L.O.V.E. While…read morewandering from the Museo del Duomo to San Maurizio al Monastero Maggiore, I needed to find something besides another cathedral, which is what I wanted to see, to capture my husband's attention. After checking out the Starbucks Reserve Roastery around the corner, we stumbled across this monumental sculpture by Maurizio Cattelan. Also known as Il Dito, or The Finger, it is a giant hand with all of the fingers cut off except for the middle finger sculpted from Carrara marble. L.O.V.E. The name L.O.V.E. stands for Libertà, Odio, Vendetta, Eternità, which translates to Freedom, Hatred, Revenge, Eternity. It is located in Piazza Affari in front of the Italian Stock Exchange, although it did not start there originally. Coincidence?? Art brings the world together. While talking to the manager of Tavola at a Wine and Food Event in The Woodlands, he actually told us a story about Maurizio Cattelan, whose piece The Comedian sold for $6.2 million. Interesting to learn more about this self-trained Milano based artist who uses humor and satire in his works of art. My husband did share our Milan photos with that manager. We bonded over L.O.V.E.

L.O.V.E. aka Il Dito (Italian for 'the finger') is a sculpture consisting of a hand with the middle…read morefinger. The name L.O.V.E. is the acronym of "Libertà, Odio, Vendetta, Eternità" ("Freedom, Hatred, Revenge, Eternity"). The sculpture is placed in front of the Italian stock exchange. It's a fun art piece to check out that wasn't too out of the way.

You are walking around the center of town, like most dutiful tourists do... you have marvelled the…read moreColonne Di San lorenzo (one of the vrey few Roman remains still "intact"... you are probably either looking for a great place to eat, or are lost... and... You stumble upon a white wall decorated with old dolls pinned on the wall... DO NOT FEAR. .. you are not partaking in the latest horror sequel of SAW... It is simply a permament exhibition, to which you may choose to give your personal contribution. All dolls up on the wall represent a woman who has been killed (by a relative or an ex lover/husband). YES. .. i realize many may think this is a bit GORY, sending a chill down your spine... but, life is not not all fairytale like... AND if you have stopped and thought about how in Italy a woman is killed every 3 days, then.. this exhibit has served its purpose. .. I will remember, one of these days, to pin my own doll up on the wall, symbolizing how lucky i was to survive my own demon and live to tell my story.

Interesting and creepy same time. No need to make a trip to see the wall but you can reach it…read moreeasily from Duomo if you really interested.

You know how they say that in the past, rivers were the "interstate highways" of the time? Well,…read moreit's true. And even though this isn't a river, this canal was used to transport goods from Pavia to Milan. This one is the Pavia Canal and was not completed until the Napoleonic period. It begins at the canal basic known as the Darsena, under the so-called Trofeo Bridge. Locks enable it to negotiate differences in level at various points along its 33 kilometer route, culminating in the visually striking sequence where the canal flows into the Ticino River. When the canal opened to navigation in 1819, Milan was finally connected via the Ticino and Po rivers to the Adriatic Sea. This project, which began in the 15th century with the construction of the Bereguardo Canal and the Martesana Canal made the city a crossroads between continental Europe and the Mediterranean. [Review 10677 overall, 445 of 2019.]

The Naviglio Pavese (some may NOT be aware) is not a natural river flow. Its construction dates…read moreback to 1564, though interrupted 20 years later and completed only ib 1819. It was (once) a 33 km long navigable river that linked Milano to Pavia and, through the flight of six locks to the River Ticino. It has been closed to navigation back in the 1960s, but has recently been considered for restoration to full navigation, connecting Switzerland to Venice via inland waterway. Those who love biking will be extremely pleased with the cycle lane that promises to lead you from the Darsena (downtown Milan) to Pavia. To those who want to enjoy some live music or some happy hours (drinks and food for competitive price) many are the options (La Sacrestia, Maya, Movida (i would strongly NOT recommend this one) King, puentoalegre are but a few choices). For those who just want to stroll around... just take a few moments to yourselves, and stroll around this minor naviglio. It is just as cute at night as it is during the day.

In town from the USA looking for solid Italian food near City Center Milan. Picked this due to the…read moreover 4 stars albeit several of the reviews were over 7 years ago. Seated very quickly, nice clean restaurant and nice waiters although language barrier made ordering a bit clunky. My wife got the ravioli while my friend and I got the bolognese lasagna. My wife said the ravioli was good not great and our lasagna was very tasty but room temperature. I like my food hot. The other person at our table got salmon and it was way overcooked and very tough. Not sure why our other party got Salmon at an Italian restaurant in Italy but to each his own. If you want a glass of wine you only have two choices, white wine and red wine. No other available. This is probably because the restaurant doesn't carry large inventories of wine due to their small size and cost. Overall no way is this above an average restaurant. It's just okay. Heat up your lasagna better, teach your chef how to cook Salmon and expand your glasses of wine selections.

Excellent cafe about 5 minutes walk from the Duomo, and La Scala, and right near Piazza Cordusio…read more Offers a great selection of pizza, pasta, and more for a reasonable price. You could easily pay twice as much for something not as good as that at Bellavista Cafe. Great spot if you want to experience some quality local food and not break the bank. At lunch the place was filled with locals so the food must be good and the prices fair. Well worth the trip!

Heard great things online, recommend by chatGPT and booked a reservation…read more Small place, friendly service, but time limit on the table, so if the service is a bit slow, you might be mid dessert and you're being asked to leave when the next party has arrived. Not a big deal, they let you know there is a time limit, but maybe they should keep the service flowing so that doesn't happen. The interior decorator here did a great job with the time warp back to the mid 20th century. Cool vibe. Food was ok. Perhaps using old recipes from the time period is not so good for a tourist? I wasn't really impressed with the food, but I don't have a cultural link to Milanese food to begin with, so I don't think I was fully able to appreciate it. If my grandmother made this when i was a kid, perhaps it would have been better, but the meal was lost on me. There are plenty of spots to grab a good meal, I'd only recommend this place if you have a fond memory of the menu items or you really want to time travel and post to social media.

Dunno how this is considered one of the top restaurants in Milan. This was our least favorite…read morerestaurant in all of Italy. There wasn't much that was appealing on the menu and the attitude of the staff did not make things better.

On another of my days explorations I set out to find the flamingo's of Milan!…read more It wasn't far from the Natural History Museum really. How uniquely unexpected. I highly recommend seeing this amazing group of pink flamingos! I heard them before seeing them!

Via Torino is one of the main streets in central Milan, It connects the Piazza Duomo with the…read moreTicinese district, there is a varied selection of shops along the street, which has a large number of shoe shops and a couple of restaurants along the street, or in side-streets from it. The street is pretty cool to walk along and always seems pretty lively, even at night, when it is well-lit and even feels quite safe. Easy to follow with a simple GPS navigation app to find the store you need, or if you are heading to Duomo. Pretty much your average shopping street, which you see in any city, but still pretty cool with a selection of big brands and some smaller, cooler niche stores and places to eat, the tram also runs down the street too, making it easy to get from one end to the other. 3*

Near Santa Maria delle Grazie is the "Needle, Thread and Knot" monument. It is a tribute to Milan…read morebeing the fashion capital of the world. It is a gigantic 1 meter wide and 18 meter high steel needle (picture a five-story building) with an 80 meter colored fiberglass thread that ducks under the street & knots on the other side. It was created in 2000 by Swedish sculptor, Claes Oldenburg, and his wife, Coosje van Bruggen. I'll be honest, I didn't quite get what it was at first, but it's really cool to see. For practical reasons, its a great landmark to use while navigating around Milan. It's located in Cadorna Square, right at the Codorna station which has an express train to the airport. The best part for us is that it's right inbetween Santa Maria delle Grazie (where you see the Lord's Supper) and the Castello Sforzesco.