30-Day Solo Travel in Europe | Day 19: Milan Beyond the Shopping – Pinacoteca Ambrosiana & Pinacoteca di Brera

(Previous chapter of my journey: Day 18: From Nice to Milan – A Journey Full of Twists)

My friend and I checked into a four-star hotel just a stone’s throw away from Milano Centrale. The bed was comfortable, the room spacious, and for the first time in weeks I sank into proper sleep without the usual hostel thin mattress or street noise creeping in. That small luxury felt like a gift after so many restless nights on the road.

My friend had originally been lukewarm about Milan. To her, it was the city of shopping and luxury brands, not the place for deep art encounters. Thankfully she’d done her homework and booked tickets in advance for Pinacoteca Ambrosiana, planned as something to fill the morning. From the outside the building looks modest, almost unassuming, but step inside and the space was decorated beautifully. The collection is far richer than either of us expected: Leonardo da Vinci’s paintings and manuscripts, a Caravaggio still life of fruit, and Raphael’s preparatory cartoon for The School of Athens. Treasures tucked away in a quiet corner of the city.

The galleries were calm – only the occasional guided group drifting past – so we could linger without feeling rushed. We lost ourselves in the works, talking quietly, pointing out tiny details. Two or three hours slipped by before we realised we were close to missing lunch. This was her first trip to Europe, and everything felt new and oversized: the soaring ceilings, the marble floors, the sheer scale of Italian architecture that suddenly makes you feel very small, like a child wandering through a giant’s house.

In the afternoon we moved on to Pinacoteca di Brera, one of Milan’s true art powerhouses, home to masterpieces spanning the 13th to the 20th century. The star of the show is Francesco Hayez’s The Kiss. I’m a little embarrassed to admit I had never heard of this painting until today. My friend reminded me that most people only know Gustav Klimt’s famous The Kiss, but Klimt’s painting actually drew heavy inspiration from Hayez’s tender original, a symbol of Italian Romanticism and the Risorgimento.

Another piece that stopped us both was Andrea Mantegna’s Lamentation over the Dead Christ. She’d studied it in her university art history classes and the professor had highlighted how revolutionary the viewpoint was for its time: looking up from the feet towards Christ’s body, an angle so unusual and intimate it still feels startling centuries later. Travelling with someone who shares the same curiosity for these things makes every room richer; I learnt more in one afternoon than I might have on my own in a week.

After the museum we wandered over to Sforzesco Castle, letting the weight of its ancient walls and weathered stone settle around us. As the light turned golden we made our way to the Duomo and the glittering Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II for the classic photos. My friend was delighted to share a quirky local legend: stand on the mosaic bull in the centre of the Galleria, right on his… well, private parts… and spin three times on your heel for good luck. It sounded completely made-up, but we grinned at each other, stepped onto the spot, and turned our three circles anyway. Sometimes the silliest traditions become the funniest memories.

By evening our legs were heavy but our hearts full. We returned to the hotel, showered off the day, then found a cosy restaurant nearby for a long, slow dinner and a few more photos to remember the light on the tablecloths. Lying in that soft bed afterwards, scrolling through the day in my mind, I realised Milan had quietly surprised me. It isn’t only the fashion capital people talk about; it holds real depth, real beauty.

Tomorrow we head to Florence. I can already feel the pull of more art, more stories, more quiet moments that make the journey feel like coming home to yourself.