Milan is one of Europe's most layered cities for art and architecture, and this itinerary treats it seriously — not as a backdrop for shopping, but as a place where five centuries of ambition left something permanent on the walls, the skyline, and the streets. This trip is designed for the curious traveller who wants context alongside beauty: someone who will stand in front of a Raphael at the Pinacoteca di Brera and actually want to know why it matters, or walk through the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II and think about what a 19th-century iron-and-glass arcade was trying to say about a newly unified Italy.

Across two to three days, you move through time rather than just through postcodes. Start at the Duomo and the Galleria, then work back into the medieval city via Sant'Ambrogio Basilica and the Ambrosiana Gallery, where Leonardo's Atlantic Codex sits alongside Caravaggio. Sforza Castle earns a proper morning — its Michelangelo Pietà alone justifies it. Book Leonardo's Last Supper well in advance; it is not optional. Balance the Renaissance weight with a visit to the Poldi Pezzoli, an intimate house museum that most people skip and shouldn't. End with the forward-looking side of the city: the Triennale's design exhibitions and a guided tour of Bosco Verticale reframe Milan as a place still arguing with itself about what good design means. Sempione Park connects it all geographically and gives you somewhere to decompress between rooms.