Where to eat in Milan

"A Milan ghè tus cos", the saying goes: in Milan you will find everything you were looking for, enough to satisfy every taste and affordable for every pocket.
Several restaurants, offering regional, ethnic or international dishes, as well as night clubs and discotheques thronged with young people every night of the week or shops selling every type of product will be found in every corner.
The apparently hostile city has evolved an undeniable multiracial dimension, transforming itself and cheerfully adapting to its new role. Irish pubs, Chinese, Japanese, Russian, Thai, African and Spanish restaurants, Islamic butchers, South-American groceries, and Seville barbers, peep out continuously, all much-frequented not only by their fellow countrymen.

Food in workaholic Milan, at lunchtime at least, is more a necessity than a pleasure, with the city centre dominated by sandwich shops (called paninoteche) and fast-food outlets. Anyway, don't worry: many good restaurants can offer you a suitable and appetizing meal.

Daily street markets, spread about the whole city, are held im Milan every week day except on Sundays. Cheeses, salami, fruit and vegetables can be bought at a really low price. A complete list is given daily in the Corriere della Sera under the heading "Mercati". The most central supermarkets are the Standa in Via Torino 37 and in Piazza Castello, the Esselunga in Viale Piave, near Porta Venezia, and the tightly packed Centro Commerciale nearby the Stazione Centrale (open daily from 5.30 am to midnight).

Traditional Milanese cooking is made up of simple, meager ingredients that recently regained favour after having been being completely banished during the ambitious 1980s.
It is well known that Milan lives of fashion and trends: the Chinese cooking was obviously discovered here before being adopted in the rest of Italy, like then Indian, the African, the Japanese and Middle Eastern cooking. A real reversal occurred recently: trattorias, inns and restaurants (including luxury ones) spread everywhere offering traditional Milanese dishes.

A traditional Milanese menu can't start but from the characterist aperitivo: an evening in Milan cannot go without this ritual. Several aperitifs are served during the so-called happy hour, the most classical is the Negroni. The key ingredients of this rich and slightly bitter cocktail are Campari, gin and sweet vermouth. It can be served up or on the rocks and traditionally garnished with a twist of burnt orange peel.
After your aperitif head for one of the several restaurants specialized in traditional cooking. We suggest to start with a traditional antipasto, the so-called nervetti, boiled calf's shanks and knee cartilage cut into strips and mixed with thinly sliced onions, carrots and celery.
Don't miss the classical Risotto alla Milanese, a saffron risotto traditionally accompanied to the ossobuco ( bone marrow) and prepared with a full-bodied beef broth.
As a second course we suggest the classic Milanese cassouela, an extremely rich dish made up of pork meat (the most poor parties such as tail, ribs, rind, feet and ears) cooked with green cabbage and other vegetables.
A more traditional dish is the tasty Milanese cutlet, breaded veal chop fried in butter: every Milanese restaurant serve a very crunchy cutlet, made with a veal chop, including the bone. Another dish to try is the veal tonné, a light and tasty veal chop covered with tuna, mayonnaise, anchovy and caper sauce. An excellent wine to drink with your meals is the Barbera from the Oltrepò Pavese.
If you decide to spend time in Milan during the Christmas festivities, don't miss a slice of Panettone, the typical Milanese Christmas cake, even tastier if accompanied with the traditional Mascarpone cream.

The province of Milan offers many typical products such as the Salame di Milano, made of finely minced pork and beef meat. As for cheese, the Grana Padano is the most famous one. It is produced in the Po valley, in a vast area including Lombardia, Piemonte, Veneto and Emilia Romagna. The Mascarpone is another typical Milanese cheese, essential ingredient for desserts and creams, often mixed with other cheeses, salami or fish.
However, the most famous Milanese cheese is the Gorgonzola, the most rich and strongly flavored cheese of the region. A pasteurized cow's milk cheese, ivory colored with blue-green veins running through it, this delicious cheese can be enjoyed with crackers, pears, apples, peaches, nuts, raisins or made into a sauce to serve with chicken or beef. Delicious addition to salads it can also be melted into a fondue.
You should also try Crescenza or "Stracchino", the soft and creamy milk cheese with a slightly sweet taste, that is excellent when spread on a slice of bread or eaten with raw vegetables.

If you are interested in buying foodstuffs or wine, you must visit Peck, a legendary temple of gastronomy located in Via Spadari, where you will find DOP (certified origin) cheeses from all over Italy, all kinds of salami, extra virgin olive oil, aged balsamic vinegars, rare tea and spice mixtures, pretty preserves of food in oil and a wine cellar that is filled with the most valuable wines from Italy and abroad.

Restaurants

Though many restaurants in the city centre are expensive and not so affordable for every pocket, few cheaper places still survive from a time when the city wasn't dominated by fashion crowds and business excesses. Just outside the immediate centre, the Ticinese and Navigli areas are full of restaurants and caf豻 we've also included a number of options around the Central Station and Piazzale Loreto, the area in which it is most likely you will be staying in. Here you are a list of the most famous ones:

• Lacerba, a unique, Futurist restaurant whose menu contains original Futurist recipes (such as fluffy rice on a bed of spinach topped with fresh peas and crushed pistachio) and whose walls show murals by Depero and Boccioni. 4, Via Orti (00 39 02 545 5475)
• Lifegate, whose kitchen looks directly on to the street. The inside is elegantly furnished with oversized lanterns. All the recipes, changing every month, are prepared with organic ingredients. Don't miss the mini-gnocchi with sesame and smoked trout. 10, Via Orti (00 39 02 5411 6754)
• La Cantina di Manuela, whose main specialties are cheese and wine. Start with a selection of goat's cheese (with a honey dressing), followed by pasta reginelle (crinkly strips) and a bottle of red Piedmont. 3, Via Poerio (00 39 02 7631 8892)
• Rigolo, with its white linen tablecloths and ageing waiters, it looks very formal but is actually delightfully relaxed in a calm, old-fashioned way. The food is Tuscan (fresh pappardelle with wild boar), the service impeccable, and foreigners are welcomed with open arms. Largo Trevis/via Solferino (00 39 02 8646 3220)
• Altro, in a city dominated by traditional, old-style trattorie, a handful of stylish new restaurants are making a big impact with adventurous menus and daring interiors. On a small side street near Porta Romana, Spazio Strato is both a showroom for the group's homeware products and, on the first floor, a contemporary Italian restaurant called Altro where shiny stainless-steel tables and abstract white paintings are jazzed up with spotted, Seventies-style chairs. The centrepiece, however, is the open kitchen which has attracted rave reviews for its bold, modern presentation of Italian classics. Starters include an astonishing timballo of ricotta infused with fresh tomato essence; mains, such as tender veal medallions in a parsley and caper sauce, are simple but succulent; and the puddings are beyond reproach. 5, Via F. Burlamacchi (00 39 02 5412 1804)
• Eda, a trendy new haunt nearby the Central Train Station, who inhabits an early-20th-century warehouse built within the courtyard of a 19th-century palazzo. The interior design is a clever combination of industrial cool and contemporary chic with diners sitting at tables on three wide steps running the length of the room. Dishes include involtini of spinach and prawns, swordfish tartlet al gratin, and a glass of sweet almond milk for pudding. 7, Via Filippino Lippi (00 39 02 2668 1962)
• Maxsimo, Another new restaurant attracting attention is Maxsimo, a discreet, family-run establishment with a low-key atmosphere and exciting contemporary design: red-leather padded walls, translucent red lighting 'tubes' set against cream walls, white leather chairs, and a light-wood floor. On the menu, you will find potato gnochetti with asparagus and Fontina cheese; baked tuna steak in a bean-and-tomato sauce; and a sophisticated yet satisfying nut-and-honey salad
• L'Altra Pharmacia, whose cook keeps going until midnight, while most Milanese kitchens close at about 10.30 pm.It is the perfect place to drop in for a post-opera bite. 3 , Via Rosmini (00 39 02 345 1300)
• Cantina della Vetra, who offers a fixed-price brunch menu including a generous buffet and one hot dish per person - such as tortelli, risotto or fondue. 3, Via Pio IV (00 39 02 8940 3843)
• El Brellin, who offers one of the best brunches in Milan. The setting - an ancient laundry house - is idyllic, and the buffet includes couscous with vegetables and a good green lasagne with funghi porcini. Vicolo dei Lavandai (00 39 02 5810 1351)
• Speakeasy, a bar-restaurant with jazz portraits on the wall, a few tables outside, and a good Italian-American brunch menu including fried eggs with bacon and roast potatoes. It is located in the heart of the picturesque Brera district. 7, Via Castelfidardo (00 39 02 653645)
• Corso Como, offering one of the best brunches in the whole town. Get a table in the courtyard and fuel up on eggs or pasta. Try the freshly squeezed orange and mint juice with your meals. 10, Corso Como (00 39 02 2901 3581)
• Alla Cucina delle Langhe, a popular restaurant with an elegant dining room at street level and a less formal area upstairs. Piedmont classics on the menu include tomini al pepe o alle erbe (small round goat's cheese flavoured with pepper or herbs), Barolo wine risotto, and bagna ca񣟠(literally 'hot bath') - raw vegetables dipped in a sauce of butter, garlic, chopped anchovies and thinly sliced white truffles. The wine list includes a wide range of Piedmont bottles. 6 , Corso Como (00 39 02 655 4279)
• La Trattoria Milanese, opened in 1933 and still serving genuine Milanese food.Tucked away behind the stock exchange, tables are arranged in two rooms featuring magnificent brick arches and good still-life oils. The menu is printed using an old-fashioned typewriter and you are advised to opt for the classics: cold mini-cutlets in carpione (onion and vinegar dressing); saffron risotto with ossobuco (veal shank); and a selection of local cheeses, including the mighty Gorgonzola. 11, Via Santa Marta (00 39 02 8645 1991)
• La Pesa, one of which claims is to have hired the chinese politician Ho Chi Minh to work in the kitchen when he was a student. Bizarre stories apart, this is an elegant, 125-year-old restaurant with fin de siècle furnishings and an aristocratic air of times gone by. The waiters are knowledgeable and the renowned kitchen hits all the right spots with wafer-thin cold meats, pan-fried saffron risotto, the inevitable ossobuco and fluffy zabajone caldo. 10, Via Pasubio (00 39 02 655 5741)
• Bergamo Alta, located just beyond Porta Romana. The rich recipes springs from a peasant tradition designed to fuel the field workers and keep them warm. Polenta comes with every course, including a dessert of strawberries and chocolate. Other typical dishes include casoncelli (pasta parcels filled with seasoned meat), salami, stewed boar and chicken. 5, Via Mantova (00 39 02 545 0138)
• Valtellina, an alpine-style restaurant with lovely shady gardens where you will taste traditional recipes of the Valtellinese area . The menu varies according to the season starring dishes such as the sciatt (small, fried, cheese-filled buckwheat pastries), the bresaola, the slinzighe, the violino (local hams), as well as potato and mushroom tarts. Main courses tend to be rich even in summer: creamy polenta with funghi porcini and excellent home-made puddings are served all the year round. 34, Via Taverna (00 39 02 756 1139)
• Trattoria Aurora, a well-established restaurant with a cosy turn-of the-century room for winter dining and a glorious garden shaded by vines for the summer. Impeccable Piedmont antipasti include roast peppers in bagna caòda and wafer-thin veal in a creamy sauce; the pasta of choice is agnolotti del plin - stuffed ravioli tossed in butter and sage; substantial secondi such as gran misto di arrosti allo spiedo (roast meat on skewers) will satisfy the heartiest appetites. 23, Via Savona (00 39 02 8940 4978)
• Giordano il Borghese, just off the trendy Corso Genova and specialises in Emilian cuisine with a Bolognese accent - including that much-exported classic spaghetti alla Bolognese. A magnificent buffet dominates the ground-floor dining room where diners help themselves to cold antipasti followed by fresh tagliatelle al ragù and an impeccable costoletta alla Bolognese (like the Milanese version but with ham and cheese). The pièce de rásistance, however, is the fritto misto all'Emiliana, a warming mix of fried chicken, lamb, apple and courgettes. 3, Corso Genova corner of via Torti (00 39 02 5810 0824)
• Osteria di Via Prè, despite the recent change of ownership, the historic osteria remains as it has been for years, with the same red seats, photographs of Liguria on the walls and efficient service. Eating there you will enjoy the typical Ligurian taste: focaccia di Recco; abundant antipasti of stuffed vegetables and pignoletti (tiny fried fish); main courses such as trofie al pesto; and light second courses such as swordfish carpaccio. 4, Via Casale (00 39 02 837 3869)
• Piero e Pia, a small, family-run restaurant with a bland café-style dining room and very few tables, located in the so-called Città Studi area, the once scruffy working-class area recently transformed into a smart district. The food, most of which typical of Piacenza, is the height of regional sophistication. An antipasto of mortadella mixed with truffles can be pungent and moreish; pisarei e fasò (mini gnocchi in a beans and tomato sauce) is rich without being heavy; and a lamb cutlet bathed in a marsala sauce is sensational. As there is no great local wine we suggest to choose among the several Piedmontese varieties. 2 , Piazza Aspari (00 39 02 718541)
• La Pace, run by brothers Piero and Roberto Bellandi, was first opened in the 1970s, when a wave of immigration from the south endowed Milan with several Tuscan trattorie. Both the decor and the menu are honest, unpretentious and authentic: the dining room has 1970s-style wood panelling and white linen tablecloths; the main courses are mushroom and beans soup, subtle ravioli in broth and, on Mondays, a spectacular trolley of boiled meat (bolliti) accompanied by spicy mustard fruits. 74, Via Washington (00 39 02 468567)
• Giulio Pane e Ojo, offering Roman cuisine, which has never made much of an impression in Milan, partly because of the historic competition between the two cities and partly because of the strong Lazian flavours. Should you feel like testing the gastronomic waters of the capital this is the right place to do it. Two gently-lit rooms set the stage for a series of robust, aromatic dishes including rigatoni con la pajata (pasta with veal innards), calf's tail, and lamb with artichokes. For the uninitiated, dishes such as spaghetti alla carbonara and bucatini all'amatriciana provide less challenging options. 10, Via Muratori (00 39 02 545 6189)
• Da Giannino, opened by the now retired Abruzzese owners Giannino and Ersilia d'Orazio The new owners, the three Abruzzese siblings Rita, Francesco and Alessandro Calasanzio, are eager to keep on running the restaurant as the founders did. Among the first plates try the most typical maccheroni alla chitarra, a chitarra being a device invented in Abruzzo for cutting fresh pasta dough. 20 , Via Rosolino Pilo ( 00 39 02 2940 6526)
• La Fermata, small, crowded and convivial, it earns frequent praise from both critics and homesick Neapolitans for its accurate and efficient kitchen. Rust-coloured walls and painted ceramic plates make the decor modest while the food is superb. Start with a rollo (rolled pizza cut into slices) before diving into a fish dish such as alici in tortiera (anchovies fried in vinegar) or a stunning calamarata (squid salad). If you have a sweet tooth have a try of the pastiera, a particularly sweet cheese cake, or of the caprese, a sinful mix of chocolate and almonds. 7, Via Procaccini (00 39 02 345 1596)
• La Cuccuma, a renowed restaurant where live music, waiters dressed in sailors' uniforms, fake portholes and a first-rate Neapolitan menu along with agreably low prices will welcome you. We suggest to ask for a table on the tiny decked terrace as the music can get a bit loud inside. The list of appetizers is endless: don't miss the Neapolitan Mozzarelle with slightly salty flavour. Next, opt for a plate of spaghetti alla puttanesca (tomatoes, basil, olives and capers), followed by a superb escalope alla pizzaiola (tomatoes, garlic, capers, oregano) or one of the many deep-pan pizzas, feather-light and hot from the wood oven. 26, Via Pacini (00 39 02 266 4945)
• Merluzzo Felice, one of the best restaurants in Milan, with its 10 tables set against warm orange walls and exposed wooden beams. Its front doors remain locked and guests have to ring to enter and to spend a truly remarkable evening. The food is exceptional: a divine starter of smoked tuna, octopus and gianchetti; an unforgettable spaghetti dish with swordfish, tomatoes and basil; breaded swordfish steak with grated ricotta and blood oranges, and a triumphant finale of local desserts, including creamy cassata. 6 , Via Lazzaro Papi (00 39 02 545 4711)
• Ottimofiore, one of the main points of reference for Sicilian cuisine in Milan in the past 15 years. A help-yourself table of antipasti sets the tone, with fried gianchetti, Sicilan olives, and delicious polpettine of meat, vegetables and garlic. Pasta courses include pasta alla Norma (tomatoes, aubergine and salted ricotta), and notable secondi include a tuna steak with capers, olives, tomatoes and lemon. 26, Via Bramante (00 39 02 3310 1224)
• Osteria la Tagliata, with its white walls hung with Sardinian bric-a-brac, it represents the archetypal trattoria of the old island, when the Costa Smeralda was just a couple of rocks and fish didn't feature in any menus. The starters - especially the salami - are really good, but you really come for the primi and secondi: spaghetti del bandito (sausage, olives, Pecorino cheese and tomatoes); Sardinian ravioli; roast suckling pig; and - more sophisticated - veal with mushrooms, rosemary, green pepper and rocket. 1, Via Ariberto (00 39 02 8940 2461)
• Ristorante Gallura, whose walls are painted in seaside scenes surrounded by fake treasures and plastic rocks. The food, though, is a serious affair, served by sombre Sardinian waiters who patiently explain every dishe. If you like strong flavours, try the hot octopus salad followed by linguine alla gallurese (with clams and fish eggs). Don't miss the gnocchetti Sardi served with tomatoes and sausage. End your meal with a chunk of fresh Pecorino Sardo cheese. 50, Via Vittoria Colonna (00 39 02 462896)
• San Fruttuoso di Camogli, an excellent place to have lunch before an afternoon flight from the Linate airport. The restaurant is unremarkable from an aesthetic point of view but the service is courteous and the food memorable. Meals always start with a slice of freshly baked focaccia with onions, followed by a fine white-fish soup and marinated anchovies. Pasta options include simple trofie al pesto. Tuna fillet on a bed of potato with a pepper, aubergine, tomato and olive sauce, can be surprisingly refined. 3 , Viale Corsica (00 39 02 7611 0558)
• Da Claudio, one of the finest fish shop in Milan, with spectacular crustacea displays around an excellent sushi bar. 16, Via Ponte Vetero
• Cracco-Peck, one of the most persuasive deal-clinching venues is the newly renovated, coolly modern restaurant of Milanese gastronomic empire Peck. In the hands of rising young chef Carlo Cracco, Cracco-Peck offers serious food and wine at affordable prices, among which goat's-milk ravioli with spring onions and Norcia truffles. 4 , Via Victor Hugo (00 39 02 876 774)
• Al Pont de Ferr, one of the best osterie in the Navigli area. Though this area is better known for its nightlife, a concentration of good-value trattorias make it a good lunch option, too: many locals actually prefer its more down-to-earth, arty-crafty daytime vibe. Al Pont de Ferr, by the iron canal-bridge, serves up honest, filling pasta, meat and fish dishes - plus one daily vegetarian option - in a friendly, bottle-filled, taverna setting. 55, Ripa di Poreta Ticinese (00 39 02 8940 6277)
• Pubblicità, one of a new breed of multi-function wine bars offering an ecumenical diet of filled rolls, pizzas, sushi, takeaway deli treats and full sit-down meals. It is well-patronised by the local fashion and design crowd, who get their fill of country pleasures by gazing on the secluded courtyard garden behind the bar. 16, Via Manzoni (00 39 02 784 781)
• Il Luogo di Aimo e Nadia, in the Western suburbs, to sample a range of creative pan-Italian dishes based on exclusively sourced seasonal ingredients such as Piedmontese guinea fowl. 6, Via Montecuccoli (00 39 02 416 886)
• Al Mercato del Pesce, whose setting, in the wasteland of Milan's wholesale food markets, and the kitsch nautical decor may be off-putting, but whose fish and seafood, served in a range of classic pasta dishes or simply grilled as a secondo, are squeaky fresh. Outsized bibs are provided for messy eaters. 54, Via Cesare Lombroso (00 39 02 5519 5540)
• Joia, where vegetarians and non-vegetarians should plan a trip. Chef Pietro Leeman's temple to cordon vert cooking, based on the freshest of seasonal vegetables and pulses. To the cry of 'Death to the nut roast!', Leeman leaps into flamboyant creations such as a 'melting flan' of Toma cheese with endives and roast cardoons; elsewhere, tofu, soya and shitake mushrooms give the Med-veg menu an oriental twist. 18, Via Castaldi (00 39 02 2952 2124)
• Taverna Visconti, an elegant new-style osteria in a cul-de-sac that runs parallel to the furniture mecca of via Durini. Upstairs there is a wine bar and bistro while downstairs you will find the restaurant where owner-chef Nico Carleo scours the Italian regional tradition for dishes such as duck breast in orange with sweet-and-sour spring onions. Some 300 wines are on offer at near-shop prices. 11, Via Marziale (00 39 02 795 821)
• Armani/Nobu, where the Japanese chef Nobuyuki Matsuhisa, better known as Nobu, holds court (by proxy) in the Spazio Armani,serving up the Latin-tinged Nipponese fusion cooking with which affluent punters in LA, New York, Las Vegas, Tokyo and London are already familiar. The decor, all transparent screens and geometric, ochre-red chairs, is suitably airport-like. 1, Via Pisoni (00 39 02 7231 8645)
• Antica Trattoria della Pesa, a traditional, unshowy trattoria that offers a menu that is more oriented towards classical dishes such as risotto alla milanese rather than the nouvelle cuisine concoctions. A favourite with publishers such as Rizzoli and Mondadori, the food is reassuringly expensive. 10, Viale Pasubio (00 39 02 655 5741)
• Da Giacomo, an anonymous looking trattoria that is one of Armani's favourite restaurants. The drab exterior conceals a bright trompe l'oeil interior by the Milanese bourgeoisie's favourite designer Renzo Mongiardino. The cuisine is not extremely pretentious and portions are always abundant. 6, Via P Sottocorno (00 39 02 7602 3313)

Dairies

If your are looking for neighbourhood simplicity and a cool atmosphere head for one of the few surviving latterie, or dairy shops. Originally they only served plain pasta dishes, dressed with butter and cheese, recently they have enriched their menu. Two of the most authentic are:

• Alla vecchia latteria, in Via dell'Unione, run by the Notari family for almost half a century
• Latteria San Marco, in Via San marco

Cafes

• Victoria Café, overcrowded with bankers, brokers and style-obsessed rich kids (fighetti) between the canonical hours of 6pm and 8pm . 1, Via Clerici
• Cafè Marino alla Scala, located on a corner of Piazza della Scala has been recently added to the Trussardi's Palazzo Marino alla Scala.
  It offers 10 daily changing main dishes backed up by a wide range of snacks. The first-floor restaurant, fiefdom of Stefano Garibaldi (formerly of the splendid La Terrazza in via Palestro), is in quite another price range
• Cova, the classic via Monte Napoleone cafè, displaying the local bourgeoisie in all its awful glory. Get there by 4.30 pm to book a table in advance, and make sure it's in the main room rather than in the salon privé behind, where the sightlines are too limited. Ask for a pot of tea, some milk, a plate of pasticcini (tea cakes) and sit back to enjoy the show. Dowagers with hairdos you could land on without a parachute and fake-tanned figli di papà in blue blazers and cravats look through the tourists with a mixture of nonchalance and contempt. Occasional supermodels stray in to binge on Montebianco cream cakes, accompanied by men wearing creative glasses. The service is reassuringly haughty, and prices reassuringly high. 8 , Via Monte Napoleone (00 39 02 7600 0578)
• Sant'Ambroseus, a classic cake-shop and tearoom, offers a soberly elegant d袯r and a faultless service. Its 1930s design reconciles two contradictory Milanese impulses, a sober work ethic and a taste for luxury. Sit in the pink stucco room and sip your cappuccino in company with perfectly coiffed Milanese matrons and creative types fuelling up for a hard day in the atelier. For a real sugar rush, order a small plate of ambrogiotti, dark chocolates filled with zabaglione. Before Christmas, come in to buy a gift-wrapped panettone. 7 , Corso Matteotti (00 39 02 7600 0540)
• Luini, a tiny bakery on a side-street off the Cathedral Square, is one of the few city-centre addresses to offer more than the usual desultory tramezzini (sandwiches). The most typical product is the panzerotto, an Apulian speciality made with pizza dough and filled with tomato and mozzarella or with fresh cheese and spinach. The place gets packed with hungry office workers at lunchtime - so come early or be prepared to assert your rights in the ruck. 16, Via Santa Radegonda (00 39 02 8646 1917)
• Marchesi, located between the Stock Exchange and the offices of the Adelphi publishing house - Milan's financial and cultural poles - it is the opinion-former's favourite breakfast stop. The elegant, mahogany-and-mirrors bar also serves excellent cakes and does a roaring trade on Sunday morning, when coiffed Milanese matriarchs wait imperiously for trays of little paste mignon. It is equally good in the early evening for a Negroni or a Campari soda, served by the inscrutable barmen

The Wine Road: from Milan to Miradolo Terme

Lombardy produces many D.O.C. Wines such as Capriano del Colle, Botticino, Lambrusco mantovano, Tocai di San Martino della Battaglia, Valcalepio, Cellatina, Colli Morenici mantovani, Lugana, Franciacorta, Oltrepò Pavese, Valtellina, San Colombano al Lambro e Riviera del Garda.
The Wine Road itinerary cannot but start from Milan, from where we recommend to take the more characteristic Via Emilia leading to the 12th Century Abbey of Chiaravalle instead of the chaotic Autostrada del Sole towards Bologna.
The countryside begins to regain its rural aspect only after Melegnano. In Sant'Angelo Lodigiano you could also visit the old castle, housing the Museo Lombardo di Storia dell'Agricoltura. Proceeding through Inverno and Monteleone, after a pit stop to the Wine Cellar of the Farmer Giulio Bergonzi, you will reach the Terme di Miradolo with the spa centre still running. Numerous small producers operate in the Commune of Miradolo, the most part organised in the consortium of the "S. Colombano D.O.C.". The great majority of these producers are equipped for tours and tastings.
The two main wine growing zones are located in the province of Brescia: the first occupies the slopes towards the Garda Lake while the second is the famous Franciacorta on the sweet slopes of the 'colline moreniche' facing Brescia and Lago d'Iseo. The name probably refers to the order or 'corti' of monks who cultivated the land and protected the town of Brescia from attack by northern barbarians. For this they were exempt, or 'franche', from paying tax. Others suggest it refers to the short or 'corta' attempt by the French to take the territory in the 13th century.
Whatever the truth, the modern success of the wine is largely due to the techniques of production borrowed from the Champagne region of France. Look out for the wine fair in mid May at Polpenazza del Garda and visitors might also like to pick up a bottle of the equally fine Grappa di Malvasia from Brescia.The Festival of Franciacorta usually takes place on the 3rd week of September and the traditional focal point of the event is the 16th century Villa Lechi di Erbusco, province of Brescia.

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