Season Guide - Italy - Hilton Racing

After a quick snack of sushi, I took a taxi to Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II (walking in your Manolo’s is a huge fashion faux pas), Milan’s world famous shopping mall. Brimming with top-notch designer boutiques, Dior, Miu Miu and so on, the seemingly small exterior of the shops are a mirage as the basement houses excessively grand showrooms where beautifully clad shop assistants hang on my every word. But expect to be refused permission to try on your garms if you cut a shabby figure, as ‘fatto la brutta figura’ is a crime in this ultra chic city.

Don’t be fooled by the Italian’s passion for the commercial, the city is steeped in culture with ancient architecture and sculpture outlining the cities shopping quarter. On a clear day, you can climb the Duomo (the city’s Cathedral and centre point) and see as far as the Alps. The view, breathtaking and eerie in equal measure, looks out over some 3000 fierce gothic statues guarding the Cathedral’s exterior. A short walk through the Galleria to the other side of the Duomo lies the spectacular La Scala opera house where Giuseppe Verdi first conducted his Requiem in 1874.

Brera’s narrow streets house the little known secrets of Milan’s ‘bohemian’ shopping scene. Artists workshops brimming with half-finished canvases, open air coffee shops teeming with musicians and poets provide the backdrop to small artisan’s shops selling excellent hand-crafted leather goods (the quality of Italian leather goods is second to none) and silk and cashmere attire. For a taste of authentic ‘Little Italy’, spend some time in these lesser-known quarters.

If your love of shopping stretches from the new to the old, one of the gems of the Milanese fashion experience is vintage paradise, Docks Dora. A short drive from central Milan, Docks Dora is a multi story warehouse with rail upon rail of vintage treats - shop against the backdrop of resident djs and the cream of the crop of Milan’s fashion crowd.

If you have just enough time to squeeze in a post-shopping cocktail, then finish up at Just Cavalli Café, a haunt of the reams of gorgeous models that swarm each year to Milan. Decorated in Roberto Cavalli’s signature exaggerated style, this club is a feast of silk oversized animal print lounge chairs and exotic floral displays. This experience is not to be missed, if just for the people-watching element and a chance to pose in your new Gucci dress - you are after all in the most glamorous city on the planet.