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TOP HOTSPOTS IN MILAN ITALYTHE TOP HOT SPOTS

IN MILAN

MILAN FASHION WEEKMILAN STREET

FASHION

HIDDEN TREASURES IN MILANHIDDEN PLACES

IN MILAN ITALY

THE UNDERGROUND TRAVEL

GUIDE TO MILAN ITALY

METROISSUE 04 AUGUST

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I F I E V E R H AV E TO STOP TAKING THE SUBWAY I’M G O N N A H AV E A HEART A T T A C KEDWARD NORTON

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FEATURES T H IS ISSUES FE AT URES ON MIL A N I TA LY

MILAN FASHIONWEEKMILAN FASHION WEEK AND

STREET STYLE

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94 TOP HOTSPOTSIN MILANHIDDEN PLACES IN MILAN ITALY

THAT YOU MUST SEE

METRO

T O P S T O R Y

AUGUST 2017

T H IS ISSUES FE AT URES ON MIL A N I TA LYEDITORS CHOICE

HOTELS

DEPARTMENTS

SECRET LOCAL HANGOUTS EDITORS CHOICE

TOP PICKSEDITORS CHOICE OF TOP PLACES

HOTEL ARMANIGIORGIO ARMANI HOTEL

WALLET SAVING HOTELSHOTELS ON A BUDGET

MILAN TRAVEL INFORMATION

E X C L U S I V E T I P S O N H O W T O G E T A R O U N D M I L A N

I T A LY . T H E U S E R F R I E N D LY G U I D E T O H A V I N G A

S U C C E S S F U L T R I P. F O R M O R E T I P S T I P S V I S I T O U R

W E B S I T E H E R E A T W W W. M E T R O M A G A Z I N E . C O M

PLACESPLACES TO VISITWHERE TO GO IN MILAN

DUOMO OF MILANCATHEDRAL OF DUOMO

TRAVELURBAN BIKINGHOW TO GET AROUND

TRAVELING IN MILANHOW TO GET AROUND

FOOD

3 MUST TRY RESTURANTSTOP PLACES TO EAT

TOP FOODS IN MILANTOP FOODS TO TRY IN MILAN

TIPS OF BERLINMUST KNOW TIPS

USER TIPS

PHRASES TO LEARNTOP PL ACES TO EAT

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ITALY TRAVEL

DUOMO OF M I L AN

PPLACES

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GUIDE

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The red light near the roof is a reliquary that holds what is believed to be a nail from the True Cross. Examine the statue of St. Bar tholomew from the side to see that he is posed carrying his own skin over his shoul der, a result of flaying during his martyrdom.

Be sure the visit the small but interesting Treasury for some beautiful examples of silver smithing. Take the elevator to explore the roof of the cathedral. The roof offers a great view of the gilded Madonna topping the Duomo, as well as a panorama of Central Milan.

Immodest dress (shorts, sleeveless tops, etc.) will disqualify you from entry to the Duomo.

The Duomo of Milan blurs the distinction be tween Gothic and neo-Gothic, for the Gothic west front was begun in 1616 and completed

Duomo di Milano Milan Cathedral Italy

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The Duomo is an impressive site. The gothic cathedral’s architecture is decorated with nu merous spires and more than three thousand statues. Construction started in the four teenth century and was completed only fifty years ago. The massive cathedral is one of the largest in the world. Cavernous is the word that comes to mind when one views the inte rior of the Duomo - it can hold over twenty five thousand for services.

The Duomo does not have the sheer majesty that one would expect from a church of its size. The interior statuary and decorations are interesting but not extraordinary.

Milan is a glamorous city, but not quite in the same class as Rome, Florence, or Venice. The city provides the tourist a number of delightful explorations that are tightly clustered in the vicinity of the Duomo, Milan’s ostentatious cathedral. Widely known as a fashion center, Milan is a great place for shopping

01 METRO AUGUST

ince the 1950s, Milan has been known

as Italy’s fashion capital, where at least

twice a year buyers and the media de

scend on the Lombardia capital to see the

flamboyant runway shows held by Armani,

Versace, Dolce & Gabbana, and others on

and around Via Montenapoleone. This be

ing Italy, lunch and dinner are taken seri

ously, with both chic trattorias and grand

ristoranti reserved weeks in advance. But

those same wonderful places stay open year

round. Here are three of the best.

S

FFOOD

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3 MUST TRY RESTAURANTS

BICE RISTORANTE OF MILAN

ALLA CUCINA DELLE LANGHE

FOUR SEASONS HOTEL MILANO

Why go:

Beatrice and Roberta, is still the favou rite in the area.

What to eat:

Tagliolini pasta with fresh porcini mush-rooms

Take note:

You can shop till you drop, then come here for a fine meal.

Why go:

Very elegant, very refined, with a su perb menu of modern cucina italiana.

What to eat:

Risotto with orange, chanterelles and leeks in a Taleggio cheese sauce

Take note:

The restaurant gives cooking classes on Saturday mornings.

Why go:

Beautiful cafe located in the four sea sons hotel.

What to eat:

Their seafood pasta and breakfast menu are fabulous.

Take note:

You can stay in this lovely hotel as well as get amazing food.

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BICE RISTORANTE OF MILAN

Alla Cucina delle Langhe

Four Seasons Hotel Milano

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H I D D E NTREASURES

IN MILANItaly, and the spring and first love all to gether should suffice to make

the gloom iest person happy.-Bertrand Russell

Guy Trebay

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o looking for the new in Milan, Italy, and you doom your self to disappointment. I say this with a confidence that results from the fact that my job has carried me to this

millennium-old city four times every year for more than a decade.

True, there is the occasional glimmer of progress, far from least the recent political broom sweep that finally pushed Italy’s scan dal plagued prime minister Silvio Berlusconi to the curb. Even before the European debt crisis forced the media mogul—who had weathered accusations of corruption, ties to the Mafia, and an unwholesome appetite for teen prostitutes—to step down, there were subtle signs in Berlusconi’s hometown of Milan that change was afoot.

Some of this had to do with the construction of Porta Nuova Va resine, a much-ballyhooed urban renewal project on the site of an old rail station, built to bring millions of square feet of retail, office, and cultural space to the city, along with some shiny new starchitecture by the American firm Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates.

But as a New Yorker, I find it hard to generate the requisite ex citement for a bunch of glass towers. Far more thrilling was the Duomo’s emergence from a seemingly never-ending renovation. When the scaffolding finally came down from the main façade, it was as if a film star you’d always loved had emerged from a face-lift as dewy and gorgeous as she’d ever been. Funding for the Duomo project came largely from the private sector, the government hav ing fallen asleep on the job. The same was substantially the case with the legendary Teatro alla Scala, which also reappeared newly gilded and gleaming after its own long renovation.

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in a restaurant that is one of my haunts in the city, eating bowls of vivid green soup made from stinging nettles. This hearty first course had been prepared by Arturo Maggi, a man with a head like a public monument and the habit of referring to himself not as a chef but as an “alchemist.” Maggi, his wife, Maria, and their sons, Roberto and Marco, run La Latteria, an eight-table hole-in-the-wall a short walk from San Marco, a church where, in a side altar, is installed a credible copy of Caravaggio’s Deposition, a masterpiece that allegedly hung here at one time. Whenever I am in Milan, I make plans to have dinner at La Latteria, stopping en route at San Marco to light one of the pale wax candles that in Milan have not yet been replaced by feebly flicker ing electric lights.

Few Milanese know about La Latteria, a well-kept secret where for decades Maggi has offered his delectable but unfussy home cooking, food prepared according to quasi scientific precepts involving an evolved philosophy relat ing to the reactive properties of metals and food. Maggi cooks exclusively in pots made from .999 silver or alumi num, and perhaps only he understands precisely how this benefits the taste of his cuisine. Yet anyone who eats there is immediately struck by the intense freshness of the food and the produce that typically comes from Maggi’s own garden or direct from farmer friends. On any given day the crowd at La Latteria might include the architect Renzo Piano or Carla Sozzani, the owner of 10 Corso Como, that

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THE FAMOUS

DUOMO

CATHEDRAL

MODERN CAFE

IN MILAN

Though it seems conventional and staid, Milan, Italy has a wealth of little-known pleasures.

mother of all “concept” stores, or else Barna ba Fornasetti, son of Piero, the great furniture designer. It will also just as likely include the local pharmacist, or me.

Everyone is democratically jammed into one or another of the small tables wedged into a corner, beside a minuscule bar, or behind the door, happy to be in this brightly lit space where the decoration runs to charmingly awful floral paintings that the owners proudly frame and hang.

“It’s important that food is not only delicious,” Maggi remarked one recent afternoon, as his wife served plates of rabbit stew in dense and redolent ragù and carafes of the brusque house red. “It has to be nourishing to give you health and strength.”

Health and strength you require in plenty if you aim to penetrate the mysteries of Milan. Good walking shoes also help. I favor rubber soled loafers from Prada or sturdy Gommini from Tod’s for pavement pounding. Despite its efficient subway system and network of an tiquated trolleys, Milan is a pedestrian town. Those Frenchwomen who somehow never grow fat are not possessors of any special secret. In most European cities people keep their figures mainly by smoking and getting around on their feet. I lost four pounds in a week spent racing around the city, all the while eating like a very fortunate.

Milan is considered to be the fashion center of the world. The place has headquarters and busi-nesses of some of the leading international de signers, which include Gucci, Prada, Armani,

The major industries that help in the growth of the economy of Milan are Tex-tile manufac turing, Chem-ical manufactur ing, Food manufacturing, Tour ism, Shipbuilding, etc.

Milan is credited to be the second largest city in Italy. The total population of Milan is around 1.5 million. Dumo Cathedral is a major tourist attrac-tion of Milan. It is one of the biggest Gothic Cathe

THE BEAUTIFUL

ARCHITECTURE

FOUND IN

MILAN ITALY

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On a more domestic scale, intrepid newcomers pe riodically show up to import something unexpected to Milan’s perennially conservative dining scene. In the case of Genoa natives Marco Bruni and Paul Lips, it was the introduction of regional home cooking served in a setting almost too casual and rough-hewn to fit a city so formal and prim. “Am I in Milan,” one wonders at U Barba, “or Brooklyn?”

A former sporting club turned restaurant, U Barba (the name is Genovese dialect for uncle) has a kitchen filled with the reconditioned pasta cutters and blend ing apparatuses Bruni collects. “I don’t want things too perfect, and with the old machines you get more texture in the food,” he said. The restaurant has a bocce court active in all but the coldest of seasons. Watching people play there, one can’t help but re call the Jane Jacobs dictum that old buildings make good settings for new ideas. Old cities do, too.

Despite the fact that Milan, Italy, plays host to the prestigious annual Salone del Mobile and the twice -yearly ready-to-wear fashion shows—events that use the city as a changeable scrim against which, season after season, designers offer up the latest in, respec tively, furniture and clothing—there’s no escaping the sense that in Milan cutting-edge is an alien concept. Hip can’t happen here.

I struggled with this at first, continually on the prowl for some glimmer of newness. I made fruitless efforts to cozy up to a city bent on preserving an enigmatic northern distance. Spending as much time there as I did, it seemed necessary to discover the spring that opens the secret drawer. And, as with most revela-tions of this sort, when I finally happened upon the key to understanding, it turned out to have been hidden in plain sight.

I was looking for novelty in Milan when all along the allure of the place was its inverse. Few cities, in Italy or otherwise, hold fast to the time-tested as Milan does, and few places so fetishize that most conserva tive of virtues, refinement. In Milan it is no hardship to find a specialty cutlery

store selling a mind-boggling array of, say, horn-han dled hunting knives (G. Lorenzi) or one that offers an array of gloves in wrist, driving, and opera lengths (Sermoneta Gloves).

There is a confectionery shop I often visit in a store front little altered since it opened in the 19th century. Standing at a minute zinc-topped coffee bar there, you order bite-size sandwiches while a clerk wraps your purchase of confections that must have seemed anachronistic even in your grandmother’s time. Can-died violets? Pasticceria Marchesi has them, and not only that but candied rose petals and lilacs. If you happen to be there around All Souls’ Day in early November, you can find at Marchesi the delicious

small seasonal loaves of sugar-dusted pan dei morti, although the ones I prefer come from Giovanni Galli, a rival shop. It says something about a city that it can sustain real competition between bakeries with house recipes for cakes for the dead.

In Milan a sober and venerable engraver (Ditta Rai mondi di Pettinaroli) tucked amid the Prada and Dol ce & Gabbana emporiums on the bustling high street of Corso Venezia stocks copperplates that date to the company’s founding, which corresponds roughly with the signing of the Declaration of Independence. At Pettinaroli one can order correspondence cards and have them personalized using a blind emboss ing technique so subtle one’s initials seem written in braille.

In Milan it is still possible to fall upon what must be among one of the last great troves of secondhand goods in Europe at the Mercatone dell’Antiquariato. Here, on the last Sunday of each month, hundreds of dealers set up at dawn with offerings including the reconditioned kitchen equipment that people like Mr. Bruni of U Barba collect, but also Venini glass or plas ter crèche figures or bridal linens or Mussolini memo rabilia or industrial material such as the jointed-metal 1950’s doormat I snapped up for $80 that looks like a piece of contemporary art.

Not only is there a shop (Mercatores) in Milan special izing in uniforms for household domes

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Despite the fact that Milan, Italy, plays host

to the prestigious annual Salone del Mobile

and the twice-yearly ready-to-wear fashion

shows—events that use the city as a change-

able scrim against which, season after season,

designers offer up the latest in, respectively,

furniture and clothing—there’s no escaping

the sense that in Milan cutting-edge is an alien

concept. Hip can’t happen here.

86 METRO AUGUST

MILAN FASHION

WEEK

LAURA MERCIERSTREET STYLE

AS fashion week draws to a close in Milan, style

comes through in the details. Bright colors are stil l the

crowd favorite, but today they’re at their boldest on fin

gernails and punch-colored collars. Ladylike polka dots

express extra personality when peeking out under a zebra

-print blazer, or tucked into an equine-inspired belt, and

leather is seen anew on over-the-elbow gloves. Perhaps

these emboldened touches foretell breakout trends to

come in Paris.

MILAN FASHION

WEEK

Milan has a long history within the fashion, cloth ing and textile industries. Throughout the late 19th century, being one of the main industrial and economic powerhouses of the country, the city was a major production centre within the trade. Milanese fashion, despite taking inspiration from the leading Parisian couture designs of the time, developed its own approach, which was by nature devoted to the quality of the fabric, soberness and simplicity. Throughout the 20th century, the city developed its role as a fashion centre, with a number of rising designers and figures within the industry which contributed to Milan’s image as a stylistic capital. Milan truly became one of the world’s top fashion cities in the 1970s and 80s, fur ther developing and keeping its prestigious status into the 1990s and 2000s, being now seen as part of the “big four” cities. Milan is especially known

Ferragamo Creative Direc

tor Massimiliano Giornetti

has given us a sketch from

his new collection.

BOHEMIAN HEAD SCARVES

TRENDSETT ING :MULT I FACETED 60 ’ S

HAUTE DESIGN

GET THE LOOK

cities. Milan is especially known for its role within the prêt-à-porter category of fashion.

In 2009, the city was declared as the “fashion capital of the world” by the Global Language Monitor, even surpassing its relative cities.The next year, Milan dropped out of the top four reaching sixth place, yet as of 2011 it is back at fourth place.

Milan’s fashion history has evolved greatly throughout the years. Milan began as a cen tre of fashion in the Middle-Ages and Renais sance, as in Venice and Florence, the mak ing of luxury goods was an industry of such importance that in the 16th century the city gave its name to the English word “milaner” or “millaner”, meaning fine wares like jewel lery, cloth, hats and luxury apparel. By the 19th century, a later variant, “millinery”, had come to mean one who made or sold hats.

In the mid-19th century cheaper silk began to be imported from Asia and the pest phyllox era damaged silk and wine production. More land was subsequently given over to industri alisation. Textile production was followed by metal and mechanical and furniture manufac ture. In 1865, the first major department store in the country opened in Milan by the Bacconi brothers (which was called Alle Città d’Italia and later in 1921 became La Rinascente.

This was regarded as a novelty at the time with regards to retailing in Italy. Though, tra ditionally, artisans would sell the items they

ELEGANT

BIKES CAN BE

RENTED OR

BOUGHT IN

MILAN

89METRO AUGUST

GET THE LOOKmade directly or to small stores, the opening of these new department stores modernised the distributions of clothes in the city.

The Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II in 1880. In terms of the Milanese people, they are said to have probably been “fashion conscious” in the 1880s and late 19th century. The Milanese style was partially inspired by French fashion, which at the time was still dominant in terms of influence, yet adapted according to local tastes; this included a generally sombre and simple style, which was moderate in terms of decoration and ornamentation, and put an emphasis on the quality of tailoring and the different fabrics and textiles. The general Milanese interest in styling was reflected in the

number of fashion magazines. This circulated in the city at the time, as well as the fact that the people were ready to follow trends; nev ertheless, the Milanese style was relatively tra ditional. The city had several tailors and seam stresses which in 1881 amounted to 249 and in 1886 to 383 (which were listed in guides). In this period, the city was one of the biggest industrial powerhouses in Italy, and had a di versified fashion and clothing economy which was mainly based on small workshops rather than large companies .

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ing and whispy chiffon - and a welcome one.

Who doesn’t love film noir, particularly when it yields glossy black leather dresses, supple as a criminal’s conscience; and pinstripe suits, sharp as a stiletto. The tailoring was strong enough to seduce a Chandler: Raymond, not the the sappy one from Friends. Lisa Arm strong Mas-similiano Giornetti, in situ since 2010, is mod-ernising this venerable Italian brand with brio. That means jettisoning gim micks and con-centrating on semi-strict, rather than slouchy, tailoring - this time in velvet and leather - and juxtaposing it with gold-stamped chiffon and drop-shouldered dresses in gar net or black. If the drop-waists on thick lace dresses were a mis-step, and some styling a bit overwrought, those gleaming knee-high boots more than compensated. Let’s not for get that Salvatore Ferragamo started out in the Forties as a cob-bler. This house makes quality footwear, and it doesn’t charge crazy.

Clothes are as varied as the women who wear them so, without being too Gok Wan about it, think about yourself before tackling your outfit. Karl Lagerfeld’s collection for Fendi in cluded some excellent examples of shape-ma nipulation sleight-of-hand. Wide, rigid, stom ach- embracing lines contrasted with a fuller shape at the shoulder - which also obscured the up per arm but left the forearm displayed. This combination is perfect for anyone seek ing an hourglass effect, even if their original hourglass runneth over.

Well-cut trousers, a forgivingly long coat and a high-necked blouse: sounds a little middle of the-road. Yet safe, everyday shapes don’t have to lack pizzazz: Etro is particularly big on dizzy ing patterns (it loves paisley), bold co lour and visual tics that take you back to the Sixties. All of them were combined in a show that demon strated why a permissive attitude to decoration and colour is the best way to inject interest into a conservative style.

The main message seemed to be that, far from being cumbersome, a huge, serious coat or fabulously luxe pea-coat frees you up to wear something cute and slimline underneath - in this instance, shorts, three-quarter-length trousers with braces and stripey lightweight sweaters. Even at night, the cosy embrace of sheepskin coat has replaced the feathery bo lero as a companion to satin evening dresses and bell bottoms. Their shoes made sense: how else

here are three things that mystify most Italians; taxes, feminism, and those who dislike fur.

There w/as a white fur fronted iPad case, one model dressed entirely in a tawny, lion-toned (but no, surely, not?) fur skirt and jacket with a coquettish little feathery fur tailpiece that made her look like some executive caveman's hot clubbed-on-the-head secretary, fur-fringed shoes and crocodile bags with multicoloured fur fringing at the side.

And this is not stealth fur, built for hypocrite fur-yearners who want to wear it on the down low and avoid getting hissed at on the bus: there was a final section of treated, Sesame Street shaggy coats that included one so ra diantly canary yellow it would make a highly efficient emergency beacon.

In the spirit of anthropological detachment - fur is as intrinsically Milanese as great cof fee and terrible traffic - this show was worth watching for Karl Lagerfeld's playful pleating, hourglass tailoring offset by tight, wide belts, and a great (and by the looks of it fur-free) belted blue coat with baseball cap peaked shoulders. The only animal effect that wasn't based on a real, formerly-kicking beast was the stingray skin print on many of the pigtailed models' ripped leggings, which were worn over black tights.

For those who are content not to dwell on the fate of the beasts that wore much of this collection before the models did, it was a very seductive show indeed.

Dig out some Grace Kelly classics - particu larly To Catch A Thief , High Society and Rear Window - and you should spot the starting point for this beautiful collection: classical mid-20th century couture. But retro clothes quickly become empty costume drama, so Raf Simons (this is his last collection for the house) brought his finely wrought nostalgia back to now with surprising colour combinations and subtly clashing materials

No sooner does Adele reveal that she prefers dressing primly to putting it all out there, then Milan steps into line. Alberta Ferretti explored a buttoned-up kind of allure in her show, with high necklines, below-the-knee hems and a self-assured, hard-boiled swagger that brought to mind Joan Crawford and Bette Da vis. This is a departure from her normal drap

do you lift a khaki or camel if not with silver Mary Janes?

The white tights with which Marni accesso rised every look will be a minority pursuit, but they were a foil for the cropped-at-the-shin black trousers that came out with almost ev erything else. The trousers were part of what Consuelo Castiglioni described as “my ongo ing love affair with all things masculine. But I wanted to counteract the boyishness with curved, slender shapes.” And that’s what she did. Short-sleeved tops and belted jackets had an almost hour-glass outline, but there were plenty of loose, drop-belted coats and dresses for those who avoid obvious come -hither dressing. Stand by for Marni’s forth coming appearance at H&M. Are you ready for the scrum?

The models’ dip-dyed hair and The Tiger Who Came to Tea eye make-up were characteristi cally quirky, so were the rubber-coated plat form Mary Jane shoes. “Practical for winter,” said Miuccia Prada backstage, although she almost slipped up when she took her bow in them. All the trouser suits and high-waisted jackets and coats will walk right out of the store, even if they end up being bought in black, rather than the clashing grid patterns, one being a vintage Prada print. “Black is easy but boring,” said Prada. She must have had a tedious day: she was head to toe in it.

Revealing clothes do not have to show acres of flesh. Bottega Veneta’s uber-precise Ger man designer Tomas Maier combined darker colours and form-fitting cut to create a col llection that would work perfectly on a woman whose sensuality is hinted at rather than sema phored. “We took a very direct approach to the body this season,” said Maier: “The look is covered this up… yet the effect is power fully physical.”

Men wear suits because they have to, and hence often wear them badly: women should wear them - and wear them well. Armani is the best soft-line tailor in fashion, exempli fied in this collection. The dark colours and block-like shape of a men’s suit-based outfit distracts from the particulars of its wearer, while drawing the eye to a woman who’s con fident enough in her femininity to play with a masculine uniform. The rakish hats were a gimmick but looked good.

CLOTHES ARE AS VARIED AS THE WOMEN

WHO WEAR THEM.” -GOK WAN

THE UNIQUE

STREET

FASHION IN

MILAN ITALY

“

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DEPART

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