Classic Milan Historic Center

The Palazzo Reale sits right against the Duomo, distinguished by its long, austere facade that maintains a sober distance from the cathedral's frantic gothic spikes. For centuries, this building functioned as the city's administrative…

The Duomo di Milano is covered in thousands of sharp, marble pinnacles and statues that make the roofline look like a forest of stone. Construction began in thirteen eighty-six and dragged on for nearly six centuries because the architect…

The central feature of the Piazza dei Mercanti is the Palazzo della Ragione, distinguished by its open ground-floor portico of thick stone arches. Built in the thirteenth century, this building served as the seat of the city courts and the…

The Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II displays a high iron and glass roof that bridges the gap between the Duomo and the Teatro alla Scala. Architects designed this four-story arcade in the eighteen sixties as a modern drawing room for the…

The church of San Fedele anchors this square with a facade modeled directly after the Gesu in Rome. Inside its walls, the Jesuits once held the most influential sermons in Milan, attracting the city’s aristocracy with theatrical lighting…

Palazzo Marino features a facade of rugged stone blocks on the ground floor topped by two tiers of ornate, arched windows. Tommaso Marino, a Genoese banker who made a fortune in silk and grain, commissioned the building in fifteen…

The Neoclassical facade of Teatro alla Scala sits modest and pale against the busy street, its simple portico betraying nothing of the plush crimson and gold auditorium hidden inside. Built in seventeen seventy-eight on the site of a…