A couple of Thursdays ago, I woke up in Milano to the sound of a soprano practicing an opera aria across the courtyard. I was supposed to have boarded a flight back home the night before…but then I would not have woken up to the sound of a soprano practicing an opera aria across the courtyard. And I would not have had the pleasure of what turned out to be a most perfect Thursday of fashion, art, architecture, lingerie and lasagne (in that order). I thought I’d share my itinerary with you, just in case you ever find yourself in Milano on a Wednesday and need convincing to stay at least one more day.
The Thursday morning farmer’s market on Via San Marco
I wasn’t exactly in need of fresh fish or vegetables, but a friend insisted that I go so I assumed it was with good reason. And the reason is, this scene is one of Milano’s lesser known weekly displays of style. The fashion capital’s “sciure” (Milanese for “signore”) show up dressed in a way that you have never dressed to go to a farmer’s market, and in a way that you will from this day onwards, always dress to go to your farmer’s market.
A piadina, spremuta d’arancia and espresso at a nearby bar.
I then wandered up a nearby street and sat down for a piadina (essentially a warm ham and cheese wrap, but remember we’re in Italy so it’s not just ham and it’s not just cheese.) I rarely drink freshly squeezed OJ at home or anywhere else in the world, but spremuta d’arancia is something I know how to say in Italian so I enjoying saying it to anyone who will listen. Bonus points if they continue the conversation in Italian, thereby offering me the opportunity to use (all the) other words I know. Extra bonus points if they don’t judge or make reference to my accent or foreignness. I am not a tourist. I am a traveler.
At the table next to me were seated four or five high school girls clad head-to-toe in Dior and Balenciaga, looking literally too cool for school. I don’t mention the name of the bar here because I don’t remember it, and because I imagine you can have this experience at just about any bar within 5 minutes walk of Via San Marco.
TIME & STYLE
Actually, while you’re on Via San Marco, you absolutely MUST go to Time&Style - a Japanese heaven of furniture, lighting, bookshelves and jazz. I’d gladly spend a whole day in here and/or the rest of my adult life and disposable income collecting pieces from this store.
I then hopped on the clean, civilized and uncrowded metro and headed down to…
Fondazione Prada
Tucked away in a corner of Milano you might not ordinarily venture into, my midday date with FP was one of the most memorable and inspiring museum visits of my life. A friend had told me it was perfect for a cool grey day in Milano which it was and it was.
I have to first flag that there were very few people there, and/or that the exhibits are spread across multiple buildings and spaces which contributes to it not feeling crowded at all. A rather luxurious and exclusive way to experience art that you would be lucky to find at other institutions of its calibre. I’m actually having one of those moments now where you think, wait, should I be telling people about this? Or shall we keep it a well-guarded secret. Considering only like 7 people read this journal (and I am two of them), I feel safe to at once share and trust that it will remain a well-kept secret.
The curation was impeccable. I got to see the works of Pino Pascali, Jean-Luc Godard, Louise Bourgeois, Thomas Demand, Damien Hirst, John Baldessari all together. What a roster. (There were actual tears). (I’m a superfan of conceptual art). The architecture somehow magically highlights itself, the light and the art all at the same time without any of these things feeling like they’re competing. And then you walk across to the bar for an espresso and the interior is designed by Wes Anderson. One of the buildings is gold. Gold! And you catch glimpses of it through various windows and touch points just in case you forgot. The elevator in one building is all clad in green marble and has fantastically large buttons. The kind that make you feel like you’re 4 years old and wish your mom was there to ask all the other people if they’d let you push their buttons too.
Rinascente (wait, hear me out)
So, because I extended my trip, I was running a little low on underwear. I could’ve washed it yes, but honestly it was all looking quite old and tired and I realized that I hadn’t bought new underwear in far too long. I decided to go all out…tops, bottoms, socks, all of it. I climbed up to the fifth floor of Rinascente and had that good Pretty Woman experience where a salesperson masterfully eyeballed my sizes and then ran around for an hour bringing me every shape, fit and cut that might possibly work. We stood together in my fitting room (her in a full black suit, and me in a birthday suit) which also turned out to be the intimate experience this day was otherwise missing. She definitely worked on commission…and amusingly kept pointing out ridiculous pieces that the uomini piacciono.
This is actually a few tips rolled into one. The first is to treat yourself to new underwear, in Milano or elsewhere…with the exactitude you’d invest if you were buying a new Porsche. The second is, if underwear or great department stores are not your thing, this is also right next to the Duomo, La Scala, and the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele - three of the city’s most treasured sites. I normally try to avoid touristy spots especially if I’ve seen them before…but these are the kind you can and should marvel at over and over. And it’s spaced out enough that the selfie-stick-toting masses are not totally unbearable.
Then, realizing it was around 5pm and I hadn’t eaten anything since the morning’s piadina, I decided to sit down for lunch. This can be a tricky hour in Milano because a lot of the great spots aren’t open at that hour, but I saw some black and white stripes and like a moth to a flame I was drawn into the terrace of…
Nabucco
I had a lasagne, a glass of Chianti (maybe two), with a sweet ramekin of zabaglione and an espresso to finish. It was the perfect time because it was empty and I had the tiny terrace all to myself. I thought I had read in a review that the lasagne was hare - and after an amusing conversation with the waiter in which I had to explain to him what a hare was…he assured me that the lasagne was in fact 100% cow. It was all perfect. The stripes, the light, the waiter, the cow.
10 Corso Como
I then skipped up towards 10 Corso Como to pick up a magical pair of pants I had treated myself to the day before and they’d had tailored for me. If you only have time for one shopping experience in Milano - this should be it. There’s a cute leafy courtyard café too. The pants were LOEWE at first sight…and the day and rest of the trip were pure lust at every light, sight and bite.
A couple more addresses I enjoyed on my trip:
Lunch | Antica Trattoria della Pesa, Stendhal
Aperitivo | The Mandarin Oriental, The Bulgari and The Four Seasons (the garden in all three)
Dinner | Il Salumaio di Montenapoleone (worth it for the views alone).
Shoes | Vibi Venezia & Velasca
All photographs by Anja Savic, The Letterist.