Lets start from Moltrasio to discover Milan, beautiful and unexpected

It’s big, but on a human scale. Outside it’s serious, with the best things well hidden: discover Milano is an adventure full of surprises, very close to Como!

For your holiday you have chosen the peace and serenity of the Larian landscape, the tranquility of a breakfast in front of the Como Lake, a privilege for you that are host at the Hotel Posta Moltrasio. We are proud of our places and atmospheres that are created here, where everything is more simple and natural. But we want to invite you even to know the surroundings, as we have done in our blog with Mantova and Lugano. Today I want to suggest you a little trip to Milan, where it is not strange to meet places from distant from the idea that we have of a big city.

Milano Cadorna, a good start

If you arrive at the Cadorna station. If it is morning or not too dark, and the sky is clear. The right combination to run to the Sempione Park, near the Triennale, and look up. You are looking at a metal reticulate very high, the Torre Branca. Lets go with the guardian in the central elevator and arrive on top of the city, where you can discover Milan between monuments and buildings that take alternative form.

Another idea, if you want to direct to Cadorna square walk towards the center. You walk to Via Carducci, keep the left to enter in Corso Magenta, near to the Basilica of Sant’Ambrogio and the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart. At the corner with Via Luini there is one of the most beautiful churches of the city, San Maurizio al Monastero Maggiore. Really a force of colors that fills every space, where even columns and rose windows are painted. A beauty this of the Bernardino Luini art comparable to the splendor of the Sistine Chapel by Raffaello. You can also just stop you there, to contemplate forms and expressions of many female characters portrayed, in the perfect light. Or go ahead, up to be enchanted by another kind of wonder, a beautiful sixteenth-century organ, still able to vibrate the solemn music.

Milan flashy, golden and silent

From the Cathedral go to via Vittorio Emanuele and you are arrived in San Babila, near to the fashion temples, the so-called Golden Quadrilateral. Via della Spiga, Monte Napoleone, Sant’Andrea and Manzoni, where you can see bags, twelve heels and hats with strange shapes that attract the eye. The power of beauty and aesthetics invades the entire city, even in very different settings and definitely unexpected. Continuing on Corso Venezia, after the stop Palestro, you notice a beautiful arch, right on your right. Then, the Quadrilateral of Silence. Few people roam the streets, and there is a lot of peace in a beauty that surprises. You can feel it coming in Piazza Duse, from Art Nouveau lines with precious white roses. Then, at the intersection between Via del Vivero and Via dei Cappuccini, you would say “wow” in front of the facade of the Palazzo Berri Meregalli, made of coal-black stone, with an open atrium where gold shine, with stuccos and colorful mosaics, with an angel watching at you, straight on pedestal.
Discover Milan, accompanied by the quiet of the place but truly loving these unsettling architectures. As if you have not already impressed enough, here is the gate at number 9 of Via Cappuccini. It’s a private villa, but the park that surrounds it is opened, and a new story appears in front of you, a placid flock of pink flamingos, as true masters of house are roaming free, contemplating in the fountains and the ponds of their garden.

Milan, city on the water

The “Navigli”! What remains of river routes, ancient protagonists of Milan trade and transport? Naviglio Grande and the Naviglio Pavese. On their surface are reflecting the new clubs of the real Milan’s nightlife with bistros, art studios and historical popular Milan libraries. It is something that is repeated a bit anywhere in the city, the new places near to the traditional places, peace and bustle, in harmonious balance. For example, try to walk along the Naviglio Grande before the Darsena (just renovated) and look to a lane on the left. Vicolo dei Lavandai begins with a beautiful mill! Yes, complete with a river to feed it, inhabited by peaceful lily pads, frogs, some lazy slug who wander around smelling musk. Then, entering, the jasmine on the houses walls, the open windows of the workshops, and a wooden door that opens into the path of watercolor artists, with their paintings. There you could understand that discovering Milan is a reality that goes beyond the imagination!

From the Hotel Posta in Moltrasio in one hour you can reach Milan, full of events and attractions that only such a beautiful city is able to offer. Coming back, me and Armando will be happy to hear your stories and news from the city. We’re waiting for you!

Photo credits: Wikimedia commons