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Milan

Every day in Milan the lights come on for nearly 800 theatre and music performances. For those who enjoy the opera, La Scala di Milano, the temple of world opera and ballet, is the ultimate dream and there are many music festivals that bring the city to life. With Piano City, in May, Milan turns into the city of the piano for a whole weekend, while MITO Settembre Musica, in September, brings the best of Italian and international music to the city.

Milan - the city of museums

Milan has more than 80 museums in the city and province, from the historic Brera Art Gallery where you can admire masterpieces by Hayez, Caravaggio and Raphael, to the circuit of museum houses and large exhibitions at the Royal Palace. For those who love modern and contemporary art, do not miss a visit to the Gallery of Modern Art (Galleria di Arte Moderna), the Contemporary Art Pavilion (Padiglione di Arte Contemporanea) and the Museum of the twentieth century (Museo del Novecento), where you can admire works by Picasso, Klee and Kandinsky. The new Museum of the Fondazione Prada, the result of a great urban regeneration work of a peripheral area of the city, is a true crossover where you meet art, fashion and architecture. The new Museum of Cultures (Museo delle Culture), set up in the spaces of the ex Ansaldo, displays more than 7,000 works of art, everyday objects, textiles and musical instruments from all continents. Parents and children can enjoy the Children’s Museum (Museo dei Bambini) together, thanks to the many activities on offer, from game shows to Remida laboratories.

“Ìó favourite place in Lombardy? I do not have one... or better, yes: it’s Milan”: Philippe Daverio, among the most experienced and best-loved Italian art critics, is happily surprised to be asked about the beauty and tourist attractions of Lombardy: “Yes, it is not easy to talk about that: when thinking about Lombardy, we all think on...the many highways around Milan, for example. Instead, we should think about the lakes in the foothills of the Alps, from Lake Maggiore to Lake Garda, the villas on the lakes and among them, a wonderful city of art like Mantua, the most extraordinary square of the fifteenth century architecture in Italy, located in Cremona, another amazing square, in Vigevano...”

Professor, first of all: in your opinion, what is the tourist identity of Lombardy?

“In my opinion, it is still searching for its identity. I would appreciate if they did a more thorough work on this identity, because Lombardy means many things. For example, Lombardy means 15 impressive opera theatres. It means the Ro-man Brescia, the great neoclassical villas, Milan Cathedral, Pavia Carthusian monastery, the Sacro Monte di Varese. And many other things that most people do not imagine !”.

“I think, for example, about the extraordinary testimony of the proto-Romanesque architecture, namely the church of Matilde di Canossa, in Mantua, or the Baptistery of Brescia.

I also think about the last traces of Byzantine influence in Ca- stelseprio or the Hermitage of Santa Caterina del Sasso on Lake Maggiore, which looks like a Greek monastery. Another example is the navigation on the lakes, which could be revived”.

Thus, your “favourite place” in Lombardy is Milan, as you told us?

“Yes, I live in the old town. Think that near there, I am following the restoration works of the flats (wonderful ceilings and floors, in particular) of Manzoni’s daughter, Massimo D’Azeglio wife.

Wonderful ceilings and floors but not well popular ones. Why?

“Because Milan is a city that does not let us to see it in its whole: not having been the capital since the fall of the Duchy, it got the custom of existing more inside than on the facades, unlike other cities that were capitals in the past, such as Florence or Genoa, where they used private buildings as Embassy offices.

Many historical buildings in Milan, for example, have wonderful gardens inside, but they cannot be seen by the public!".