Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
( 02 48 55 51;
www.museoscienza.org
;
Via San Vittore 21; adult/child €10/7, submarine tour €8; 9.30am-5pm
Tue-Fri, to 6.30pm Sat, Sun & holidays; Sant'Ambrogio)
Kids, would-be inventors and geeks will
go goggle-eyed at Milan's impressive museum of science and technology, the largest of its
kind in Italy. It is a fitting tribute in a city where arch-inventor Leonardo da Vinci did
much of his finest work. The 16th-century monastery, where it is housed, features a col-
lection of over 10,000 items, including models based on da Vinci's engineering sketches,
halls devoted to sciences of physics, astronomy and horology, and outdoor hangars hous-
ing steam trains, planes, full-sized galleons and Italy's first submarine, Enrico Toti.
BASILICA
Basilica di Sant'Ambrogio
( 02 8645 0895; Piazza Sant'Ambrogio 15; 8.30am-7pm; Sant'Ambrogio)
St Ambrose,
Milan's patron saint and one-time superstar bishop, is buried in the crypt of the Basilica di
Sant'Ambrogio, which he founded in AD 379. It's a fitting legacy, built and rebuilt with a
purposeful simplicity that is truly uplifting: the seminal Lombard Romanesque basilica.
Shimmering altar mosaics and a biographical 835 AD gilt altarpiece light up the shadowy
vaulted interior.
The second chapel on the right contains frescoes by Tiepolo. While along the south
aisle, there's some precious 5th-century sparkle: mosaics adorn the
Sacello San Vittore in Ciel
d'Oro
, its 'golden sky' dome supported by winged monkeys and griffins.
LOCAL KNOWLEDGE
NAVIGLI MARKETS
Overlooking the Darsèna, once the city's main port where the confluence of two canals, linking the city with the
Maggio; 8.30am-1pm Mon, 8.30am-1pm & 4-7.30pm Tue-Fri, 8.30am-1.30pm & 3.30-6.30pm Sat;
Porta Genova, 3). Open Monday to Saturday, it is the city's main covered market, selling fresh fruit, veget-
ables and fish. Northwest, Viale Gabriele d'Annunzio merges into Viale Papiniano, where the city's main
flea
8am-2pm Tue, to 5pm Sat) operates. It's at its best on
Saturday morning.
On the last Sunday of the month the city's most scenic market, the
Mercatore Antiquario di Navigli
MAP
GOOGLE MAP
(
www.naviglilive.it
; 9am-6pm last Sun of month; Porta Genova), sets-up along a 2km
stretch of the Navigli Grande. With over 400 well-vetted antique and secondhand traders, it provides hours of
treasure-hunting pleasure.
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