Milan, Italy

July 2019

We ended our Northern Italy trip in Milan – which has this unique aura when you arrive. A historic and trendy city – also labeled one of the four fashion capitals of the world!

Milan is home to The Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II, Duomo di Milano, Spontini, and La Scalla.

The Duomo di Milano is absolutely beautiful in all angles! The amount of detail that went into every aspect of the building is jaw-dropping. To tour the Duomo, you can get your tickets ahead of time online. Make sure to be early! The Duomo is very busy and if you miss your entrance time you may not be able to enter.

If you wanna get a quick bite to eat, or enjoy a summer drink with views of the plaza, the Terrazza Aperol has an outdoor seating area with stunning views.
To get a better appreciation for the architecture you must climb to the roof to see the details of every statue, arch, and pillar. You will quickly realize why it took 600 years to build.

The Duomo is just adjacent to The Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II. There is a lot of high-end luxury store fronts and restaurants. The mall is over 24 hours a day and has a glass rooftop that looks endless. It is also home to a little dancing bull or “torino.” Legend has it if you spin on the bull 3 times on your heel it brings good luck. The Galleria has lots of places to splurge on designer items, window shop, and/or enjoy to have an aperitivo while you people watch.

We also ventured to the world famous Spontini for a slice of pizza! Its only a short walk from the Duomo/Galleria and we couldnt miss it. The place is busy and the slices are big, so we recommend being prepared to eat while you stand and share. If you follow us on Instagram, you know we love to do pizza ratings! This cheese slice literally had the biggest cheese pull we’ve ever seen, and the highest pizza rating we’ve ever had! Check out the Milan highlight to view our ratings 🙂
Milano is also home to La Scala. It is one of the most famous Opera Houses in the world. Italy’s most famous opera singers have performed here. You can schedule a guided tour. We did not take many guided tours during our trip but this one provided a lot of history and context that helped us appreciate what we were seeing.
We can’t remember what this exact gelato place was called, but when you see fresh gelato, you must indulge!

Towards the end of our trip (aka 14 days of pasta later) we were getting pretty homesick for some American food so we had to stop at a McDonalds. Not a hard sell when it overlooks the Duomo during sunset, right? We took the day to reflect on an amazing and successful Northern Italy tour covering 8 cities in 15 days, all of which we completely planned on our own. We were definitely ecstatic to head home the next morning.


We loved all of you, Northern Italy. The sights we’ve seen, the people we’ve met, and the food we’ve tasted has changed us in so many ways. We’re definitely eager to come back for more in the future.

Til next time 🙂

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