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Some friends are get­ting ready to go to Milan so I write my favorites here….enjoy!
num­bers are for when in Milan when abroad add +39
a good guide­book was “art/shop/eat Milan”

To Sleep:

Aurora Hotel
corso Buenos Aires, 18
02-2047960
I won­dered about this place, my co-​worker booked the rooms for us and it was only 50 euro a night and in the city center. In a very normal part of Milan, actu­ally my favorite part for this reason on a busy shop­ping street. The room was totally fine, shower in the room, toilet down the hall, per­fectly quiet except when others came in late, per­fectly clean and a very nice staff, really great when you are on a budget.

To Eat:

La Lat­te­ria
Via San Marco 24
02-6597653
it is in guide­books which always makes me cau­tious but it actu­ally is amaz­ing food, with great rose tea, I had a cous­cous and veg­etable puree and a fish dish with olives and anchovy, it was ter­rific, I was on my own and had a long lunch with the paper, the staff took care of me telling me what to do in Ital­ian, very cosy, no reservations

Gnocco Fritto
via Pasquale Paoli 2
02-58100216
near tor­tona just by the canal, really deli­cious fried bread pieces served with a choice of meat or cheese, great cheese selec­tion and pastas too, no salads, inex­pen­sive and good, decent wine too

Pizze­ria Spontni
Corso Buenos Aires 60
02-2047444
I went for pizza last year, this year it hap­pened to be close to my hotel, I plan to go at least once every time I am in Milan, single girls beware, the hosts are match­mak­ers! I was on my own both times and both times was “set-up” with a single male diner, if I was not mar­ried it could have turned into some­thing inter­est­ing. They only serve pizza and beer, pizza with cheese or extra cheese, large or small beer, totally DELI­CIOUS. nice vibe, neigh­bor­hood place, can seat large or small par­ties, no reser­va­tions, you have to wait, good view of Milan

Antica Trat­to­ria della Pesa
V.le Pasubio 10
02-6555741
I am not a HUGE fan of Milanese food but one has to try the local stuff. That said, this is one of my favorite places to eat in town, great inte­rior too.

S. Gre­go­rio
via S. Gre­go­rio 1
02-29524182
If you stay at the Aurora Hotel, go here for coffee in the morn­ing, great cor­netti, great coffee, great crowd of locals, again, not fancy, you can sit out­side too

To see:

Prada Foun­da­tion
via Fogaz­zaro 36
02-54670515
For art, go see, some­thing mon­u­men­tal every time, never your aver­age museum/gallery visit.

Brera Gallery (Pina­coteca di Brera)
via Brera 28
02-722631
A peac­ful, lovely gallery expe­ri­ence, Mantegna’s “Lamentation Over the Dead Christ” had me spell­bound for 15 minutes.

Walk down Gal­le­ria Vit­to­rio Emanuele, a beau­ti­ful piece of archi­tec­ture lead­ing to the Duomo which of course should also not be missed…expecially a trip to the roof.

“The Last Supper”
Santa Maria delle Grazie
reser­va­tions: 02-4987588

Many have told me: “it was not as big as I thought, it was not as mon­u­men­tal as I thought, it ain’t all that” but then again they said the same about The Grand Canyon, both brought tears to my eyes, how can some­thing so influ­en­tial and mon­u­men­tal not? “The Last Supper” is very beau­ti­ful as is the church it is located within. Give your­self enough time to see both. NOTE! reser­va­tions are required! I called a week in advance and got a place.

Fish Design
via M. Malpighi 3
02-45470024
Gae­tano Pesce’s designs in the Fish Design store, lots of inspi­ra­tion on one place

Hard­ware Store
sorry, I do not know the name, it is on Corso Buenos Aires, close to Porto Venezia. Old sig­nage, old school vibe, just near the subway entrance and close to Fish Design.

Marni Outlet
via Sant’Andrea 14
Out of the way and a pain to get there unless you can afford the cab but a huge selec­tion of Marni goods, dis­counted, if you are into it you are into this.