2024 - Juni - Mailand - Porta Nuova

As beautiful as the Piazza del Duomo (Cathedral Square) in Milan may be, it is far too crowded. Tourists from all over the world crowd around the sights, most of them to have their picture taken in front of them. It is often too much for me.

From the roof of the Duomo you can see another of Milan's attractions: the Porta Nuova business district. It's really worth making a stop there, especially since it's only one stop on the metro from the Centrale train station.

At some point I read the tip to take the elevator up the UniCredit tower. This striking building is not only particularly interesting with its spire, but also the highest in all of Milan. Unfortunately, this was not possible for us, nessun visitatore privato (no private visitors). But we still didn't regret our visit to the Porta Nuova district for a minute.

Of course everything is very modern there, but that's not all. Everything fits together so wonderfully. I felt like I was in one of those science fiction films where you are guided through a clean futuristic city. Yes, there were no flying cars and unfortunately there is no magnetic levitation train, but at least Tesla has a shop here.

You hardly meet any tourists here, just very relaxed-looking business people. They just stroll along, I didn't see anyone rushing. All the shops are also somehow nicer and cleaner and there is nothing lying around anywhere.

And then there is this advertising, again very modern and on large displays. In one place, a house wall, including the windows, was even incorporated into the changing advertisement.

If you have time, you can of course do some shopping here. All the well-known companies are here, from Nike to Levis. And just around the corner, there are wonderful little restaurants.

I could have spent many more hours here, but time was of the essence. What you should definitely see, however, are the Bosco Verticale houses covered in vegetation. They were built in 2014 and now some of the greenery has turned into whole trees.

So if you love modern architecture, you should definitely plan a flying visit; it is not for nothing that the Porta Nuova district received the winning award at the MIPIM real estate fair for the best urban renewal project.