Milano. Business capital of Italy and European city par excellence, Milan is not just a center of economic power but also a city of secret charms, filled with places and precious relics testifying to its past. Discover the elegance of the city of fashion, the prestige of the city of commerce, the splendor of its hidden face, the value of its monuments and the glory of its past, as well as the glimpses that it offers of the future.

The Cathedral. Founded in 1366 on the site where the old church of Santa Maria Maggiore used to stand, the monumental cathedral of Milan is one of the very few examples of flamboyant Gothic architecture in Italy. The choice to use the models of Northern European Gothic was made by Duke Gian Galeazzo Visconti (1351-1402) who, in his desire to vie with the cathedrals of France and Germany, revealed his political links with the European powers and his ambition to make Milan the capital of a large central and northern Italian state. This explains the use of marble instead of brick and the summoning to Milan of a large number of foreign craftsmen from France, Flanders, the German countries, and various regions of Italy. However, the forms of High Gothic were interpreted on the basis of the local tradition, as can be seen from the use of sloping aisles, the great breadth of the plan, and the low vaults.

Leonardo da Vinci's last supper. On the rear wall of the refectory of the former Dominican monastery annexed to the church of Santa Maria delle Grazie is set Leonardo da Vinci's celebrated Last Supper. The work, painted by the artist between 1495 and 1497 to a commission from Ludovico il Moro, has deteriorated rapidly over the course of the centuries, partly as a consequence of the experimental technique he used, tempera on a double layer of plaster. Various attempts at restoration have been made since the eighteenth century, concluding with the one that commenced in 1995 and has recently been completed. The moment represented in the fresco is the one immediately after Christ's declaration to the apostles: "One of you shall betray me." The room in which the scene is set is represented according to the principles of linear perspective: the artist has defined the depth of the space by making the lines converge on a single vanishing point. These lines are formed by the sides of the table, the embroidery of the tablecloth, the panels of the coffered ceiling and, above all, the upper border of the tapestries hanging on the walls. While this realistic handling of space has well-known precedents in Florentine art, Leonardo's interpretation of the story from the Gospels is a profound innovation. Breaking with the tradition of lining up the guests at the Last Supper symmetrically on either side of Christ, the painter has rendered the scene more fluid by arranging the figures of the apostles in small groups: extremely varied in their attitudes and expressions, they create a suggestive effect of psychological mutability. Amidst all this agitation, the figure of Christ conveys an impression of noble calm: his arms - spread in a sign of self-sacrifice - at once isolate him and bring him close to his disciples. The illumination from behind produces a singular effect of back lighting which, by softening the lines of the Savior's head, appears to hint at his divinity.

The Pinacoteca di Brera. Opened in 1803, the Picture Gallery was linked to the Accademia di Belle Arti in its early years and housed works taken from churches that had been suppressed in Lombardy and other departments of the kingdom of Italy, or acquired by decree of the viceroy Eugène de Beauharnais: among the latter were Raphael's famous Marriage of the Virgin. The first, rapid increases in the size of the collections were largely due to the efforts of Andrea Appiani, Napoleon's official portrait painter and commissioner for Fine Arts, who was given the job of finding works of art to be acquired and of examining them. On August 15, 1809, Appiani inaugurated "his" Pinacoteca di Brera: its premises had been expanded and new masterpieces had been added to the collection, including the splendid Preaching of Saint Mark, painted by Gentile and Giovanni Bellini, and the so-called Sforza Altarpiece. Over the following years, Appiani brought to Milan Tintoretto's extraordinary canvas The Discovery of Saint Mark's Body and the work that is still considered the finest painting in the gallery, the so-called Brera Madonna by Piero della Francesca. Later, new bequests and important acquisitions enriched the collection with major works, such as Andrea Mantegna's Dead Christ and Three Mourners and the Madonna del Roseto by Leonardo's follower Bernardino Luini. In 1882 the Pinacoteca - now an institution of national significance - was separated from the Accademia di Belle Arti, commencing its existence as an independent entity under the direction of Giuseppe Bertini.

Sant Ambrogio. This basilica, built by Ambrose, the first bishop of Milan and later dedicated to him, has been altered many times over the centuries, finally assuming the splendid Romanesque appearance it still has today. The great innovation of this church was the use of groin vaults with protruding ribs in the naves and aisles, which gives the structure a particular force and dynamic tension. On the outside the basilica is characterized by its façade which, unusually, is made up of two tiers of imposing arches. On the lower level, these form the fourth side of the great quadriporticus in front of the church. Any analysis of the architectural structure of Sant'Ambrogio cannot leave out of consideration its sculptural decoration, although this in many ways plays a subordinate role and follows the various phases in the basilica's construction. The oldest capitals, for example, are located in the nave and aisles. The next oldest are those of the narthex and atrium, with a progressively more complex and refined decoration that adds representations of animals and human figures to the original plant and geometric motifs. The variety of plaitwork patterns applied to the capitals, the arched lintels, the doorways and the large arches of the narthex is surprising, testifying to the vitality of the early medieval decorative repertory in the Romanesque period. The basilica also houses objects of great value, such as the Carolingian Golden Altar and the Ottonian Ciborium on the high altar.

Galleria Vittorio Emanuele. The gallery in Milan, model for all the others that were later to be built in Italy, was constructed between 1865 and 1877 to a design by Giuseppe Mengoni. In the architect's initial plans it was part of a more ambitious scheme that included the restructuring of the cathedral square. These intentions were never carried out, but the construction of the gallery did entail enlargement of Piazza del Duomo and the alignment of two of its sides with the cathedral's façades, as well as the reconstruction and regularization of Piazza della Scala. Built by a British contractor, the City of Milan Improvement Company, it has a cruciform plan, with the arms roofed by tunnel vaults of iron and glass. Their intersection forms an octagonal area, topped by a dome made of the same materials. The structure of the walls, on the other hand, makes use of Renaissance motifs in stucco and mock stone, while the portals that provide access to the arcade take the form of triumphal arches, contributing to the grandeur and magnificence of the construction.