Wine & Food Tour
Before beginning a wine and food itinerary in the city of Milan, it is useful to consider how the local culinary landscape has evolved over time.
Today, Milano is ever-increasingly a culinary benchmark, able to welcome and enhance products and traditions from different Italian and international origins.
For this reason, talking about typical or traditional cuisine is a complex undertaking, since the offering stands as an equilibrium between tradition, innovation and international influences.
The starting point, or rather dish, for this discovery of Milan’s culinary excellences is risotto alla milanese, the celebrated risotto made with saffron, considered symbolic of local culinary traditions.
Tradition has it that it originated in the mid 16th century, when some Flemish master glassmakers would use saffron to colour their products. On the occasion of a festival, one of them suggested adding this spice to the risotto, and the results were spectacular, giving rise to the most representative dish in Milanese culinary tradition.
There are many and various other traditional dishes, however. These include gnervitt, prepared with boiled tendons from veal knee or shin dressed with onion, and mondeghili, meatballs made from left-over meat, originally a cheap dish made at home, but now a staple of Milanese aperitifs.
Some of the stand-out secondi piatti, or main courses, include cotoletta alla milanese, a breaded veal chop, and the famous ossobuco, a cut of veal shin with the marrow, cooked in butter and broth.
The culinary itinerary concludes with panettone, the city's symbolic sweet dish, traditionally consumed over the Christmas period up until the feast of Saint Blaise in early February. With numerous variants available, it is one of Milan's true excellences and now has PGI (protected geographical indication) protection.
sport tour
Milan offers numerous opportunities for those who wish to keep in shape and get some fresh air and contact with nature.
Numerous sports and activities take place across the city, making it a destination suitable for a range of pastimes, from fitness to open-air sports.
business tour
Hotel Santa Barbara is on the south-east edge of the Milan metro area, in one of the most significant company towns in Italy.
The Metanopoli business district, brainchild of Enrico Mattei, president of Italian oil company Eni, was designed in 1952 as an innovative urban planning model. It is indeed not just a simple company headquarters, but an area designed with an advanced vision, in a strategic position on the outskirts of Milan.