#45daysofblogging 05: the new face of Milan

Day 5 - August 22

Welcome to day 5!

Today I want to tell you a bit about Milan. This year I've managed to visit it twice - on my way to Sweden and on the way back to Palermo. So you probably already saw my post on what to do in Milan is you only have a few hours.

But this post will be a bit different, as during my last time there I wanted to find the answers to the major questions, that are really torturing me and all of my foreign friends, who also live in the South of Italy - why people are either in love with Milan or hate it, and, which is the most important, why in Milan they call cornetto brioche?!

I have a feeling I will never understand the last one, so I will have to just make my peace with it.

As for the other question... I think I started understanding something. 

In my opinion people either live (or lived at one point) in Milan and absolutely love it, or visit it for tourism/business/transit and are left puzzled and underwhelmed. 

I belong to the second category. I've been to Milan three times and each time, after drinking cappuccino and walking the same path of Duomo - Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II - Castello Sforzesco, was feeling very lost. In the sense - what's now? Normally the answer is one - shopping. But as the person that doesn't enjoy it that much, especially when she's forces to do it, I always started feeling irritated and tired, and each time left Milan with one thought - I'd much rather go to Rome again...

But this time something changed. For the first time I had a local with me - my wonderful friend Majda (whom I actually met in Armenia, even though we both live in Italy now). Under her guidance I ate my very first panzerotti, walked the small streets I've never seen and visited Porta Garibaldi - the modern neighborhood you can see on the photos, famous also for bosco verticale - "vertical forest", new elite buildings, created with the incorporation of trees and greenery. 

After seeing the city through the eyes of the person, that lives, studies and works there, I realized the significant difference between the two groups - let's call them Milan lovers and Milan haters. Major part of people who told me about their love for the city, actually lived there - permanently or temporarily. On the other side, I, as, let's say, Milan hater, never even spent a full 24 hours there. 

So technically I didn't find the answer to this question either. But, if the topic of cornetto and brioche is definitely way too complicated and requires a three year long PhD research (my friend Naser was actually volunteering for this position), the question of love and hate towards Milan is easier to understand. I hope one day I will have a chance to spend a few weeks there to see if I really don't like Milan that much or I just didn't understand it from the beginning.

See you tomorrow, guys!