- The Last Supper or Il Cenacolo
The Last Supper (Italian: Il Cenacolo or L'Ultima Cena) is a 15th century mural painting in Milan created by Leonardo da Vinci for his patron Duke Ludovico Sforza and his duchess Beatrice d'Este. It represents the scene of The Last Supper from the final days of Jesus as narrated in the Gospel of John 13:21, when Jesus announces that one of his Twelve Apostles would betray him.
- Milan Cathedral or Duomo di Milano
Milan Cathedral (Italian: Duomo di Milano; Milanese: Domm de Milan) is the cathedral church of Milan in Lombardy, northern Italy. It is the seat of the Archbishop of Milan, currently Cardinal Dionigi Tettamanzi.
The Gothic cathedral took five centuries to complete and is the fourth-largest church in the world.
- Pinacoteca di Brera or Brera Art Gallery
The Pinacoteca di Brera ("Brera Art Gallery") is an art collection in Milan, Italy. It contains one of the foremost collections of Italian paintings, an outgrowth of the cultural program of the Brera Academy, which shares the site in the Palazzo Brera.
- Castello Sforzesco or Sforza Castel
Castello Sforzesco (English: Sforza Castle) is a castle in Milan, Italy that now houses several of the city's museum and art gallery collections.
The original construction on the site began in the 14th century. In 1450, Francesco Sforza began reconstruction of the castle, and it was further modified by later generations.
After the unification of Italy in the 19th century, the restoration of the castle was started following its transfer from military use to the city of Milan. The restoration work was directed by Luca Beltrami. The central Filarete tower above the main city entrance was rebuilt between 1900 and 1905 as a monument to King Umberto I.
The castle was severely damaged as a result of the allied bombardment of Milan in 1943 during World War II. The post-war reconstruction of the building for museum purposes was undertaken by the BBPR architectural partnership.
- Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II
The Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II is a covered double arcade formed of two glass-vaulted arcades at right angles intersecting in an octagon; it is prominently sited on the northern side of the Piazza del Duomo in Milan, and connects to the Piazza della Scala. Named after Vittorio Emanuele II, the first king of united Italy, it was originally designed in 1861 and built by Giuseppe Mengoni between 1865 and 1877.
The street is covered over by an arching glass and cast iron roof, a popular design for nineteenth-century arcades, such as the Burlington Arcade, London, which was the prototype for larger glazed shopping arcades, beginning with the Saint-Hubert Gallery in Brussels (opened 1847) and the Passazh in St Petersburg, (opened 1848) and including the Galleria Umberto in Naples (opened 1890).
The central octagonal space is topped with a glass dome. The Milanese Galleria was larger in scale than its predecessors and was an important step in the evolution of the modern glazed and enclosed shopping mall, of which it was the direct progenitor. It has inspired the use of the term galleria for many other shopping arcades and malls.
The Galleria connects two of Milan's most famous landmarks: The Duomo and the Teatro Alla Scala.
- Teatro alla Scala or La Scala
The Teatro alla Scala (or La Scala, as it is also known), in Milan, Italy, is one of the world's most famous opera houses. The theatre was inaugurated on 3 August 1778, under the name Nuovo Regio Ducal Teatro alla Scala with Salieri's Europa riconosciuta.
La Scala's season traditionally opens on 7 December, Saint Ambrose's Day, the feast day of Milan's patron saint. All performances must end before midnight; long operas start earlier in the evening if need be. Ticketholders are not allowed to enter after the performance has begun.
The La Scala Museum (Museo Teatrale alla Scala), accessible from the theatre's foyer and a part of the house, contains an extraordinary collection of paintings, drafts, statues, costumes, and other documents regarding opera and La Scala's history.
La Scala also hosts the Accademia d’Arti e Mestieri dello Spettacolo (Academy for the Performing Arts). Its goal is to train a new generation of young musicians, technical staff, and dancers (at the Scuola di Ballo del Teatro alla Scala, one of the Academy's divisions).
- Basilica di San Nazaro Maggiore
The basilica of San Nazaro in Brolo or San Nazaro Maggiore was built by St. Ambrose starting from 382 on the road that connected Milan (then Mediolanum) to Rome. It was originally dedicated to the Apostles, and thus known as Basilica Apostolorum.
- Navigli
The navigli was a system of navigable and interconnected canals around Milan, in Lombardy, Northern Italy.
Five canals made up the system:
Naviglio Grande
Naviglio Pavese
Naviglio Martesana
Naviglio di Paderno
Naviglio di Bereguardo
The first three were connected through Milan via the Fossa Interna, also known as the Inner Ring. The urban section of the Naviglio Martesana was covered over at the beginning of the 1930s, together with the entire Inner Ring, thus spelling the death knell for the north-eastern canals. Commercial carrying continued on the Naviglio Grande, but the decline was steady and by the sixties it was over for good.
Today they are mostly derelict, unnavigable, or used for irrigation. However, plans are afoot to restore the Naviglio Grande and the Naviglio Pavese to through navigation.
Navigli is the river-area in the south of Milan. It will take about 20 minutes to go through the area, and during that time you'll have seen hundreds of bars, discos, restaurants.
- Stadio San Siro or Stadio Meazza
The Stadio Giuseppe Meazza, more commonly called Stadio San Siro, is a football stadium in Milan, Italy. It is the home of A.C. Milan and F.C. Internazionale Milano. The stadium is named in honour of Giuseppe Meazza, the two-time World Cup winner (1934, 1938) who played both for Internazionale and Milan in the 1930s and 1940s.
- The Bagatti Valsecchi Museum
The Bagatti Valsecchi Museum is a not-for-profit historic house museum in the Montenapoleone district of downtown Milan, northern Italy. The Italian Renaissance art and decorative arts collections of the barons Bagatti Valsecchi are displayed in their home, as they wished them to be. Hence, visitors may view not only particular pieces of art, but also the house's authentic ambiances, expressive of late 19th century aristocratic Milanese taste.
The Bagatti Valsecchi Museum’s permanent collections principally contain Italian Renaissance decorative arts (such as maiolica, furniture, tapestry, metalwork, leather, glassware and precious table-top coffers made of ivory, or “stucco and pastiglia”), some sculptures (including a Madonna and Child lunette by a follower of Donatello), and many paintings. European Renaissance weapons, armor, clocks and a few textiles and scientific and musical instruments complete the collection assembled by the Barons Bagatti Valsecchi.
- Alfa Romeo History Museum
Alfa Romeo History Museum (Il Museo Storico dell’Alfa Romeo), which opened in December 18 1976, is located in Arese, Milan, Italy. The museum is located in the now unused Alfa Romeo factory area, which stopped manufacturing of cars in 2003 and engines in 2005, with the museum, left is only Alfa Romeo Stile Centre. The whole museum is dedicated to almost 100 years of Alfa Romeo marque, which has produced various products like: automobiles, commercial vehicles, railway locomotives, tractors, buses, trams, marine and aircraft engines.
The museum has over 100 cars collection of original Alfa Romeo models, most of which are fully functional. At the moment (beginning of 2009) the museum is closed for renovations and will re-open in the end of 2009 to celebrate Alfa Romeo’s 100th birthday in the 2010.