hayez, well-known worldwide for the painting The Kiss (1859, at Pinacoteca di Brera), from the Milanese singer Giorgio Gaber to the great Alessandro Manzoni, considered the founder of modern Italian language; then the cundoctor Arturo Toscanini and the composer Giuseppe Verdi.

Via Paolo Sarpi

Via Paolo Sarpi, the Milanese Chinatown

Via Paolo Sarpi, the Milanese Chinatown

After visiting the Cimitero Monumentale, walk towards via Paolo Sarpi, a city into the city. Milanese call it Chinatown, with its important commercial avenue full of Chinese shops and crowded by Italian and Chinese people that here live together. Striking is the impressive and suggestive atmosphere people can experience here. Don’t miss the Oriental Mall: five floors of Chinese products from wellness to fashion, jewellery and food.

Rotonda della Besana

Rotonda della Besana

Rotonda della Besana, don’t miss this amazing place visiting Milan

Not so far from the city centre people will find this amazing late baroque building complex sometimes used for cultural events or by fashion houses for their shows during Milan Fashion Week.
Built between 1695 and 1732, it comprises a lobate hectagonal colonnade portico enclosing a garden and the deconsacrated church of San Michele ai Sepolcri. Originally it was a cemetery and… many Milanese people confuse it with the Lazzaretto described (and really existed) by Alessandro Manzoni in his masterpiece The Betrothed – in Italian, I promessi sposi -, where people infected with the plague were interned and treated.

Handcrafted, Milanese beer at Hop Milano

Handcrafted, Milanese beer at Hop Milano

After visiting this incredible place, have a Milanese handcrafted beer: just cross the street and you will find Hop.

Città Nascosta Milano

Città Nascosta Milano

An old pic of Milan

If you really want to know the secret story and histories about Milan, we recommend you Città Nascosta Milano, in order to discover the secret beauty of the city. The cost of a packed lunch, few hours and through guided tours you will find corners of Milan also a real Milanese maybe doesn’t know. Once we joined the “Thrilling Milan”, a tour in search of the noir part of the city: crimes, murders and rich people in one of the most famous district of Milan.

La Triennale

Gli interni del Triennale Design Museum

Triennale Design Museum

If you like art and most of all design, we suggest you to visite La Triennale, placed in Parco Sempione, close to Castello Sforzesco (then a visit to these important addresses is a real must!). Contemporay Italian and international design, architecture, media arts and music, real soul of Milan Design Week (during Salone del Mobile, in April). More than important temporary exhibitions, it hosts a Collezione Permamente with significant objects in contemporary Italian design.
A curiosity: the museum manages La Triennale di Milano Tokyo Museum in the Shiodome district of Tokyo, Japan.

ATMosfera, the ATM Restaurant

ATMosfera, the ATM Restaurant

ATMosfera, the ATM Restaurant. Gourmet dinner discovering the city

The traditional Milanese public transport vehicle? The tram, of course. Have you ever have a dinner on it? With ATM (Azienda dei Trasporti Milanesi) you can: while you enjoy your meal on board of a real old Milanese tram from 1928, you will visit the city through central and secret streets. Starting from Castello Sforzesco, heart of Milan, tourists will experience a gastronomical trip of the main monuments of Milan and its recipes. A retrò restaurant with an incredible attention for details: from the decors to the menu (meat, fish and vegetarian) and wine. Don’t miss it!

Nightlife in Milan

The Club Milano

The Club Milano

And after this gourmet dinner, let’s go dancing to one of the Milan’s most famous disco: The Club. Attended by international jet set and Italian celebs, for fashionistas and nightlife lovers is a real place to live.

La Balera dell'Ortica, pic by Nicola Marfisi

La Balera dell’Ortica, pic by Nicola Marfisi

But if you want to spend a real Milanese night, we reccomend you La Balera dell’Ortica: a little bit far from the city centre, here you will have fun, for sure. A real Milanese night, starting from the dinner with typical local products, and the customers: old meet young people playing boules or dancing in the dance hall all together. From winter to summer where, more than vintage markets, everybody can dance rockabilly, rock n’ roll or retro music perfomed by live orchestras, in the outdoor ball room. One of the places we love the most.

Classe 1988, sono nata in un caldo giovedì di agosto in Brera, uno dei quartieri più belli della mia città. Dalla passione (divenuta laurea) per le lingue straniere all'attività di blogger e giornalista freelance, il passo per me è stato molto breve. Oggi mi occupo di comunicazione, ma scrivere di Milano è scrivere delle proprie origini.
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