Between Porta Garibaldi and Porta Nuova, Milan projects a compact version of Manhattan: César Pelli's spiralling tower, Herzog & de Meuron's contemporary greenhouse, and Stefano Boeri's planted apartment blocks rise above the Biblioteca degli Alberi. Corso Como leads naturally toward Isola's bars, restaurants and independent stores, while Cimitero Monumentale and Chinatown add very different character to the west.
This is one of Milan's most dramatic contrasts. Shiny piazzas, new towers and a park inspired by botanical gardens occupy the former industrial edge of Porta Nuova; north of the tracks, Isola keeps its working-class roots, small bookshops, street art and lively subcultures. Chinatown is unmistakable around Via Paolo Sarpi, where noodle counters and karaoke clubs bring a different rhythm to the city.
For Cimitero Monumentale or the evening venues along Corso Como, use Garibaldi station on the M2 green line or M5 lilac line. Stay on the M5 for Isola, with stations at Isola and Zara. The metro is the simplest way to combine the cemetery, Porta Nuova and the neighbourhood north of the tracks.
Trams 12 and 14 are useful for Chinatown and cross its main street, Via Paolo Sarpi. Trams 2, 4 and 33 make the cemetery convenient; tram 33 also carries on toward Isola.
| Interest | Place |
|---|---|
| Monumental cemetery | Cimitero Monumentale |
| Planted architecture | Bosco Verticale |
| Italian-Chinese dumplings | La Ravioleria Sarpi |
| Wine bar | Cantine Isola |
| Italian food emporium | Eataly |
Behind its arresting black-and-white Renaissance-revival entrance, Milan's prosperous families turned remembrance into a display of lasting ambition. Since 1866, grand tombs and sculptures have made this cemetery a place where nineteenth-century erotic allegories of death give way to remarkable abstract work by mid-century artists.
Carlo Maciachini, an architect who taught himself the profession, won the competition to gather Milan's many small, scattered burial grounds into one monumental cemetery. Later expansions brought the grounds to about 250,000 sq metres. The plan is divided into three broad zones: Catholic graves occupy the middle, people of Jewish descent rest on the right, and non-Catholic sections lie to the left in smaller enclosures.
Walking here is an open-air survey of Milanese art. Family chapels and flamboyant memorials honour celebrated citizens through work by Adolfo Wildt, Gio Ponti and Lucio Fontana. The styles move from the eclectic taste of the late 19th century to the Art Nouveau language of the early 20th century and onward through the last 150 years.
Enter through the Famedio, or Temple of Fame. It was conceived as a church but now serves as a sepulchre for notable Milanese. Directly below the starry lapis-lazuli dome lies the sarcophagus of novelist Alessandro Manzoni; the crypt below contains the remains of Milanese artist Francesco Hayez and footballer Giuseppe Meazza. On the main avenue, Studio BBPR created a severe steel-and-marble memorial to the city's victims of WWII concentration camps. At the necropolis's centre, the tall white Bernocchi monument takes its cue from the Tower of Babylon. To the far left after entering, Davide Campari's tomb is marked by a huge bronze interpretation of Leonardo da Vinci's The Last Supper.
The Doric temple contains the crematorium, now closed, that opened in 1876 as Italy's first. Its purpose was to relieve pressure from the cemetery's constant growth, an idea made possible by the scientific outlook emerging during the 19th century. The neoclassical building looks back to the ancient world, when cremation was customary, and its alcoves still hold the earliest 19th-century urns.
Porta Nuova gathers families and couples around its polished piazza and lyrical public park, offering a confident snapshot of modern Milan. North of the railway, Isola feels more grounded and independent. Its name means island, and its character is similarly self-contained: bookshops, street art, alternative scenes and the persistent energy of artists, activists and students fill the old working-class streets.
| Start | Finish | Distance and time |
|---|---|---|
| Via Carlo de Cristoforis | Via Pollaiuolo | 2.1km; 1½ hours |
The twin towers of Bosco Verticale are impossible to overlook among Porta Nuova's steel and glass. Stefano Boeri designed the high-rise homes to carry around 800 trees together with 20,000 shrubs and other plants. Their combined greenery is compared with 30,000 sq metres of forest and undergrowth - approximately the area of two Piazzas del Duomo.
The planting is more than decoration. It produces large quantities of oxygen and absorbs CO₂, while the vegetation forms a curtain that helps regulate indoor temperatures and noise. Birds and insects gain habitat, and residents say that the changing foliage makes them feel more connected to nature and the seasons.
Boeri has described Italo Calvino's *Baron in the Trees* (1957) as a childhood spark for the scheme. The project was the first of its kind, and its success led Boeri to carry the idea to China, Switzerland and the Netherlands. It has since become an award-winning model for a different kind of urban home.
Where Piazza del Duomo evokes Milan's long history, Piazza Gae Aulenti points toward its next chapter. Named after Italy's best-known female architect, the raised square was the key piece in the Porta Nuova regeneration project, which replaced an abandoned industrial area in the north of the city with a new urban district. Six metres above street level, it curves around a large reflecting pool and a ring of contemporary buildings: César Pelli's UniCredit Tower and Michele de Lucchi's podlike pavilion. Across the Biblioteca degli Alberi, Bosco Verticale supplies a lush backdrop to this park-like setting inspired by botanical gardens.
During the day, locals come to look around and browse shops including the Feltrinelli bookstore. Listen for the soundscape produced by the brass pipes in Alberto Garutti's Egg installation. After dark, the fountains are illuminated and the LED Trees glow using solar energy.
The district map uses letter-and-number squares. The key below keeps the map references attached to every place listed in the walks, experiences and listings.
| Category | No. | Place | Map square |
|---|---|---|---|
| Top experience | - | Cimitero Monumentale | A3 |
| Experiences | 1 | Bosco Verticale | D2 |
| Experiences | 2 | Piazza Gae Aulenti | C3 |
| Eating | 3 | Berberè | D2 |
| Eating | 4 | Antica Trattoria della Pesa | B4 |
| Eating | 5 | Da Martino | B3 |
| Eating | 6 | Ratanà | D3 |
| Eating | 7 | Ristorante Berton | D4 |
| Eating | 8 | La Ravioleria Sarpi | A4 |
| Eating | 9 | Porcobrado | C2 |
| Eating | 10 | Artico Gelateria | C1 |
| Eating | 11 | Casa Ramen | C2 |
| Drinking | 12 | Cantine Isola | A4 |
| Drinking | 13 | Botanical Club | C2 |
| Drinking | 14 | Frida | C2 |
| Drinking | 15 | oTTo | A4 |
| Drinking | 16 | Ceresio 7 | B3 |
| Drinking | 17 | Blue Note | C1 |
| Drinking | 18 | Tempio del Futuro Perduto | A2 |
| Shopping | 19 | Emil | A4 |
| Shopping | 20 | 10 Corso Como | C4 |
| Shopping | 21 | Eral 55 | C4 |
| Shopping | 22 | Eataly | C4 |
| Shopping | 23 | Zaini | C3 |
Use the price marks as a quick guide: € means budget, €€ is midrange and €€€ indicates the top end. The hours are the published patterns for these places, so check before making a dedicated journey.