Italy's capital of fashion and design — the Duomo took 600 years to complete, Leonardo's Last Supper survives on one refectory wall, and the aperitivo hour in the Navigli canals district invented free food with every drink
Milan is Italy's financial capital, a city of 1.4 million in Lombardy's Po Valley. The Duomo di Milano — begun 1386, not completed until 1965 — is Europe's largest Gothic cathedral and the world's third-largest church, with 135 spires and 3,500 statues on a rooftop walkable via external stairs. Leonardo da Vinci's Last Supper (1495–98) survives in the refectory of Santa Maria delle Grazie (UNESCO World Heritage), viewable only by timed ticket to a maximum of 25 people. Milan's Quadrilatero della Moda — Via Montenapoleone, Via della Spiga, Corso Venezia, Via Sant'Andrea — houses every major lu…
Roman Mediolanum (founded 222 BCE) was by the 4th century the western capital of the Roman Empire — Emperor Constantine issued the Edict of Milan here in 313 CE, legalising Christianity throughout the Empire. Under the Visconti and Sforza dynasties (14th–16th century), Milan became Italy's most powerful northern city-state: Francesco Sforza brought Leonardo da Vinci (1482–99) and Bramante redesigned its churches. The 19th century brought the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II (1865–77, Europe's first modern covered shopping arcade and still the world's oldest active mall), Verdi premiering Otello…