I recently went to stay with my friend and her family for a long weekend. So we headed over to Besana Brianza and then had several day trips around northern Italy based from here. Here’s a few of day trip ideas for exploring just a very small part of Northern Italy, including Milan, Bergamo and Lake Como, as well as a few extra recommendations at the end. When I went to Milan it just so happened to be fashion week so it was incredibly busy! I still very much enjoyed my venture into the capital, despite it being heaving! Here were some of my favourite things on my three day trips.
Day Trip One: Milan
The Duomo
The Duomo is the super fancy church you see in all the
pictures of Milan. It is very beautiful- definitely worth the hype! I also
recommend going up The Duomo for great views across the city, to see the church
from many different interesting angles and also to take a closer look at the
difference between when its been freshly cleaned and overdue a clean because
it’s always being cleaned.
The Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II
The Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II is Italy's oldest active
shopping gallery. It’s a very beautiful building, although was very full during
fashion week. While it is too expensive for me to ever buy anything here, legend
has it that if you spin around three times with your heel on a floor mosaic of
a bull, it will bring you good luck.
San Bernardino alle Ossa
This is a large room filled from floor to ceiling in bones
as decoration adjoining the walls. This boneyard is located inside a church so
is closed Sundays. While it appears to be free to enter online, actually there
is a “voluntary” donation required. We did not have change are were not allowed
to enter so had to come back after sourcing some euros.
The L.O.V.E Sculpture
The L.O.V.E Sculpture (located in Piazza Affari) is a statue
of a giant middle finger, pointed at the Italian stock exchange.
Panzrotti Luini
One thing on my list to do while in Italy was to eat a
panzerotti, a small folded fried pizza dough stuffed with cheese, tomato, or
different ingredients. We went to Panzrotti Luini, which is delicious, just
around the corner from The Duomo (so very central) and only around €3
for one. Although people have heard all this so there could often be big
queues, especially at lunch time.
Day Trip Two: Bergamo
Funicular
I started my trip to Bergamo by taking the bus from the
train station to the funicular. There were very pretty views when getting off
the funicular at the highest point of Bergamo, although these would have been
achieved equally as well by walking to the top. It was something a little
different but the queues could be quite long.
Castello San Vigilio
After getting off the funicular, it was just a short
(although uphill) walk to one of the best parts of Bergamo for me, the
beautiful views from Castello San Vigilio. I recommend walking around the
various battlements and castle ruins, for instance Punto Panoramico Castello.
La Marianna
I walked down the hill from the castle ruins, admiring the
views along the Venetian Walls on the way down, to have stracciatella-flavoured
ice cream. I chose to go to La Marianna, where stracciatella was invented! I
also ended up buying the cutest little dinosaur biscuit!
Beautiful Squares: Piazza Duomo Bergamo Alta
Next up on my way down the hill of Bergamo was Piazza Duomo
Bergamo Alta, a square with some beautiful churches.
Beautiful Squares: Piazza Vecchia Bergamo Alta
The view from the tallest clock tower at the Piazza Vecchia
was amazing! The entrance cost only 5 euros.
After, I continued down the hill, eventually ending at the
train station. I really recommend doing this downhill journey of Bergamo.
Day Trip Three: Lake Como (Varenna, Bellagio, Como)
Varenna was my absolute favourite of the places I visited on
the shores of Lake Como. It is a highly picturesque and traditional village,
definitely the place you picture when you think of Lake Como. There were cute
little alleyways looking out to the waters, colourful houses and lots of Instagramable
archways. I would recommend getting there as early as possible though because
even though it was the off season, it got busy the later it got.
We reached Bellagio by ferry from Varenna. The view from the
boat is iconic. There is also a very famous photo of a lamp above a colourful
alleyway looking out to the water, although it was hard to take a photo here
because there were a lot of tourists.
Our final Como visit was Como itself! Como is more like a
small city, than the traditional villages/towns of Varenna/Bellagio. It doesn’t
have the same colourful houses by the waterfront atmosphere and is instead more
built up. It is less built up than the others, has less tourists and has more
things to do like shops, more reasonably priced restaurants etc. It still has traditional beautiful buildings though!
Overall Thoughts
Overall, my favourite places I visited while in northern Italy were Varenna and Bergamo. Varenna truly looked like somewhere on a postcard- it was so beautiful! And the views from Bergamo really blew me away. I didn’t have the highest expectations for Bergamo because I made a last-minute call to visit. The cheap Ryanair flights from the UK normally actually fly into Bergamo airport (BGY) and not Milan Malpensa (MXP) so it seemed a shame that I had flown from here a few times now and not actually experienced the city. Now I’m very glad I did! I was also glad of the time to actually spend in Milan too because I have only ever done a fleeting visit previously. Overall, a very fun (although busy!) long weekend around Northern Italy. But I still have plenty more on the list for next time!
Extras
- Extra recommendations
- One of my favourite things on my Northern Italy trip was the whole concept of aperitivo. Between around the hours of 5-8pm, many restaurants would do a special deal on an alcoholic drink (normally an Aperol Spritz) and “snacks”. It’s a great idea for cafes and similar because all their food from during the way can be sued up with none of it going to waste. I’m not sure what it’s like at all places but when I went it was a delicious feast of breads and meats and cheeses- I was in heaven!
- Try the delicious Risotto alla Milanese. I was very fortunate and was prepared mine by my friend’s Dad, who made it specially!
- Another delicacy prepared by my friend’s Dad was Salame al Ciocciolato. I was super excited to try it and let me say it lived up to my chocolatey biscuity recommendations!
- Things for next time
- QC Termemilano Underground Spa
- Branca Tower for a great city view
- Piazza della Scala, an iconic square with a statue of Leonardo da Vinci
- See Leonardo da Vinci’s The Last Supper in the Santa Maria della Grazie. You have to book immediately when tickets go out. Tickets are normally ~€15 but will jump up to €60 if you go with a tour guide!
- I would love to go and see the beautiful houses of Cinque Terre, unfortunately it would have been too long a day for a road trip
- To see the balcony in Verona
