An icon of 1930s art deco in the heart of Milan. Villa Necchi was built by Pietro Portaluppi for the Necchi Campiglio family, which belonged to the Lombard industrial bourgeoisie. 

For paper lovers! One of my fav place in the city is this little cozy place, just 35 square meters all covered by magazines. Basically, you are in heaven. As they say: “Reading Room wants to be a meeting place for fans, collectors, professionals and all those who, intrigued, decide to come in to browse a magazine. A space in Milan dedicated to the dissemination, understanding and appreciation of magazines.”  There you can find magazines about: photography, art, fashion, design, music; more than 200 international titles carefully selected. Reading Room stems from the desire to give voice and visibility to a phenomenon that in recent years, through visionary editorial projects, is redefining the publishing system and the sense of the printed paper at the time of the internet. Plus, they also organize events as project laughing events and talks. https://www.instagram.com/byreadingroom/

Gió Marconi gallery started in 1990 under the initiative of Gió Marconi who created the Studio Marconi 17, an experimental space for young artists and art critics that he ran from 1986 to 1990. At the beginning, the new gallery was directed by Gió and his father Giorgio, who had founded the Studio Marconi (1965-1992); now, Gió Marconi gallery mainly focuses on contemporary positions while it also continues to include historical artists of the Studio Marconi into its programme. Gió Marconi is interested in the works of the European and international avant-garde, showing artists such as Franz Ackermann, Trisha Baga, John Bock, Kerstin Brätsch, Matthew Brannon, André Butzer, Alex Da Corte, Nathalie Djurberg & Hans Berg, Simon Fujiwara, Wade Guyton, Allison Katz, Annette Kelm, Sharon Lockhart, Michel Majerus, Oliver Osborne, Jorge Pardo, Tobias Rehberger, Markus Schinwald, Dasha Shishkin, Catherine Sullivan, Grazia Toderi, Fredrik Vaerslev, Atelier Van Lieshout, Francesco Vezzoli, Amelie von Wulffen. From 1965 until now, exhibitions by the following artists have been realized by the Studio Marconi and Gió Marconi gallery: Valerio Adami, Enrico Baj, Georg Baselitz, Joseph Beuys, Peter Blake, Alighiero Boetti, Alberto Burri, Alexander Calder, Anthony Caro, Enrico Castellani, Patrick Caulfield, Mario Ceroli, Marc Chagall, Christo, James Coleman, Gianni Colombo, Willem de Kooning, Sonia Delaunay, Lucio Del Pezzo, Antonio Dias, Bruno Di Bello, Piero Dorazio, Lucio Fontana, Sam Francis, Richard Hamilton, David Hockney, Hsiao Chin, Anselm Kiefer, Martin Kippenberger, Franz Kline, Lee U Fan, Man Ray, Giuseppe Maraniello, Joan Mirò, Maurizio Mochetti, Aldo Mondino, Francois Morellet, Keizo Moroshita, Ugo Mulas, Louise Nevelson, Helmut Newton, Gastone Novelli, Giulio Paolini, Gianfranco Pardi, H.P.Paris, A.R.Penck, Francis Picabia, Pablo Picasso, Arnaldo Pomodoro, Mimmo Rotella, Mario Schifano, Daniel Spoerri, Aldo Spoldi, Emilio Tadini, Antoni Tapies, Herve Telemaque, Joe Tilson, Giuseppe Uncini, Emilio Vedova, Tom Wesselman, William T. Wiley, Christopher Wool.

I consider e/c natural wine shop a hidden treasure in Milan. Inside a building with an "Emergency" (that is actually an ONG) plaque outside, the first thing one might think is that is a hospital. Once passing the wall, there's a cute internal square, with Basilica di Sant'Eustorgio view. You can sit both inside or outside, which a strongly recommend for spring and summer days. A nice place for just passing by to grab a bottle of wine and drink it at home, having a glass of wine (they have many options) or enjoying a relaxed evening.

To really reach/understand a city you must live there or, at least, acting like you do. Nothing makes you feel more like a Milanese D.O.C. than stopping by Frida's on a Sunday morning to buy some flowers. Located in Brera this tiny shop has an extraordinary colour palette of flowers and plants. After that we just take a walk in the neighbourhood holding our bunch of Brassica Oleracea and our day is made.