Milan - the best places in Milan for hotels, hostels, apartments, b&b, and trade fairs at Fiera Milano. A tourist Travel Guide to visit Milan: maps, Milan metro, trams, airports, the most popular Tripadvisor restaurants, cafes, bars, the Duomo/Cathedral, the castle, Last Supper museum, sights and attractions. We've found the travel info on Milan, so you don't have to. All the resources and links to info - all in one place!
Rings around Milan - ancient walls and modern ring roads around Milan, and the "Circonvallazioni di Milano"
The importance of the fortified city of Milan throughout the ages, owes to its central position on the biggest plain in all of Italy. The relative flatness and its large distance from major rivers has led to a very natural growth in the spread of the city. The 13th century poet and writer of Lombard, Bonvesin da la Riva, remarked on the circular shape that city had developed: "this admirable roundness is a sign of its perfection".
Image 1 Credit: Bonvesin de la Riva in Onalim.it. Image 2 Credit: 1472 map of Medieval Milan in Repertorio di Milano.
In present times, there are at least three rings of roads that surround Milan (and even more that we can consider), and they are often used as a handy way of referring to the location of places in Milan, and for getting a good idea of where certain places are:
Feel free to click and drag around inside this interactive map of all the Ring Roads of Milan. You can also go to the larger original Milanfinally Google Map of the Ring Roads of Milan, ancient walls & modern routes (Circonvallazioni di Milano).
- Ring of National Bypass Motorways ("Tangenziali"). A circle that is yet to be completely joined. (SEE more images and click the following link for a more detailed article on the Ring of National Bypass Motorways around Milan.)
Google Streetview shows ongoing roadworks still in 2015 to upgrade SP 46 (Strada Provinciale) and also SP 33 (the missing links in A52) so that Tangenziale A52 can be complete - then the entire Ring of of National Bypass Motorways around Milan (Tangenziali) will have been joined up. You can also go to the original streetview on Google Maps.
- External Ring Road ("Circonvallazione esterna"), put on paper in Milan's first city plan of 1884, the "Beruto Plan". (SEE more images and click the following link for a more detailed article on it and on transport options for the External Ring Road.)
This 1884 city plan for Milan by a seemingly faceless city Chief Engineer, Cesare Beruto - a plan that has had a great impact on city life and development, and has served Milan well for over a hundred years - show its direct relationship to the External Ring Road "Circonvallazione esterna" that exists to this day.
- Inner Ring Road ("Circonvallazione interna"), the "Cerchia dei Bastioni" of the 16th century Spanish Walls, now marking most of Milan's "Area C" for traffic control. (SEE more images and click the following link for a more detailed article on it and on transport options for the Inner Ring Road.)
The gates in the old Spanish Walls of Milan, with many familiar names of present day districts (See this image in the Italian article on the Gates of Milan in Milanofree.it). The Inner Ring Road now follows the course of this "Circle of Bastions".
- Ring of roads following the Circle of Canals ("Cerchia dei Navigli") along the Medieval Walls that marks the historical centre of Milan ("Centro Storico"). (SEE more images and click the following link to read a more detailed post on it and on transport options for the Cerchia dei Navigli.)
The medieval moats were turned into canals, and those canals of the "Cerchia dei Navigli" disappeared by being filled-in during the 19th century; but the name remained to describe the circle of roads that followed along the path of that Circle of Canals that went around the old Medieval Walls of Milan.
- Lost Path of the Roman Walls of Milan. (SEE more images and click the following link for a more detailed article on it and on transport options for the Lost Path of Milan's Roman Walls.)
Marcus Claudius Marcellus - depicted on the cover of this book by Jeremiah McCall, the only biography of this Roman hero and leader - was the Roman leader and general, elected co-Consul of the Roman Republic, famed for gaining northern Italy for Rome from the population of Celtic Gauls there, including their main settlement at Mediolanum-Milan, and killing his adversary the king of those Gauls with his very own own spear. Despite having taken Mediolanum in 222 BC, the Roman Walls around Milan were not built until some centuries later during the times of Julius Caesar in the mid 1st century AD. SEE more in the article on the Origins and Foundation of the City of Milan.
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Milan's best & biggest shopping centres and shopping malls - some easily reached from the centre of Milan, the big malls outside Milan
Q: Where are the best and biggest shopping centres and shopping malls in Milan that I can get to for indoor shopping? The weather is cold and wet outside. I don't want to go walking outside on any of Milan's many famous shopping streets . If you want to avoid the rain and do a lot of indoor shopping, here are a few suggestions listed in rough order of distance from the centre of Milan (Refer the list below to a Metro map of Milan ): - Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II right at the Piazza del Duomo heart of the city; historic and beautiful with many expensive things. A few steps away is the large upscale department store, La Rinascente ; again lots of precious expensive things here. - Milano Centrale station is a mini shopping city in itself. - There is a small suburban shopping mall next to the Bonola Metro station on the red M1 line northwest of Milan, the Centro Commerciale Bonola . - The Centro Commerciale Piazza Portello is larger (but some of it could be conside
Read MORE & see more images in the whole article »
Milan - tram routes through central downtown
In Milan's Metro system, the most number of lines that overlap and interchange at any one spot is just two - there is no point where many Metro lines converge. A large number of trams, on the other hand, all head towards the downtown area, aiming for the very heart of old Milan's Centro Storico . Tram passing Milan Cathedral at Piazza del Duomo. Image Credit: ATM.it While it is true that Milan Cathedral on the Piazza del Duomo is the very heart of the city, and it is also certainly the case for the tram system of Milan; almost as many trams converge on Piazza Cordusio one stop away just a short distance to the northwest of the Cathedral - and what is more, probably the most important tram for tourists, appropriately denominated Tram 1 in Milan's system, goes through Piazza Cordusio and passes near Milan Cathedral without touching the Piazza del Duomo at all. But as a matter of fact, apart from Tram 1, all trams that pass through Piazza Cordusio, also continue on
City Transport System Network in Milan, and Buying Tickets for the Metro, Trams & Buses
Getting around Milan by public transport - everything you need to know: Bus, Tram and Metro Network of Milan run by ATM Milan's public transportation network is extensive, efficient, frequent and affordable - something which Milanese expect, demand and use in their daily lives. There is hardly any place within the city of Milan, that is not reachable for the tourist by public transport. Milan's Metro system, the trams and city buses are all managed by Milan's public municipal authority for transport, ATM (Azienda Trasporti Milanesi - Milan Transport Corporation) . If you arrive in Milan by bus or train , you will then be looking to use the ATM transport network to get to your hotel. As Malpensa Airport is far at over 40-50 km / 25-30 miles northwest of Milan, transport between that airport and Milan city is not managed by ATM ( see directions for coaches and trains at the official Milano Malpensa website ). Linate Airport is less than 7 km / 5 miles from the
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