Milan is a great city of art, is the hub of Italian culture, music, media and sports. If you are a music lover, you can’t miss La Scala. If you are a sports fan, no other city can probably boast two soccer powerhouses.

While Milan (Milano) may not be the first city a tourist thinks of when planning a trip to Italy, it has more than its share of attractions, not to mention history. For all its workaholic reputation as the money and business center of Italy, it’s a city with an influential past and a rich cultural heritage. Consider that St. Augustine was baptized in a basilica that stood at what is now Piazza del Duomo; artists Michelangelo and Leonardo da Vinci, the composer Verdi, the great tenor Enrico Caruso, and designer Giorgio Armani all lived and worked here; Toscanini conducted regularly at La Scala; Napoleon was crowned (actually, he crowned himself) inside the Duomo; Mussolini founded the Fascist party here; and the entire fashion world looks to Milan’s catwalks twice a year for the season’s fashions. All this history, not to mention the considerable wealth generated by its favored commercial position, has left Milan with an abundance of art, cultural, and architectural treasures for you to enjoy.