Milan on My Mind
Mapping Culture Through Travel Research
Read Time: 8 mins
Milan on My Mind
Greetings Gorgeous,
I’ve been daydreaming about Milan for months now. Naturally, I made a playlist. With Salone del Mobile coming up the daydreaming has intensified.
These dreams began with three seeds. The first seed was planted in September of last year, when I visited LabSolue in Rome and learned about their Milan location within the Magna Pars Hotel.
A second seed was planted last October when I subscribed to The Stanza while on a finance writing kick — the newsletter’s author is based out of Milan. I love how her adopted city is clearly a muse for how she approaches writing at the intersection of finance, design, fashion, and hospitality.
Then, in the nebulous time-line of scrolling at 1am on some long forgotten winter weeknight, while deep diving into the history of aperitivo I found my way to this enticing read from Italy Segreta, That’s Amaro: Milan’s Bitter History - Thanks to Amari & Bitters, Aperitivo Grew Up in Milan.
Milan, Milano, Milanese.
Don’t know when I’ll go but I’m officially ready for a uniquely curated visit and would love to take you with me. We’ll get into the research below, but first, indulge me for just a moment. How about we grab a drink at Camparino and enjoy the wild view from inside Galleria Vittorio Emanuele? I’ve been told we must do so at least once. That, with of course visits to Il Duomo di Milano (Milan Cathedral), The Last Supper, and Pinacoteca di Brera will be the top five most touristy things we do. Caravvagio’s Cena in Emmaus is housed at the pinacoteca, it simply cannot be missed. I’ll let you know now that while inside the cathedral I may be lowkey sad remembering this scene from Visconti’s Rocco and His Brothers.
To make up for the touristy bits and being emo at the Duomo, I’ve included my top fives things to do that one can only know about if you live there or know someone who does.
A Negroni! What a vibe. On brand. Ok, andiamo!
The Vision
When prepping my travel mindset I like to create an approach that allows for getting as close as possible to the veil between tourist and local. While researching for a possible itinerary I kept listening to “Amo Milano.” In the song, Dargen D’Amico asserts with a touch of subversion and play that he loves Milano because mi deprime and nessuno tu saluta. Milan is a notoriously hard city to crack, even for those who are “from from” there. Nonetheless, striving for that edge of “catching the vibe of life here yet obviously not from here” within a short amount of time is part of what makes travel worthwhile.
Thanks to the Travel Noire archives of Milan-based writer Faith Katunga I’ve learned of the city’s vibrant Black-diasporic influence and have made note to explore that little acknowledged (yet impactful!) side of the city. In the same vein of exploring Milan beyond what is advertised, I loved spending time in the weeds of Milan’s international food scene thanks to the ladies over at Not Eating Italian in Italy. I love this quote from their about page (emphasis mine), “This newsletter is for everyone: locals, transplants, and travelers, who know there is much more to Italy than delicious pasta and pizza.” Exactly!
Three books informed my travel research for this dream trip.
Al Dente: A History of Italian Food. Because why not study the sociocultural histories of a nation’s mythologies and realities around food? There’s eight entries in this text that are Milan related.
Lonely Planet’s LGBTQ+ Travel Guide: Interviews, Itineraries, & Inspiration from Insiders in 50 Proud Places Around the Globe. So many fun recommendations! Loved reading about the fascinating blend of North African immigrant history and Queer community history in Milan’s now popular Porta Venezia district. Fun fact not related to Italy: Richmond, VA is listed in this book and I can attest to it being a fruit forward city.
Italian Festival Food: Recipes and Traditions from Italy’s Regional Country Food Fairs. Lombardy doesn’t have a dedicated section in this book. Which is odd? But Piedmont and Trentino-Alto Adige both have dedicated sections. With Lombardy located between the two there’s been an ongoing culinary conversation across the three regions for ages now, so definitely worth reading. Helpful for planning a trip that features leaving Milan to go experience a sagra festival or two, or three, or all of them. Is sagra/sagre hopping a thing?
This book is out of print but can be found via sites like Abe Books linked above. I have no idea where my copy came from, it’s just always been with me.
An additional title of interest but I haven’t gotten my hands on yet is, I Navigli del Milanese: La storia, i documenti, le testimonianze letterarie e le immagini più suggestive.
How to Pick a Home Base Hotel
Visiting a major city for leisure and discovery means that I’m planning around three things. 1) The Hotel. Does its story speak to me and is it owned by city locals? 2) How far can I get way from crowds without losing ease of access via walkability, public transport, or can a driver get to me easily? 3) Where do the everyday residents in a historic neighborhood of interest like to go and is my hotel of choice well positioned in relation to those places?
Notice the triangulation of focus. Point one leads up to point two which leads down over to point three and this third point is once again in conversation with point one.
Through this triangulation of focus I’ve dreamed up a plan that centers around our home base hotel being within crazy close walking proximity to the Navigli canal district. This district has DaVinci’s touch all over it - a central focus of his work while contributing to planning out Milan was attention to the city’s canal system. Crucial for transporting the marble used to build-out parts of Il Duomo di Milano over centuries. Today it’s known for specialty markets, the local artist and artisan scene, nightlife, and swanky canal views.
It’s important to be situated so one can walk around and watch how residents move in their city’s environment. This is easier to do on streets and in places that tourists have never heard of. I have no desire to end up sandwiched between Jack and Jill in some long line a few blocks down from Il Duomo for what an influencer called “the best risotto in Milan.” Please. Obviously the best risotto in Milan is made at the apartment of the new friend(s) we’re about to meet during our wanderings near and far from the ideal home base hotel.
To find this home base hotel I went into the archives of my favorite travel writers here on Substack, Condé Nast Traveler, and the Financial Times. I then cross-referenced with a few Italian language guides because I was curious to know what boutique hotels were on the radars of in-country travelers.
Check-in is officially at this beauty…