It’s too modern. It’s too fashion-focused. It’s fast-paced, devoid of la dolce vita, it doesn’t feel Italian. Milan has had the same old criticisms levelled at it for decades, and for decades Italy’s business capital has shrugged them off. Because anyone who really knows the city knows it’s not like that at all. The difference between Milan and the rest of the country is that where most Italian cities put their heritage on blousy display, Milan stands back, willing you to discover hers gradually. 

Heading out from the Piazza del Duomo, home to the marble-drenched cathedral, you can rattle around on the city’s vintage trams and wander through the village-like districts spiralling out from the centre; each has its own identity, from artistic Brera to cool Ticinese. Peer through every open gateway and you might see a palazzo, a hidden garden, a 1930s villa — or a piazza-sized Renaissance cloister that just opened to the public after centuries of silence (the Portrait Milano).