Milanese culture and dining.
Private jet charter Milan
Milan is the second-most populous city in Italy and the capital of Lombardy. The city proper has a population of about 1.3 million, while its urban area (the 5th-largest in the EU) comprises an estimated 5 million people (former Provinces of Milan and Monza-Brianza, with other Comuni included in the former Province of Varese). The enormous suburban sprawl that followed the post-war boom of the 1950s–1960s has resulted in a polycentric metropolitan area, known as Greater Milan, of 7 to 10 million people, stretching over the provinces of Milan, Bergamo, Como, Lecco, Lodi, Monza and Brianza, Pavia, Varese and Novara. The Milan metropolitan region is part of the so-called Blue Banana, the area of Europe with the highest population and industrial density. In terms of GDP, Milan has the third largest economy among EU cities (after London and Paris) and the largest among European non-capital cities.
Milan was founded by Celts known as Insubres. The Romans later conquered the city, which they knew as Mediolanum, and which eventually became the capital (286 – 402 CE) of the Western Roman Empire. During the Middle Ages, Milan flourished as a commercial and banking center. Over the following centuries, the city was alternately dominated by France, Habsburg Spain, and Austria, until 1859 when the city joined the rising Kingdom of Italy. During the early 1900s, Milan led the industrialization process of the young nation. Suffering a harsh Nazi occupation during WWII, the city became the main centre of the Italian Resistance. In post-war years the city enjoyed a prolonged economic boom, attracting large numbers of workers from Southern Italy. More recently, Milan has seen a huge rise in the number of international immigrants, and as of 2011 more than one sixth of its population was foreign born.
Milan is the main industrial, commercial, and financial centre of Italy and a leading global city. Its business district hosts the Borsa Italiana (Italy’s main stock exchange) and the headquarters of the largest national banks and companies. The city is a major world fashion and design capital. Milan’s museums, theatres and landmarks (including the Milan Cathedral, the fifth-largest cathedral in the world, and Santa Maria delle Grazie, decorated with Leonardo da Vinci paintings such as The Last Supper, a UNESCO World Heritage Site) attract over 8 million visitors annually. The city hosts numerous cultural institutions and universities, with 185,000 enrolled students in 2011, i.e. 11 percent of the national total. The city is also well known for several international events and fairs, including Milan Fashion Week and the Milan Furniture Fair, the largest of its kind in the world, and is the host for the second time of a Universal Exposition, the Expo 2015. Milan is home to two of the world’s major football teams, A.C. Milan and Inter Milan.
Milan is home to many cultural institutions, museums and art galleries, that account for about a tenth of the national total of visitors and recepits.[111] The Pinacoteca di Brera is one of Milan’s most important art galleries. It contains one of the foremost collections of Italian painting, including masterpieces such as the Brera Madonna by Piero della Francesca. The Castello Sforzesco hosts numerous art collections and exhibitions, especially statues, ancient arms and furnitures, as well as the Pinacoteca del Castello Sforzesco, with an art collection including Michelangelo’s last sculpture, the Rondanini Pietà, Andrea Mantegna’s Trivulzio Madonna and Leonardo da Vinci’s Codex Trivulzianus manuscript. The Castello complex also includes The Museum of Ancient Art, The Furniture Museum, The Museum of Musical Instruments and the Applied Arts Collection, The Egyptian and Prehistoric sections of the Archaeological Museum and the Achille Bertarelli Print Collection.
Milan’s figurative art flourished in the Middle-Ages, and with the Visconti family being major patrons of the arts, the city became an important centre of Gothic art and architecture (Milan Cathedral being the city’s most formidable work of Gothic architecture). Leonardo worked in Milan from 1482 until 1499. He was commissioned to paint the Virgin of the Rocks for the Confraternity of the Immaculate Conception and The Last Supper for the monastery of Santa Maria delle Grazie.
The city was affected by the Baroque in the 17th and 18th centuries, and hosted numerous formidable artists, architects and painters of that period, such as Caravaggio and Francesco Hayez, which several important works are hosted in Brera Academy. The Museum of Risorgimento is specialized on the history of Italian unification Its collections include iconic paintings like Baldassare Verazzi’s Episode from the Five Days and Francesco Hayez’s 1840 Portrait of Emperor Ferdinand I of Austria. The Triennale is a design museum and events venue located in Palazzo dell’Arte, in Sempione Park. It hosts exhibitions and events highlighting contemporary Italian design, urban planning, architecture, music, and media arts, emphasizing the relationship between art and industry.
Milan in the 20th century was the epicenter of the Futurist artistic movement. Filippo Marinetti, the founder of Italian Futurism wrote in his 1909 “Futurist Manifesto” (in Italian, Manifesto Futuristico), that Milan was “grande…tradizionale e futurista” (“grand…traditional and futuristic”, in English). Umberto Boccioni was also an important Futurism artist who worked in the city.Today, Milan remains a major international hub of modern and contemporary art, with numerous modern art galleries. The Modern Art Gallery, situated in the Royal Villa, hosts collections of Italian and European painting from the 18th to the early 20th centuries. The Museo del Novecento, situated in the Palazzo dell’Arengario, is one of the most important art galleries in Italy about 20th-century art; of particular relevance are the sections dedicated to Futurism, Spatialism and Arte povera.
Milan is home to many public art projects, with a variety of works that range from sculptures to murals to pieces by internationally renowned artists, including Arman, Francesco Barzaghi, Alberto Burri, Pietro Cascella, Maurizio Cattelan, Leonardo Da Vinci, Giorgio de Chirico, Claes Oldenburg, Igor Mitoraj, Arnaldo Pomodoro, Aldo Rossi, Domenico Trentacoste.
Like most cities in Italy, Milan has developed its own local culinary tradition, which, as it is typical for North Italian cuisines, uses more frequently rice than pasta, butter than vegetable oil and features almost no tomato or fish. Milanese traditional dishes includes cotoletta alla milanese, a breaded veal (pork and turkey can be used) cutlet pan-fried in butter (similar to Viennese “Wienerschnitzel”). Other typical dishes are cassoeula (stewed pork rib chops and sausage with Savoy cabbage), ossobuco (braised veal shank served with a condiment called gremolata), risotto alla milanese (with saffron and beef marrow), busecca (stewed tripe with beans), and brasato (stewed beef or pork with wine and potatoes). Season-related pastries include chiacchiere (flat fritters dusted with sugar) and tortelli (fried spherical cookies) for Carnival, colomba (glazed cake shaped as a dove) for Easter, pane dei morti (“Deads’ Day bread”, cookies aromatized with cinnamon) for All Souls’ Day and panettone for Christmas. The salame Milano, a salami with a very fine grain, is widespread throughout Italy. Renowned Milanese cheeses are gorgonzola (from the namesake village nearby), mascarpone, used in pastry-making, taleggio and quartirolo.
Milan is well known for its world-class restaurants and cafés, characterized by innovative cuisine and design. As of 2014, Milan has 157 Michelin-selected places, including three 2-Michelin-starred restaurants;[127] these include Cracco, Sadler and il Luogo di Aimo e Nadia. Many historical restaurants and bars are found in the historic centre, the Brera and Navigli districts. One of the city’s oldest surviving cafés, Caffè Cova, was established in 1817. In total, Milan has 15 cafés, bars and restaurants registered among the Historical Places of Italy, continuously operating since at least 70 years.
Arranging a private jet charter to and from Milan Linate (LIML /LIN) or Milan Malpensa (LIMC / MXP) is straightforward. Milan Linate lies approximately 11 kilometres from the city centre and takes around 40 minutes by car, subject to traffic. Milan Malpensa lies approximately 50 kilometres from the city centre and takes around 50 minutes by car, subject to traffic.
A private jet charter from London to Milan will take approximately 1 hour 40 minutes in a 6 seat Cessna Citation CJ2 jet, and 1hour 30 minutes in a 8 seat Cessna Citation XLS jet.
Arranging a private jet charter or helicopter transfer with Freedom Air to arrive in style to Milan is simple. The Freedom Air team can be reached on +44 (0) 1275 548001 to book your next trip.