Mid-range · 12-hour walk · Milan
Milan in a day: the Duomo to the canals
The cathedral roof, the Galleria and La Scala, The Last Supper, the castle, lunch and pictures in Brera, the new city at Porta Nuova and aperitivo on the Navigli.
Milan is a working city and its sights keep office hours, so the day runs on bookings. The Last Supper decides everything — fifteen minutes in a small group, sold out weeks ahead — so book it first and build the rest around the slot; this route assumes one around late morning. Everything is walkable except the Navigli, which is one metro ride at the end and exactly where you want to be at seven.
The route, stop by stop
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Duomo di Milano
Six centuries in the building and still being cleaned. Go up to the roof terraces first thing and walk among the spires with the Madonnina above you; the lift ticket is worth the extra.
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Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II
The glass-roofed arcade of 1877 beside the cathedral. Spin on your heel on the bull in the floor mosaic for luck; everyone does, and the hole proves it.
20 min here Walk here → -
Teatro alla Scala
Through the Galleria to the opera house. The museum ticket lets you look into the auditorium from a box when there is no rehearsal, which is most of the point.
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The Last Supper
Fifteen minutes in a sealed refectory with Leonardo's wall, painted in an experimental technique that began to fail in his lifetime. There is nothing to do here without a booked slot.
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Sforza Castle
The Sforza dukes' fortress, now a cluster of museums. Michelangelo's Rondanini Pietà, the sculpture he was working on days before he died, has a room of its own.
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Brera district
Lunch in the cobbled lanes behind the castle, among the galleries and the old artists' cafés.
60 min here Walk here → -
Pinacoteca di Brera
Mantegna's Dead Christ, foreshortened from the feet, Raphael's Marriage of the Virgin and Caravaggio's Supper at Emmaus, in a palazzo that is still an art school.
75 min here Walk here → -
Porta Nuova
Fifteen minutes north, the new Milan: the raised Piazza Gae Aulenti and the Bosco Verticale towers, with trees growing up their balconies.
30 min here Walk here → -
Navigli
Arrive by metro from the previous stop
One metro ride south to the old canal port for aperitivo: a spritz buys a plate from the bar, and the whole city walks the towpaths after dark.
90 min here Walk here →
More in Milan
Every walking route in Milan, or the full Milan guide for where to stay and what a day costs.