italy · Year round · best Sep–Jun
Brera at noon. Montenapoleone in the afternoon. The Navigli late. Ceresio 7 at sunset, the aperitivo before the dinner before the night. The shortest summary of why Milan is, quietly, the most stylish city in Europe.
Hotels
Book the room — handled personally.
Hotel · 5★The Bulgari flagship on Via Privata Fratelli Gabba — 58 rooms behind the Pinacoteca di Brera, the garden the size of a small piazza.
Hotel · 5★ · RooftopThe Meliá group's Piazza della Repubblica address — 132 rooms, Radio Rooftop Bar on the top floor, the aperitivo crowd at sunset.
Festive · clubs, line-ups, long lunches
Reserve the table for the night out — handled personally.
Rooftop · RestaurantThe Dean and Dan Caten (Dsquared2) rooftop on the seventh floor of their headquarters — two pools, the cocktail bar, the Duomo and the Alps in the same view.
Rooftop bar · RepubblicaThe 10th-floor rooftop of the ME Milan Il Duca — the most central Milanese aperitivo address, open to non-residents, the DJ from 19h.
Restaurant-club · SempioneRoberto Cavalli's Parco Sempione café-club — the dinner under the Torre Branca, the dancing on the terrace after midnight.
Club · SempioneThe Parco Sempione club inside the Palazzo dell'Arte — Milan's oldest continuously running nightclub, the Wednesday and Saturday standard.
Cocktails + pizza · BreraThe Via Solferino bar-pizzeria — the cocktail programme on one side, the wood-oven pizza on the other, the Brera address the locals book first.
Bar-restaurant · QuadrilateroThe Corso Venezia bar inside the Dolce & Gabbana boutique — the Sicilian aperitivo room, the dinner that the Quadrilatero shoppers stay for.
Authentic · the quiet rooms
Reserve the quiet dinner — handled personally.
Italian · 2★ MichelinCarlo Cracco's Galleria Vittorio Emanuele room — the four-floor townhouse inside the Galleria, two Michelin stars, the most central serious dinner in Milan.
Italian · Grand Hotel et de MilanThe dinner room inside the Grand Hotel et de Milan — Verdi memorabilia on the walls, late kitchen until midnight, the institution for the post-Scala dinner.
Tuscan · QuadrilateroThe Via Borgospesso institution — Beatrice Ruggeri's Tuscan-Milanese kitchen since 1926, the canonical lunch of the Quadrilatero.
Tables
Book the table — handled personally.
Top floor · Duomo viewThe seventh-floor food hall of La Rinascente — the closest restaurant terrace to the Duomo spires, half a dozen kitchens under one roof.
Events · what's on this season
Book the experience — handled personally.
Neighbourhood walkThe Pinacoteca, the cobblestones, the Botanical Gardens, the cafés around the Accademia — the Milan walk that the locals do at noon and at midnight.
Shopping street · QuadrilateroThe Quadrilatero della Moda's main artery — Bulgari, Prada, Hermès, Louis Vuitton along 400 metres, the most concentrated luxury retail street in Europe.
Bar street · GaribaldiThe pedestrian street between Piazza XXV Aprile and Porta Garibaldi — the 10 Corso Como concept store, the bar terraces, the after-dinner walk.
Canal district · NightlifeThe Naviglio Grande and Naviglio Pavese canals south of the centre — the bar and dinner crawl that runs from 19h to 3h, the Milanese version of a riverside night.