The shopping quarter to the northeast of Piazza del Duomo - the
few hundred square yards bordered by Via Monte Napoleone, Via
Sant'Andrea, Via Spiga and Via Borgospesso, the so-called
Quadrilatero d'Oro - is home to the shops of all the big
designer names, along with design studios and contemporary art
galleries. The area is well worth a stroll, if only to observe the
better-heeled Milanese searching out the perfect objet d'art for
their elegant pads. Indeed, to leave Milan without looking in the
windows of its fashionable boutiques would be to miss out on a
crucial aspect of the city.
Just to the north of the shopping quarter, the Museo del
Risorgimento at Via Borgonuovo 23 (Tues-Sun 9am-1pm &
2-6pm; free) charts the course of Italian Unification through a
well-presented combination of paintings, proclamations, cuttings
and photographs - though it helps to have some knowledge of the
Italian Unification to appreciate it.
Along Via Fatebenefratelli from here, the heavily trafficked
Piazza Cavour marks the corner of the city's oldest public park,
the Giardini Pubblici , designed by Piermarini shortly after
completing La Scala. Relandscaped in the nineteenth century to give
it a more rustic look, its shady avenues and small lake are ideal
for recuperating from Milan's twin doses of culture and carbon
monoxide fumes. On the left side of the park, the basement of the
Palazzo Dugnani houses Milan's Museo del Cinema (Tues-Fri
3-6.30pm; L5000/€2.58), comprising an unlabelled collection of
cameras, film-cutting apparatus and other equipment from the early
days of cinema. The curator will do his best to persuade you to buy
a catalogue, but the free leaflets are perfectly adequate.
Across the road from the park in the Villa Reale, the Civica
Galleria d'Arte Moderna , Via Palestro 16 (daily 9.30am-5.30pm;
free), is one of Milan's most palatable galleries, housed in
Napoleon's former in-town residence, which now doubles as the civic
registry office. The main building holds nineteenth-century Italian
art and sculpture - including striking political works by the
painter Giuseppe Pellizza da Volpedo, canvases by the self-styled
romantic scapigliati (wild-haired) movement of the late
nineteenth century, impressive sculptures by Marino Marini, and a
less arcane selection of paintings by Corot, Millet and various
French Impressionists. Also worth a look are the works of the
Futurists - Boccioni, Balla and Morandi. In the grounds, the
Padiglione d'Arte Contemporanea (Tues-Sun 9.30am-5.30pm;
www.pac-milano.org ; L10,000/€5.17) is a venue for temporary
and often prestigious exhibitions of national and international
contemporary art. Overlooking the gardens, in a light airy annexe,
the small Collezione Vismara has Picasso's Battle of the
Centaurs - a spontaneously simple charcoal complete with finger
smudges - and minor but appealing works by Matisse, Dufy and their
Italian contemporaries.
Just to the northeast of the park is Spazio Oberdan ,
Viale Vittorio Veneto 2 (Tues & Thurs 10am-10pm, Wed &
Fri-Sun 10am-7.30pm; tel 02.7740.6300,
www.provincia.milano.it ), one of the city's most important
venues for cultural events and very good temporary exhibitions on
art, photography and sculpture.
On the east side of the Giardini Pubblici, the Civico Museo
di Storia Naturale , Corso Venezia 55 (Mon-Fri 9am-6pm, Sat
& Sun 9.30am-6.30pm; free), completes the round of museums,
with a fairly predictable natural history collection. It's reckoned
to be Italy's best, but really the stuffed animals and
dinosaur-bits are best reserved for one of Milan's rainy
afternoons: even then, parts of it are closed, as it's currently
undergoing what may prove to be a lengthy restoration.