Trip to Milan. Italy, December 2005.

The bus from the airport Malpensa (5 euros single to city centre) drew into the concourse of Stazione Centrale, Milan as lunch-time approached. Off I jumped, and pretending to know where I was going, wandered round to the front entrance. This was truly the biggest rail terminus I have ever seen. From the outside it looks like an enormous Greek temple. Surely the Milanese wanted to make a very big statement about Italian civic pride when they built this monstrosity. Or was it more a case of the incumbent fascist regime of the time making their point? Dodging the taxis, I walked into the main lobby, littered with biggleteria (ticket) offices, to be faced with two enormous flights of stairs ascending beneath a cavernous ceiling to platform level. I have to deposit my bag so I can go find an auberge for the night, but wandered for a good twenty minutes via several enquiries, including a carabinieri, before finding the elusive left luggage store.

The gentleman behind the counter at the tourist office armed me with a list of local accommodations, and off I went into the district immediately to the east of the station. I had to buy an umbrella for four euros, mind, as a persistent and misty rain had set in that was to last all day. The Alberge Italia on the Via Vitruvio, 33 euros a night, was in my budget but failed to meet minimum desirability requirements! It was certainly warm, but this couldn’t make up for a crummy atmosphere, a dingy room and threadbare décor. I checked out a few other establishments before settling for the Hotel Paradisio, a work in progress (builders on site making lots of noise with drills), but with very nice rooms that would be dead quiet before 8am. 50 euros per night for a double ensuite; As I was staying for 3 nights I got 45 euros per night. The bonus was a situation overlooking an elegant square lined with mature nineteenth century apartments.

The weather turned from rain to snow overnight, and the atmosphere was to remain cold for the rest of the weekend. At no time did I shed my jumper, scarf and warm fleece whilst outside. But this is northern Italy, within sight of the Alps. I woke the next morning to find two or three inches of snow decking the square, made more evocative by the open-air market covering the whole area. As the three inches of white stuff turned into slush from the early morning bargain shoppers I reconnoitred the square looking for some fruit for lunch. This was no problem as almost every other stall was laden with local produce, mountains of healthy looking fruit and vegetables to choose from, revelling in their outdoor refrigerator. Thrown in amongst the fare were picture stalls, sellers of jewellery, watches and every type of household electrical item, butchers with sides of meat hanging invitingly before the punters, and the usual splash of colours from the clothes displays. All the produce had spilled into side streets, so if you managed to resist the delights of the main square, a stall laden avenue would remind you that you still might like to buy something else.

Milan, capital of Lombardy, is all chic North Italian style, economic powerhouse, commercial and fashion centre and the home of those stallions of soccer, AC Milan and Inter Milan. Yet it has a chequered history. It was founded by the Romans in AD 222, and became an important trading centre. In AD 313 the Emperor Constantine declared the edict here in which Christianity was recognised and became the official religion of the Roman Empire.

As with any other big city, the best way to see it is to get a map, and just walk. Aim for the centre, as I did from my lodgings to the north east, and a mile or two takes you to the Piazza Scala, fronted by the Teatro Alla Scala, epicentre of world opera, where you can soak in the costumes and drama of decades of musical excellence at the adjoining museum, the Museo Teatrale Alla Scala. Across the square you hit the tailcoat of the Galleria Vittorio Emmanuel 11, a truly magnificent glass and steel ribbed 1878 arcade that eclipses any equivalent structure in the UK, for we are witnessing true Italian style and design pizazz. Designed in a cross shape, it has a long stretch through to the Piazza del Duomo at its southern end, one of the busiest squares in Europe, and two spurs meeting up under a magnificent translucent roof way up high. Walk through the Galleria, lined with a fabulous bookshop (even in Italian, books have a great allure, you can always look at the ones with the pictures!), exquisite fashion shops, and of course, the ubiquitous McDonalds, and promenade with locals.

Take a walk east from the north edge of the square down the Corso Vittorio Emanuele 11 and you hit the epicentre of the fashion universe; stroll up the Via Montenapoleone, with its spurs to the right, and observe all the famous brand names and their sophisticated boutiques: Armani, Versace, Valentino and Gucci. Just take a fat wallet if you want to make a purchase!

The Piazza del Duomo is home to one of the largest Gothic churches in the world, in fact Europe’s largest Gothic cathedral, the recently cleaned Duomo, a giant many-pronged wedding cake of a church, with countless spires poking up to the heavens from around its rim. The interior is richly decorated in the fashion of large continental catholic churches, with lots of colourful stained glass and ornamentation. Confession boxes act as sentries down both sides of the main aisle. If you fancy a walk on the ramparts, you can climb the steps from an entrance on the outside of the building (salida a piedi!). At the top you can negotiate the topside of the building and take a final staircase to the nape of the roof. Here you can almost! look at the views through 360”. To the north are the Alps, clearly covered with snow. Out to the west you can see the San Siro, a huge grey shape in the distance, looking for all the world like a giant UFO with its enormous superstructure splaying up from ground level.

Milan has a comprehensive network of trams, buses and of course the metro, a bigger system even than that of Rome. One euro will get you into town on the red line; if you want to journey on by bus or tram, the ticket is interchangeable for 75 minutes. The metro station near my hotel even had an Internet café if you want to check your email. You can take a train out of town to somewhere like Lake Como, only an hour away from Stazione Nord, but to be quite honest, there is enough to see in four days by staying in the city.

Take a trip to the Musei del castello Sforzesco, several museums in one in this great old palace hugging the Parco Sempione on the west side of the city centre; there are museums of decorative arts, prehistory, ancient Egypt, furniture, art galleries, and photographic and print archives. A good afternoon can be spent quite easily browsing around the extensive displays, ranging from exhibitions of furniture through the ages, to a substantial array of prehistoric mummies.

Finding somewhere to eat is no problem as you would expect in a cosmopolitan metropolis such as Milan. This is not a gourmet's guide to the city but if you just want to refuel, apart from the ubiquitous McDonalds and Burger Kings, you can frequent the Autogrill Spa – Spizzico fast food chain that pops up literally everywhere in the city. Here you get your pizza, fries, meat balls, and café lattes Italian style; you just have to get used to the method of purchase. First you order what you want, get a ticket, and go to another counter to collect your purchase. It’s a bit confusing when you have to fight your way through a multi franchise outlet with five or six different counters at midday with crowds of Italians all struggling to grab a bite, but you soon pick up the idea.

Open-air markets are a highlight of Milan at this time of year; a huge one threaded through the streets of the centre on the Monday afternoon I left, with some fabulous buys. What a variety of products on display! Lots of black folk were running African art stalls with icons, masks, wooden images of every shade and colour; fantastic paintings displayed all along the quaint alleys and side-streets hugging the centre of the city, often in superb colour. I particularly liked the brazen colours of Milan tram scenes in rain, snow and sun – absolutely wonderful. Christmas appears to be celebrated here just as keenly as anywhere else in Europe; in fact a whole themed area was a jumble of mulled wine, winter fare and jolly stall keepers in aprons trying to sell you the delights of the season.

Strictly for the football officianados, take a trip on the metro out to the San Siro, the Stadio Giuseppe Meazza, that cathedral of soccer that is home to both Inter and AC Milan. It lies west of the city centre within walking distance of the red line (nearest station Lotto, on the Piazza Lotto). A hike along slush covered roads, past the hippodrome, brought me in sight of the monstrosity, a vast concrete and steel behemoth surrounded by an acre of car park and a multi tracked open-air tram terminus. The stadium itself from the outside appears to have ‘feet’ like enormous hydraulic springs that are spaced around the circumference. The concrete superstructure splays out at the top, with giant red steel frames adorning the roof. Originally inaugurated in 1926, it has been renovated in both 1955 and 1990 and has a capacity of 85700, making it one of the largest European stadiums.

Official Name: Stadio Giuseppe Meazza
Inauguration: 19 September 1926
First match: AC Milan-Inter 3-6
Renovations: 1955 & 1990
Capacity: 85,700 seats
VIP seats: 5,200 seats
Press seats: 200 seats
Turnstiles: 51
Pitch dimensions: 105*68m
Floodlights: 3,600 lux
Address: Via Piccolomini 5, 20151 Milan (view map