Attractions

Festivals & Markets

Though it's overshadowed by the goings-on in Venice, Milan's pre-Lenten Carnevale is becoming increasingly popular, with costumed parades and an easygoing good time, much of it focusing around Piazza del Duomo beginning a week or so before Ash Wednesday. Milan's biggest holiday, however, is December 7, the feast of its patron saint, Sant'Ambrogio (St. Ambrose). Those who don't leave the city for their sacrosanct day off generally spend the afternoon wrapping their mittens around a hot vin brule at an outdoor fair in, you guessed it, Piazza Sant'Ambrogio. Just before the city shuts down in August, the city council stages a series of June and July dance, theater, and music events in theaters and open-air venues around the city; call tel. 02-7740-4343 for more information. In a city as well dressed as Milan, it only stands to reason that some great-looking cast-offs are bound to turn up at street markets. Milan's largest street market is the one held on Via Papiniano in the Ticinese/Navigli district (Metro: Sant'Agostino) on Tuesday mornings from 8am to 1pm and on Saturday from 9am to 7:30pm; some stalls sell designer seconds as well as barely used high-fashion ware, though most offer basic staples like underwear and belts, usually cheaper than in department stores. There's an antiques market on Via Fiori Chiari in the Brera district (Metro: Moscova) the third Saturday of each month, from 9am to about 7:30pm, but not in August, and another the last Sunday of each month on the quays along the Canale Grande in the Navigli district, from 9am to about 7:30pm (tel. 02-8940-9971; Metro: Porta Genova). Each Sunday morning, there's a large flea market, with everything from books to clothing to appliances, at the San Donato Metro stop. The city's largest food market is at Piazza Wagner, just outside the city center due west of the church of Santa Maria delle Grazie (follow Corso Magenta and its extension, Corso Vercelli, to Piazza Piemonte; the market is 1 block north; Metro: Piazza Wagner). It's held Monday through Saturday from 8am to 1pm and Tuesday through Saturday from 4 to 7:30pm; the displays of mouthwatering foodstuffs fill an indoor market space and stalls that surround it.