Everything was less busy and seemed suspended in time in the cold of winter. We then walked down Via Dante to Piazza Del Duomo, making sure to pose for a picture outside the Duomo di Milano and in the middle of the Quadrilatero d’Oro before heading inside the Cathedral to have a look around.
Despite the cold night, the canals were alive with people chatting warmly outside on the banks and enjoying aperitivi when we headed back over to Navigli for dinner. We decided to make ourselves comfortable outside of a quiet restaurant where we enjoyed a meal of gnocchi and braised lamb. It’s amazing to think you can have such a peaceful stay in the second-largest city in Italy. At least from the little glimpse that we managed to get, everything seemed to be moving just a little bit slower than wherever you are in the UK and it was a welcome change of pace.
We decided that on the third day we would try to make our way over to Turin for a visit. Given our student budget, we booked a couple of coach tickets to get us there for lunchtime. If I could give one little piece of advice it would be to make sure you are doubly careful with checking where you’re being picked up and dropped off, because it can be a little bit of hassle getting around so it definitely helps to plan ahead. Having said that, we kind of spent the day strolling around aimlessly, but given that the city has a smaller metropolitan area than Milan, I think we managed to see just about everything from the breathtaking Cattedrale di San Giovani Battista to the imposing Mole Antonelliana and just about every beautiful piazetta inbetween. Even though we only went there for the day, I know that I fell immediately in love and I can’t wait to go back and explore the little streets some more.
Our last morning was spent walking around the centre of Milan a little more and after leaving my rucksack - containing all my worldly possessions - on the train to the airport and begging an attendant to help me get it back for an extortionate fee, we flew back to Bristol feeling rejuvenated by the winter sunshine. I feel like from the anglophone point of view, Italy is often only regarded as the country of poetically long hot summers, but we found that the North of the Bel Paese, at least, has more than enough to offer two devoted language students in the winter, too.
Oli Bricknell
VIAGGI
VIAGGI
images: Oli Bricknell