Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
If you have only 2 days in Milan
On Day 1, start off at the
Pinacoteca Ambrosiana
when it opens (10am)
for 90 minutes of Old Masters (Raphael, Caravaggio, da Vinci) before mov-
ing on to see Bramante's illusory architectural masterpiece inside the tiny
church of
Santa Maria Presso S. Satiro,
and then plunge right into the
sights around Piazza del Duomo: the
Cathedral
itself (don't forget the
roof!), a light lunch at
Caffè della Zucca,
and a stroll through
Galleria
Vittorio Emanuele II
to
La Scala
opera house (give its
Museo Teatrale
30 min. of your time, and check into buying tickets for tonight's—or
tomorrow's—performance). End the day as above, window-shopping the
Quadrilatero d'Oro,
visiting the
Museo Poldi Pezzoli,
and touring the
Pinacoteca di Brera
until it closes—but instead of heading to the Navigli
tonight, stick around the Brera neighborhood, which is also chock-a-block
with bars and pubs and great restaurants.
Start Day 2 at the medieval
Castello Sforzesco.
On your way to see
da
Vinci's
Last Supper
(book tickets for noon), stop into the
Museo
Archeologico
to see how the Roman town of
Mediolanum
grew to become
the metropolis of Milan. Take lunch at the bistrolike Art Nouveau
Bar
Magenta,
and head south to the gorgeous 4th-century church of S.
Ambrogio and the nearby
Museo Nazionale della Scienza,
filled with
scale models of Leonardo's inventions. Make your way east to the ancient
church of
San Lorenzo Maggiore,
and then stroll south a few blocks to
jump into the pub, jazz club, and restaurant scene of the Navigli.
restoration has done away with all that over-painting, as well as tried to undo the
damage wrought by the clumsy patching and damage inflicted when Napoleon's
troops used the wall for target practice, and from when Allied bombing during
World War II tore off the room's roof, leaving the fresco exposed to the elements
for 3 years.
In short,
The Last Supper
is a mere shadow of the work the artist intended it
to be, but the scene, which captures the moment when Christ told his apostles
that one of them would betray him, remains amazingly powerful and emotional
nonetheless. Only 25 people are allowed to view the fresco at a time, with a 15-
minute limit, and you must pass through a series of devices that remove pollutants
from clothing. Accordingly, lines are long and tickets are usually sold out days in
advance. I'm serious: If you don't book ahead—preferably a week or two in
advance—you'll most likely be turned away at the door, even in the dead of win-
ter when you'd expect the place to be empty (tour bus groups swallow up inordi-
nately large batches of tickets, leaving precious few for do-it-yourself travelers).
