For our final country on our extended backpacking trip, we picked Italy, a destination that has been at the top of my dream travel list for many years. When we left the US a couple months earlier, we actually didn’t know if we would be able to make it to Italy. We decided to play it by ear and see how the budget and our energy levels were. Well, we ended up being able to tack on this last country, and we were so glad that we did! Some of our best memories from the trip happened in Italy.
We started just across the Swiss-Italian border in the Lombardy region. Our first city was Milan! Milan is a key player in the world of fashion and design, but it is also home to amazing architecture, culture, and history. We had about two days in this city, and we packed in the activities and the Italian food!
{Side Note – You may or may not have noticed that I’ve started putting maps I’ve created at the bottom of my travel posts to show our stops during our stay. I’m hoping this can be useful to someone planning a trip. You can download the map or even just look at it to get a sense for where the places I mention are located.}
First Evening
When we first arrived we stopped for photos outside of the Duomo di Milano, a gorgeous gothic cathedral in the heart of the city. I will share more (and better!) photos of the cathedral in a bit.
Where We Stayed
We were lucky enough to be able to stay right by the cathedral in the stunning Park Hyatt Milan. We got two free nights in this five-star luxury hotel with our award nights from our Hyatt credit card.
Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II
The main entrance to the hotel opens up right near the fanciest shopping mall I have ever seen, the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II.
We had a lovely evening of window shopping, people watching, and enjoying our first Italian pizza and gelato!
Day 2
On our way to breakfast, we stopped to take some morning shots of the Duomo.
Princi Cafe
For our first morning in Italy, we knew we wanted to have pastries and coffee for breakfast. We found the perfect place, a cute cafe a little off-the-beaten-path called Princi Cafe. We enjoyed our pastries and cappuccinos while planning out our day. We had a lot to pack in!
Accademia di Belle Arti di Brera
Next we wandered the city a bit and headed in the direction of the Milan Academy of Fine Arts to see their beautiful library and explore their grounds which are open to the public.
We can never resist a beautiful library when traveling to a city that has one! Just look at the photos below.
Right on the grounds of the academy is the Orto Botanico di Brera, the university’s botanical gardens. We walked around looking at the all the beautiful plants for a bit.
Window Shopping
As Milan is a world fashion capital, you have to do at least a little window shopping while there. We don’t do much shopping when traveling, but we peeked into a few shops. On the cute street shown below, they had symbols for each shop hanging in the air above the street, which I thought was pretty unique.
Risoelatte
For lunch that day we wanted pasta! We picked Risoelatte which prides itself on being an “Old Italian” cafe, one of very few that still exist. I thought their story was neat, so I’m showing a photo of the story from a sign outside the restaurant if you are interested in reading.
The inside of the restaurant looks like a kitchen you would find in a traditional Italian home. It was so cute!
We had pasta and espresso and enjoyed every moment.
Da Vinci’s The Last Supper
Our last big event of the day was paying a visit to the famous The Last Supper masterpiece by Leonardo Da Vinci. We originally didn’t think we’d be able to do this since we hadn’t booked tickets in advance, but it just so happened that a time slot opened up the day before, so we snagged it! If you are planning a trip to Milan, book your tickets in advance at http://www.milan-museum.com/leonardo-last-supper-cenacolo.php because last-minute tickets are typically hard to get.
We are so glad we were able to see this wonderful fresco in person. This masterpiece, painted in the late 15th-century, has shaped the image of the beautiful scene of the real Last Supper in my mind and in the minds of many. To see something like this in person, in the actual dining hall where Da Vinci once spent hours working, was an experience I will never forget.
Unfortunately, Da Vinci tried a new painting technique on The Last Supper which has caused the painting to flake and decay. It has been restored a few times, but the restorations have primarily damaged the original painting even more.
On the other side of the hall sits another beautiful painting, The Crucifixion by Giovanni Donato da Montorfano. Da Vinci added some figures to this painting as well, but he used the same technique as he used on The Last Supper, so his added figures have mostly deteriorated by now. In the second photo below, look at the bottom left where you can see some of the deterioration of the mural.
Wandering the City
We ended the day wandering the city. It was a great way to cap off our last evening in Milan!
We strolled through an Italian market to pick up a few things for dinner.
Final Morning
Duomo di Milano
The next morning we got tickets to tour the inside of the Duomo and to go to the rooftop terraces. My jaw nearly dropped when we entered. I could not believe the beauty and the detail of the architecture and stained glass inside of the cathedral!
Our ticket also gave us admission into the Crypt of St. Charles, a former Archbishop of Milan, as well as the archeological area underneath, both of which were very interesting and worth the extra fee.
The rooftop terraces were also a great experience. You can get a great view of Milan up there, and there are even more architectural treasures to see on the rooftop.
We were unfortunately in a bit of a hurry and had to rush back down to catch our train out of town. But all was well because we were headed for peace and quiet in paradise – Lake Como!
Our time in Italy was part of a 2.5 month trip across Western Europe. Click here to check out all of my posts from this adventure!
This article is now available as a mobile app. Go to GPSmyCity to download the app for GPS-assisted travel directions to the attractions featured in this article.
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{Thanks for reading! Want to know a little more about me? I’m a CPA learning how to balance a career with frequent travel while planting roots at home in Austin, TX. When I’m not exploring my home city with my husband Daniel or cuddling with our chubby orange cat Banana, I’m probably planning, packing, traveling to, or daydreaming about our next adventure. After all, my travel mug collection is never complete. If you have wanderlust too, be sure to follow me on Instagram, Pinterest, Snapchat (emilya89), or subscribe to my blog!}