Archive for 'Milan'

The Civic Aquarium of Milan (Acquario Civico di Milano) is Milan's charming – and rather unique – aquarium. The third oldest aquarium in Europe, it was built in 1905 for the Milan World Fair and is the only building to survive from the event to this day.

Located at the edge of Sempione Park, Milan's largest public park, it is housed in a beautiful Art Nouveau period building that features elaborate sculptural details, friezes and hand-painted tiles.

The facade of the aquarium is further enhanced by a statue of Neptune, the Roman god of water and the sea, created by sculptor Oreste Labò. Small but beautiful and certainly one of the most unusual and special museums that we have ever seen, it is a must-visit for those who have found a vacation rental in Milan and are planning a trip to the city.

If you have found a vacation rental in Milan and are planning on spending time in the city, there is lots to see and do. However, we'd like suggest something that might not have already featured in your plans heavily, or at all: a visit to Milan's Planetarium.

The Civic Planetarium “Ulrico Hoepli” of Milan is an institute for communication and education in astronomy and related sciences like physics and astronautics. It is the largest and most important planetarium in all of Italy. Located on the edge of the Gardens of Porta Venezia, in the Porta Venezia district of Milan, a stone's throw from the Natural History Museum, it was established in 1930. Designed by architect Piero Portaluppi for Ulrico Hoepli, an editor and publisher, who donated it to the city upon its inauguration.

The Giardini Pubblici Indro Montanelli, or "Indro Montanelli Public Gardens" were formerly known as the Giardini Pubblici and Giardini di Porta Venezia but were renamed after journalist and writer Indro Montanelli in 2002. A major and beautiful historic city park in Milan, in the Porta Venezia district, it was established in 1784 and is the oldest city park in Milan. The Gardens have grown in size and have had important buildings and institutions added to them over the years, such as the Natural History Museum and Planetarium, and a zoo that has since been closed down. As such, the park is a great tourist destination for the Gardens themselves and the other attractions that now live on the grounds as well. Once you have found a luxury villa in Lombardy and are exploring the city, the Montanelli Gardens really are a must-see.

Continuing on from our last post, here are some more examples of famous Italian cocktails. Italy is cocktail rich and, as a result, if you're looking to sit back and relax on your next holiday, there could be no better place for it. Just sip on one of these famous drinks, enjoy your surroundings and learn to adopt the very different pace of life.

One particularly famous cocktail is the Negroni. Supposedly, invented in Florence in 1919 at Caffè Casoni (now called Caffè Giacosa), when Count Camillo Negroni asked the bartender to strengthen his usual Americano. It was suddenly transformed by adding gin rather than the normal soda water and the swapping of an orange garnish for the typical lemon garnish of the Americano. The cocktail became incredibly famous and the Negroni Family founded the Negroni Distillerie in Treviso, where they produced a ready-made version of the drink. Negroni Sbagliato, meanwhile, is a variation of the classic Negroni that was invented in Milan.

There is something about Italy that gives birth to great cocktails. Many of the most iconic and popular cocktails in the world were born in Italy during the stylish last hurrah of the Old World and holidaying of the European aristocracy in the 1900s and the Economic Miracle and dolce vita of the 1950s. Still, to this day, there is something in the air and in the way of life that makes Italy the perfect placed to kick back, relax and sip on a well-deserved cocktail.

For cocktail lovers, one of the must-see pitstops on your itinerary is the city of Milan. It is home to Campari, an alcoholic liqueur that was invented by Gaspare Campari in the nineteenth century in Novara but was first produced on a large scale in Milan. Milan is also where Gaspare settled down with his family and where he opened the legendary bar, Caffè Campari.