Travel Alert: 48 Hours -Making the Most of Milan

To Have A Bucket

It came as a mild shock to me that the RWM has a bucket list. When asked if I had one, I had to confess that I did not. There are so many things I want to do but most of them are inconsequential such as mastering the real Sacher Torte or tasting seafood I’ve never heard of. His bucket contains just a few desires and one was to experience La Scala. When we moved to Bologna, removing this from said. bucket seemed quite doable. Naturally, we engaged in some quibbling over which event to attend – he loves the operas usually referred to as Saturday Night Crowd Pleasers and I can hardly sit through any show that does not have a lot of onstage movement. We agreed on the ballet gala honoring La Scala’s very own prima ballerina assoluta – Carla Fracci. Neither of us will ever forget her performance as Giselle many years ago at the Kennedy Center – she was the most ethereal Giselle -a haunting, and breathtaking performance. She died in 2021 at the age of 84 and La Scala holds an annual event in honor of their most celebrated ballerina.

Destination City

Like New York and Paris, Milan sports high prices for visitors and is definitely a city to visit. The heart of Milan has an austere beauty boasting many modern buildings with ingenious post war Italian design elements among the restrained architecture of the remaining palazzi. A few dazzling sky scrapers can be glimpsed in the outer peripheries of the city. What we did not realize was the severity of sixty Allied bombing raids which had obliterated over one third of the city and 65% of its historically valuable buildings. In fact, when the architect Piero Bottoni directed the creation of QT8, a new neighborhood on the outskirts of Milan, the hill Monte Stella -nicknamed “Montagnetta di Milano”— is built on the collected debris of the city’s fallen buildings. QT8 is one of Milan’s greenest areas, filled with parks, playgrounds and gardens mixed in with small single homes and apartment clusters due to to Bottoni’s remarkable vision.

If you are on a short visit – ours was a bare 48 hours – to this international fashion center (people here certainly dress with more care) some planning is required. If you don’t want to waste your time finding cabs (the Intaxi app is considered quite reliable) or managing public transport, Milan is packed with with small museums hosting approachable collections. I find it mind and limb numbing to try and enjoy huge museums in one visit. With the proximity of both La Scala, the Duomo and elegant window shopping in mind, the Italy Insider and her father found a company which hosts guest suites in buildings throughout Milan. They chose one on Via Romagnosi which had a suite that comfortably sleeps three with a single bathroom and furnished kitchen dining area. A large flat screen TV was required so that we could watch our upstart Bologna soccer team beat the deep-pocketed Milanese club for the Coppa Italia – a glorious upset.

Guest Suites such as Sweet Inn do not offer hotel amenities and services. These are leased rooms in a variety of buildings and you arrange your entrance into your suite on your phone. You meet the property manager who guides you through your suite, scans your documents and settles the bill. When you leave, your key is left in the suite itself. Housekeeping in this case comes on a three day rotation. The advantage is being just where you want to be in the city center at a fraction of a hotel price.

Within Walking Distance

Several bars around us served breakfast and we had the opportunity to visit two small museums with extraordinary collections. Around the corner stands the Poldi Pezzoli Museum which has a jewel of collection with a current exhibit of the stunning works of Andrea Solario. And just at the intersection of Via Romagnosi and Via Manzoni we noticed the Palazzo Anguissola, which has an interesting collection of paintings and some decorative arts. But the remarkable features really are the rooms themselves, each decorated in different parquet floor designs, and ceilings in a kaleidoscope of frescoes and ornamentation. The paints used by the artisans would make the founders of Farrow & Ball swoon with envy.

We were also a short walk to the Duomo (and it is worth visiting its interior as well as staring at its astonishing façade). As for dining and food shopping, if you go through the Galleria, which of course has restaurants whose prices and crowds amply reflect its well noted grandliness, you should walk over to Peck which is my kind of Cathedral. It hosts the Resident Wine Maniac’s favorite library of wines with sales personnel who are gracious and only too happy to help you pick out a vinous little something. You can eat at a white cloth restaurant or have a less formal meal in their café. I have not (yet) had a meal in their bistrot but the café food and service is so much more pleasant and affordable than what I viewed in similar spots around the Duomo and Galleria. Or you can make selections to take back to your hotel and Peck’s personnel will carefully pack it up for you. In any case, do not deny yourself at least a visual treat of a visit .

Unexpected Pleasures

By chance, our very anonymous guest suite was next to a lovely and intimate restaurant that I will go to again no matter where I stay in Milan. Ristorante DeRos is in the Splurge Department with a carefully chosen wine list and a small menu of absolutely exquisite seafood. Its interior is designed for comfort with touches of formality (I did love how they hid the flat screen TV in greenery on the wall). Definitely a welcoming fine dining experience.

We decided to try the restaurant attached to La Scala when we went to the Carla Fracci Gala. The interior is almost like a stage setting itself with a swirling frescoed ceiling, and plush red interior. Velvet chairs are comfortable but very low and fortunately come with cushion – very handy to sit on. While the very expensive menu (you are paying for very posh real estate) is listed on their website, if you are there for a performance, they give you the abbreviated pre theater menu instead with a “gift” of Bella Vista Francia Corta. You’ll find the food pristine but lacking in verve, the service attentive until you need to pay the bill.

That said, to watch a performance at this storied theater is a delight. You can feel how much the Milanese love their opera house. You can see it in how they dress for the occasion, not with over the top glitzy garb, but rather respectfully dressed in both formal and relaxed attire. The theater with all its red and gold trappings makes you feel at home and privileged at the same time. The helpful ushers wear black outfits with a simple gold medallion and chain – very fetching. And of course it is lovely to see real Neoclassical interiors with artistically applied gold ornamentation instead of plastic add-ons from Home Depot. We left La Scala, buoyed by the performance and the theater feeling as if it were ours too.

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Nancy Pollard

Kitchen Detail shares under the radar recipes, explores the art of cooking, the stories behind food, and the tools that bring it all together, while uncovering the social, political, and environmental truths that shape our culinary world.

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Jennifer says:

May 22, 2025 at 10:08 pm

La Scala is a bucket list for me as an opera fan. But I don't think it's wrong to put making the perfect Sacher torte on your bucket list. It's you list! :)