Milan 2008

Milan, it's industrial, its dirty, it's got graffiti eveywhere (and not much of that is nice), very expensive, see the charge for a beer and two wines ?

Well one benefit is that there is a lift up to the roof of the Duomo. And that was a positive comment from an architect!

The challenge was to find something really positive about Milan before actually arriving. However, no one seemed to want to extol the beauty of the city.

After spending three nights and two days exploring the second capital city of Italy (but don't say that to the Milanese - they will feel insulted) I can safely report that:

1. It is an unusually attractive city to tour with unique architecture and an international history that is worth studying
2. It has a user friendly transport infrastructure which is good to use
3. It manifestly is a city of design and people watching is an entertainment in itself.

We stayed in the Hotel Spadari which is so central, we were virtually in the Piazza Duomo. This made for an easy stay. Much of our trail was subsequently on foot. The hotel was very modern and our room, seemingly the most expensive in the hotel, was a roof top apartment with a sunken bed area that one walked down into. It was a great position to look out onto the city from.

Our first two days were very warm, although overcast, but hats were needed when up on the roof of the Duomo.

The Duomo is the worlds largest Gothic cathedral and it is an extraordinarily beautiful building. The interior marble columns are colossal by any standard. The statues on the roof pinnacles are numerous and phenomenal. And yes, there is a lift which delivers you very fast to the top. A real benefit with my pre-operational hip.

Milan can be as expensive as you want it to be. It is worth spending a little on style, but you can take it in long doses at your leisure. Even though it feels like renting space to see and be seen. Well, yes the beer and wine can be expensive, but no more so than a good watering hole in any British city.

So, what does industrial exactly mean ? It conjures up images of factories and goods wagon and heavy transport and a working class environment. If you go to Glasgow, this was one of the UK's greatest industrial cities - but with little evidence of this now. If you go to Lanarkshire - this was one of Scotlands main coal mining and steel counties - with little evidence of this now to the visitor. In Milan you can find no evidence of industry in the city cente an its environs. Milan is a commercial city, not an industral city and it is a working city like London. One suspects that most cities would have had some industry at some time - as London had its incredible East End docklands that generated employment for thousands based upon dynasties of families. This has disappeared completely but the names and sites of this industry still remain. There is none of this obvious to the tourist in Milan, but the banks and businesses are evident. As is the design industry - which is evidenced in the wonderful clothes and expnsive stores. This is not to deny the fact that Milan must have a significant industrial history with evidence of the same social and political development that London and Lanarkshire experienced.

And is it dirty ? No. It has a well worn post colonial feel - and what city does not have some smattering of graffiti ?