A Milanese native and concierge for seven years, Alessandro has spent a lifetime peeling back his city's many layers.
"The beauty of Milan is hidden — you have to know it in order to enjoy it at its best."
Alessandro’s Top 5:
A personal history
I'm a very curious person, and I've always loved science and technology. But the Leonardo da Vinci Museum of Science and Technology holds a piece of my heart because I used to go with my father almost every Sunday when I was a child. The building itself is spectacular. It's an old Capuchin monastery, and the original cloisters still exist. Inside, there's everything – history, inventions, even a real Cold War submarine!
Another unmissable gem is Sforza Castle. It has a wonderful park — Parco Sempione, which used to be the armoury – but the castle itself is a masterpiece, a 14th-century fortress named after the Sforza family, the last noble family to own it. If you look closely, you see time etched across it — each family added something unique. How many years have passed since the 14th century and we still have the luck to see it?
Masterpieces beyond The Last Supper
Inside Sforza Castle, there are different museums. Two are treasures most visitors miss. The first is a museum with a single statue. It's called the Rondanini Pietà, by Michelangelo Buonarroti, a statue of the body of Christ being held by Holy Mary. It was commissioned by a Florentine family — but Michelangelo died before finishing it. Being able to see how he used to produce his artworks is incredible – where he used the hammer, how he transformed the marble – almost how his mind worked. The other is the Sala delle Asse, a dining area of the noble family, which is frescoed by Leonardo da Vinci. It looks like a forest, its vaulted ceiling covered with bushes and trees. During restoration work, they discovered many preparatory works under layers of lime, a peek into his mastery that you don’t always see.
Noble secrets in the Fashion District
One thing that is very interesting about Milan is our house museums. And we are lucky to have quite a few because many aristocratic or noble families left their houses and villas to the municipality of Milan, handing over their collections to the public. There's one that I really like, which is just around the corner, the Bagatti-Valsecchi Museum on Via Manzoni. It's small but beautiful – amazing to see how these people once lived. Once you step into its courtyard, the city just disappears – a piece of heaven where no noise comes through.
Milan's modern vision
For modern art, there are two museums that come to my mind. The first one is the Triennale di Milano, it’s a cultural institution that showcases rotating exhibitions across all art forms so you will find something different and thought provoking each visit. The other is the ADI Design Museum, which houses the entire collection of the Compasso d'Oro Award, created by design visionary Gio Ponti in 1954. It's Italy's way of recognising exceptional design — furniture, products, graphics. Walking through this museum, you see the history of Italian design, how we moved from ancient craftsmanship to modern innovation. It shows that we've always been makers, always been designers.
Where creative energy lives
If you ask me where to feel Milan's creative energy, first I’d say, go to Brera. It has the Pinacoteca di Brera – which houses masterpieces by Bellini, Caravaggio, and Tintoretto in the most beautiful building, you could spend hours here – as well as lots of little boutiques and shops. It’s very bohemian and artistic. What I like to do, is to get lost in the cobblestone streets – it's like going back in time. Second, I’d say go to Isola. In recent years it's had a new lease of life and has become a young, vibey place to be. The colourful streets have a lot of vibrant design shops, bars, and cafes - there's always something interesting going on.
The layers beneath
Milan in Roman times was called Mediolanum, which means "in the middle”, and indeed, we are in the middle of the Padan Plain — Italy is 60% mountains so this flat land was pretty strategic back in those days, especially for farming and cattle. Traces of the Roman Empire are rare, but you can still see the magnificent remnants of the Imperial Palace of Maximian at Piazza Tommasi da Lampedusa. A stone's throw away there’s the Medieval Torre dei Gorani, surrounded by modern architecture. Here, you can see centuries of history in one place — Roman, medieval, modern. This is real Milan. From my point of view, it's nice to know where you come from — a bit of heritage, a bit of history.
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