Fleur is senior commissioning editor of The Sunday Times Style magazine and the author of A Hedonist’s Guide to Milan (www.hg2.com)
The tasteful brunch: Display your style credentials by taking a Charles and Ray Eames-designed seat (or a Jasper Morrison, or a Giò Ponti – it’s a working exhibition) in the Design Café within Milan’s modern design museum, Triennale (Viale Alemagna 6; 00 39 02 875441, www.triennale.org; brunch £24pp, book ahead). There’s substance, too: the menu is devised by one of Milan’s top chefs, Carlo Cracco.
The secret site: The Cimitero Monumentale (Piazzale Cimitero Monumentale; www.monumentale.net) is a who-was-who of Milanese society – buried here are the Campari family, the poet Quasimodo and the novelist Manzoni. Italian drama meets bourgeois one-upmanship in elaborate mausoleums running a timeline through Italian architectural history.
The destination shop: Beat a retreat from the Quadrilatero d’Oro, Milan’s ‘golden block’ of commercial luxury, and seek (expensive) sanctuary at 10 Corso Como (www.10corsocomo.com), the emporium of Milan’s grande dame of fashion, Carla Sozzani. If you intend to shop till you drop, there’s a sceney bar/cafe and three high-design bedrooms (from £291, B&B).
The go-to gallery: A vestige of Milan’s industrial past, Bicocca Hangar (Via Chiese 2; www.hangarbicocca.it; £7) is a vast former train-engine factory on the city’s northern fringes, and a pitch-black canvas for no-limits contemporary art; Anselm Kiefer’s Seven Heavenly Palaces is on permanent exhibition.
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The laid-back supper: Giant leaves dangling from whitewashed brick walls, spotlights veiled by napkins, forks as candleholders – quirky Pane e Acqua (Via Matteo Bandello 14; 00 39 02 4819 8622, www.paneacqua.com; seven-course menu £47) is the foil to Milan’s showier places. An innovative take on regional cooking – such as ravioli with amaretto, ricotta and ginger – leaves diners raving.
The neighbourhood bar: Leave the tourists to drain their funds at Milan’s hotel bars. Locals head to the unpretentious, atmospheric Cape Town bar in the Navigli area (Via Vigevano 3), where affable owner ‘grande Sergio’ serves expertly made Martinis, and bonhomie to boot.
The people’s party: One of Milan’s lesser-known creative outputs is dance music. Privat Party is a weekly secret club night (Friday) held at various places across town. Track down the latest venue at Myspace.com/privat_party.
The dream sleep: Homely, intimate and sublimely pretty, the Vietnamonamour (00 39 2 7063 4614, www.vietnamonamour.com; doubles from £103, B&B) marries Italian style with the concept of a Hanoi commune. North Vietnamese cuisine is on offer downstairs, and there is a tranquil garden, too.
Act local
Antonio Berardi is a Milan-based fashion designer. ‘To make like a true local, there’s a number of social codes known to all Milanesi. Firstly, brunch is an international import, and the locals will often skip dinner for aperitivo – drinks and nibbles after work (many bars offer free food with drink from 6pm to 9pm). We don’t tip at all. And driving laws are ignored. Italy has only been unified for 150 years – we are used to going by our own rules.’