Duomo di Milano / Milan Cathedral

This day last week I was I was tasting authentic Gelato, basking in 25 degree heat and wandering around Piazza del Duomo in Milan. I was visiting the Italian city as a guest of Ford to attend Salone del Mobile, one of the world’s leading design exhibitions. It was my first time visiting Italy so I was very excited to see Milan and explore the city, even if I only had two days there. I arrived quite early on Monday morning and had most of the day free until 6pm. I was staying in the Westin Palace Milano which is a really beautiful hotel. While I loved the hotel itself I wouldn’t generally recommend it if you’re visiting Milan on holiday as it’s located in the business district so the area is quite corporate, it’s more suited for a business trip. It is however located next to a really nice park so I made sure to go for a little walk while I was there, and get some Italian ice-cream of course. What I loved most about the hotel was the outdoor terrace located on the eighth floor (pictured below). It was such a gorgeous day while I was there so I sat out on the terrace for part of the afternoon enjoying the sunshine and relaxing before the evening events.

Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II

That evening we visited the stunningly beautiful Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II, one of the world’s oldest shopping malls which houses Versace, Prada and many other high-end designers. I was completely blown away by the architecture of this 19th century arcade which is located on Piazza del Duomo, the main ‘square’ of the city. This area is also home to the Milan Cathedral which was equally as breathtaking. We were then treated to a private viewing of a Leonardo Da Vinci exhibition in Palazzo Reale which I also really enjoyed. Later we attended a light installation exhibition which was held outside at dusk. To finish off the evening we dined with Ford at Trussardi Café before visiting the famously luxurious Bulgari hotel for drinks.

Milan is undeniably an expensive city (a Coca-Cola was €10 in my hotel while a salad was €22), but it’s so luxurious you would expect a costly meal. The architecture of Milan is what impressed me most; it’s so beautiful I spent most of the trip looking upwards. I adored the Gothic architecture and charming balconies. For a city that is so luxurious and boast spectacular architecture, I was shocked by the amount of graffiti in the city. Other than the ‘street-art’ scribbles it is a very clean city and the people were very friendly.

The marble staircase of the Westin Palace Milan

Rooftop terrace of my hotel, the Westin Palace Milan

FAVILLA light installation by Ford

Salone del Mobile

My second and sadly final day in Milan was spent at Salone Del Mobile. Ford is one of the first motor companies to partake in Milan’s design exhibition which largely focuses on furniture design. Ahead of the 2016 launch of their much anticipated Ford GT, Ford’s designers showcased their creativity and innovation by producing a number of nonautomotive objects such as a sailboat, a guitar, and a football table. The idea behind their efforts was to showcase the huge amount of innovation and effort that their design teams devotes to developing a new model.

Until next time,

nuala

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