This is Milan, the second biggest city in Italy, the fashion, financial, football, cultural and industrial powerhouse. The city is an all-round epic place to visit, so let's take a look. Milan might not be first on your list of places to visit in Italy, being less famous than Rome, Venice or Florence. But the city is absolutely full of great places to see, not to mention being very well connected with major airports and railway stations, so it's easy to get to. The city proper has a population of 1.4 million people, rising to over 3 million in the metropolitan area. But the wider metropolitan area is anywhere between 8 to 12 million people, depending on where you draw the line. First came to real prominence in the year 286 when it became capital of the Western Roman Empire. This lasted for a few hundred years until the Roman city was mostly destroyed in a series of invasions and sackings, by those dastardly barbarians.

Milan eventually recovered and became one of the great cities of Renaissance, where some of the most famous and influential artists lived helping to fill the city with famous buildings and art. Milan was at one point a powerful city state, and then part of the Austrian Empire, before eventually becoming a part of the Kingdom of Italy in the 19th century. In more recent times, Milan became an industrial city and was also the centre of the fastest movement of Mussolini in the 1920s. Due to its importance, the city was heavily bombed in World War II. Today, Milan is now the financial capital of Italy, as well as one of the most influential cities in the world for fashion. But most importantly, for your average tourist like me, Milan is absolutely full of amazing churches, museums and other fascinating places to explore.

So let's take a look at the top 10 things to see in Milan. The Cathedral of Milan, or the Duomo, is perhaps the most famous building in the city. It is one of the largest cathedrals in the world. Construction started in 1386, but was not properly finished until 1965. The building is mainly in the Flamboyant Gothic style, as you can see from the extravagant tracery of the Gothic windows. The Cathedral is incredibly popular. You will need to book a time slot to go inside, so make sure you check there is availability before you go. The interior is really epic. The huge nave of four side aisles is immense, you can hold up to 40,000 people. Yep, that's right, 40,000 people. The main vault has a height of 45 metres, making it the second highest Gothic vault in the world, after the unfinished cathedral of Bové in France, which you can see in another one of my videos.

So go and take a look. No wonder it took in centuries to finish this place. There was so much to talk about here, so here are some highlights from the interior. From inside, it's also possible to descend underneath the piazza outside, to explore the ruins of even older buildings. The roof can also be accessed where you get these epic views of Milan's skylight with the ups in the distance. This is, in my opinion, the best viewpoint of all of Milan, so I stopped the world to record this time lapse. And if all of that wasn't enough, there is also a museum opposite the cathedral containing many amazing artefacts and treasures, or telling the story of the cathedral. This includes statues and stained glass that will once part of the cathedral, as well as plaster cast and this amazing wooden model.

There is even a small chapel inside the museum. A adjacent to the cathedral is the equally famous Galleria Vittorio in Manuara II, which is probably the most famous shopping mall in the world. It was built between 1865 and 1877, its main feature is a huge iron and glass dome in its centre. The place is full of luxury shops for those who like shopping, but if that's not your thing, just do what I did, walk around gazing up at the exquisite architecture and try not to bump into anyone. Next up is a sports castle or Castello Sportsesco. I probably ruin the pronunciation of that, sorry Italians. This castle is absolutely huge, one of the biggest I've ever visited and I've visited a lot of castles. It was originally built in the 15th century by Francesco Sportser, who was the Duke of Milan at the time.

It's been enlarged, extensively modified over the years, and now contains a ginormous museum. You will need hours and probably days to properly explore this place. The museums and the castle contain just about everything you can think of, including bits of old buildings, paintings, statues, ceramics, musical instruments, there's probably even a kitchen sink in there somewhere. There is an extensive collection of art, including this notable painting called the Madonna earlier, which was painted in the works of Leonardo da Vinci in the 15th century. We spent quite a few hours wandering around this place and there was so much to see, I would probably need another video just to scratch the surface, but here are some highlights to give you an idea. Also within the castle is a Rondanini Piazza Museum, which contains Michelangelo's final and never finished sculpture.

At the back of the castle is a Sempione Park, which is a large garden to explore in case you need a break from all that treasure in the castle. A few minutes walk from the castle is Milan's most important art gallery, the Pino Cortecco de Braira. This is another attraction that you'll need to book in advance to secure a time slot to visit. It gets very busy. The collection is housed in a former Jesuit College, which is centered around a sectional classical courtyard, which is worth wondering around, even if you don't manage to get a ticket to get inside the actual gallery. The main central space is a series of huge paintings surrounding an idealized plastic house statue of Napoleon by Antonio Canova. Wondering through the rest of the gallery, you'll be able to spot the famous paintings by how many people have gathered around them.

This is the lamentation of Christ by Andrea Mantegna, painted at the end of the 15th century showing the dead body of Christ watched over by other holy people. Another very famous painting is a marriage of the Virgin by Raphael, which is completed in 1504 and shows the wedding ceremony of Mary and Joseph. Here is the supper at Emma's by Caravaggio, which was painted in 1606 and shows the resurrected Jesus meeting some of his disciples. And it's not just all old Italian masters. There are some new ones as well, such as the kiss painted by Francesco Hayes in 1859. Due to its romantic subject, this picture seemed especially popular with young couples, and I had to nudge quite a few of them out of the way to get a proper look at it. As well as the aforementioned famous paintings, there are many more to discover, so I recommend walking around and looking at all the paintings as there is a lot to see.

The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The Heading back across the city with the final church of Santa Maria de la Grazia. This church is part of a convent that is most famous for housing the last supper by Leonardo da Vinci, which is one of the most famous paintings in the world. Tickets to go and see it are very limited and you'll need to book very far in advance to get in. So if like me, you don't manage to get a ticket, then it's still worth coming here to visit the exceptional church. Construction of the mostly Gothic brick church started in about 1463, nor is mostly finished by 1497. The older neighbors got picked as you can see from his pointed arches. The dome, apps and cloisters came later during the early Renaissance, with a more classical style of architecture.

The apps is often attributed to the famous architect, Leonardo Bromante. The cloisters are probably the best place to admire the intricate details of the dome and exterior. This seems like a good time to take a break from all that history and culture, and hop on the Milan Metro to the Navigli Canal district. This is one of Milan's more hip districts and has formed around a series of canals. Here you'll find many bars and restaurants as well as shops and markets to explore and perhaps even take a while on the boats. It's most active in the evenings, but it's also nice just to wonder along the sides of the canals during the daytime and take it all in. Near to the canals is one of Milan's oldest churches that Basilica di Sant'Ambrosio. The first church here dates back to ancient times, but the current, mostly brick buildings part of a rebuilding effort that started in about 1080, with the navedating from about 1128 and built in the Romanesque style.

It's a stunning building for the interesting objects and decorations to set aside some time to have a good look around inside, as well as having a look around the fascinating courtyard at the front. I hope you're not bored of churches because we're going to visit one more as it contains some of the most stunning interiors anywhere in the world. The Church of San Maricso was formerly part of a monastery, the rest of which now houses the Civic Archaeological Museum. The church was built in the beginning of the 16th century in an early Renaissance classical style. The most memorable part, however, is the 16th century frescoes inside that cover almost every part of the interior. The amount of detail and the colours are mesmerizing. Here are some highlights. The Church of San Maricso is a modern art museum, which is housed in a stunning 18th century neoclassical palace called the Villa Real.

The building itself is fascinating with lavish rooms such as this large bank of jingle. The collection inside is mostly of European art from the 18th to the 20th centuries. Highlights of the collection include a series of life-size statues that seem so real I actually felt a little uncomfortable looking at some of them. The details and expressions on many are astounding and lifelike. There is also a significant collection of paintings, many of which are almost hidden away on the top floor, where you can see paintings and drawings like famous artists such as Van Gogh, Galgam and Picasso. The building is set in an English style park, which is free to enter, where you can see some fine views of the main facade of the past. Finally, we come to our tenth and final location, the Bam tree library, which is a modern park and botanical garden.

The contemporary design of the park is especially interesting as it is surrounded by many skyscrapers and other interesting modern buildings. Perhaps the most notable buildings are the Bosco verticali, which is two towers covered in fauna and trees. I really enjoyed exploring this area as it made a nice contrast to all of the historic stuff I'd seen earlier. It looks especially cool in the early evening, with all the lights on and that seems like a good place to end this video. Thank you very much for watching. If you didn't already, please hit the like button and subscribe to the channel. Cheerio!