Milan ideas

[gary payne]

<p>We are visiting Milan next week, followed by Lake Como, Lake Garda, Venice, and several smaller towns in the Lakes Region. I will have my NIKON D700, 24-70 and 14-24 lens, and while photography is important, it's secondary to getting a feel and appreciation for the area. We have an extra day in Milan, and and I'm looking for ideas, other than the city center attractions, to fill that time. I would appreciate any ideas from those who either live there, or have traveled there. Otherwise, I'll be forced to wile away the time eating great Italian food and drinking the wine. </p>

[andylynn]

<p>Several hundred years ago the Milanese were a very wealthy military power and brought in Europe's best artists - there are churches with fantastic sculpture and painting all over. And check out Santa Maria Presso San Satiro - they didn't have enough room to build a whole church because it's "pressed" against San Satiro so they faked the choir with a perspective trick.</p>

[bonsignore_ezio]

<p>Shall I take your post to mean that you have but a single week to go through all of that - Milan etc. etc. to Venice? If so, you are facing quite a number of difficult choice. Also, you don't say whether you traveling by train/bus or by car, which makes quite some difference. Anyway, as an Italian who knows that area pretty well I'll suggest the following:<br>

- In Milan, don't miss the Castello Sforzesco and the Convento di Santa Maria alle Grazie with Leonardo's Last Supper fresco.<br>

- You can safely limit your visit to Lake Como to the lower part - Como itself, Menaggio, Bellagio, Lecco. This is relatively easy to do by car, but it would become complicated with public transport unless you can book some form of tour at an agency.<br>

- Moving east, the ancient part of Bergamo (Bergamo Alta) is certainly worth at last a few hours' stop.<br>

- You absolutely MUST take entire tour of Lake Garda, with the Gardesana Occidentale road (western side) up to Riva and then down with the Gardesana Orientale (eastern side). Stop in Gardone on the western side to visit the Vittoriale (the villa of poet Gabriele d' Annunzio). In Malcesine on the eastern side there is an excellent cablecar with rotating cabs (!) that will bring you 1200m higher on Monte Baldo for an absolutely stunning view of the Lake. This will take most of a day, arriving in Verona in the evening in time for a stroll + ice cream on the "Liston" (Piazza Bra) with a view on the Roman Arena and a nice dinner in nearby Piazza delle Erbe.<br>

- If you have time to spare, the nearby town - Padova, Vicenza, Mantova - all have much to offer in terms of art, history and flavour. In Padova, you might wish to see Giotto's masterpiece frescos in the Cappella degli Scrovegni - possibly the single highest piece of medioeval painting (you must book in advance).<br>

- Moving to Venice, you basically have two choices: by train, or by bus or car. The train has the advantage that the station looks like any other station inside, but it faces directly on the Canal Grande, so that you go through the door and WOW. By contrast you need to leave your car (or the bus will leave you) at an extremely expensive and ugly giant parking spot on an artificial island, and take the small line boat (vaporetto) from there. This however will approach Venice from the "wrong" (less beatiful) side.<br>

If you have a car, by far the best option is to drive to a small place on the mainland called Fusina, park the car there (free of charge) and take the vaporetto to Venice. This will approach San Marco from the Canale della Giudecca, which was the historical main way to approach Venice until the railway bridge was built in 1842. </p>