Days 8–10: The Italian Chapter Begins, Milan Delivers

When the Trip Finally Finds Its Heartbeat

37 Days Across Europe | A 55+ Bucket List Journey

📍 Lucerne → Milan, Italy | Days 8–10 of 37

Milan's Duomo at the end of Via Agnello, the moment the city stopped being a destination and became an experience.

Let me be honest with you about something. The first week of this trip was beautiful. Switzerland delivered on its postcard promise at every turn, the Chapel Bridge at night, the Märlitram rattling through Zurich's old town, the Alps appearing through train windows like something out of a dream. I have no complaints about any of it.

But somewhere between the second Lucerne morning and the third espresso in a café that closed at 6pm, I found myself thinking, is that it? Switzerland is extraordinary to pass through. To slow down in for a day or two, to photograph, to let wash over you. What it is not, at least for me, at this stage of the journey is a place that builds. It delivers its beauty immediately and completely and then has very little left to surprise you with.

Milan surprised me within the first hour of arrival.

The Practical Bit First: Getting From Switzerland to Italy

The view through Porta Ticinese on arrival in Milan, a city introducing itself on its own terms.

Before I get into the romance of it, a practical note for anyone planning a similar journey, because the Switzerland to Italy train transition is something worth knowing about.

The train from Lucerne to Milan takes roughly three hours and runs through some of the most dramatic scenery you will encounter anywhere on this trip. The route crosses the Alps via the Gotthard Base Tunnel, at 57 kilometres, the longest railway tunnel in the world, and the transition from Swiss precision to Italian energy happens almost literally as you emerge from the mountain.

Here is what I did and what I recommend: book online in advance. I purchased my ticket through the SBB (Swiss Federal Railways) website before leaving Lucerne. The process took about ten minutes, cost considerably less than a walk-up fare, and meant I walked straight through Zurich HB, one of Europe's busiest stations without joining a single queue. Anyone who has stood in a ticket line at a major European station in peak season will understand what a gift this is.

A few practical notes worth keeping, if you don't intend to do the Swiss City to City runabout, the Swiss Travel Pass is not worth it, you really need to be moving around every day or two to really take advantage of it. For the Italian portion of the journey, you will need a separate ticket which I purchased from Trenitalia (by the way there is an app but its region block, hence never could download it from the appstore). Book this at the same time as your Swiss leg to save money and avoid the platform scramble.

The trains are Europunctual ie.. on time albiet not Japanpunctual but nonetheless don't be late..

Arriving at Milano Centrale is itself an experience. The station is a monument to Mussolini-era architectural ambition, vast, imposing, slightly overwhelming, and somehow completely Italian in the way it manages to be both magnificent and chaotic simultaneously. Welcome to Italy.

A Word on Zurich and Lucerne — An Honest Assessment

Zurich at its most beautiful, and it was, genuinely, beautiful. Two nights is exactly right.

I want to be fair to both cities because they deserve it, even if they weren't quite what this particular trip needed. Zurich is stunning. The Fraumünster, the old town, the lake at golden hour, it earns every superlative thrown at it. The Märlitram is one of the most joyful things I've encountered this time around. The food is not too bad but it was early days for me, the transport is immaculate. The city works with the kind of quiet confidence that makes you feel slightly inadequate.

Two nights. That is my honest recommendation. Two nights in Zurich. See the old town, walk the lake, photograph the spires at dusk. Then get on a train. Lucerne is a smaller version of the same story, perhaps even more immediately beautiful, with the Chapel Bridge and the Alps as a backdrop that seems almost unfairly cinematic. The Lion Monument stopped me in my tracks. The waterfront at night is among the finest evening walks I've taken on this trip.

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Lucerne's Chapel Bridge after dark, one of the great night views in Europe. Worth staying for. Worth leaving after.

But again: two nights. There is a version of Lucerne that reveals itself in layers over a week, if you are the kind of traveller who wants to sit by a lake and read and think and let a place fully absorb you. If that is you, then Lucerne will give you everything you need.

I am not, at this point in the trip, that traveller. I am the kind who needs a city that talks back.

Milan, The City That Finally Talked Back

The Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II — built in 1877, still the most beautiful shopping mall ever constructed.

I visited Milan twenty years ago. Don't remember much as it was all work. We however vaguely impressed and mildly overwhelmed and leaving without feeling like I'd understood it. Twenty years is a long time. Either Milan has changed or I have, and I suspect it's mostly me.

This time, I arrived in the evening, resisted the hotel, and just walked. The tram tracks running through cobblestone streets. The golden hour light catching the apartment balconies in orange and copper. A Glovo delivery cyclist chasing a sunset through a medieval arch, his yellow box blazing against the shadows, the Porta Ticinese behind him like a stage set. I stood on that street and raised the camera and thought: there it is. That's the photograph.

Day 8 arrival in Milan. This was the moment the Italian chapter declared itself.

Milan, it turns out, is not a city you understand quickly. It gives you its glamour first, the Duomo, the Galleria, the Via Montenapoleone with its impossible luxury, the Céline storefronts glowing like altar pieces in the afternoon light. These things are real and they are spectacular.

But what I missed twenty years ago, and what the slow traveller finds, if they stop long enough, is the city underneath. The narrow streets of the old centre where ancient brick meets spray paint and neither apologises. The aperitivo culture that turns every late afternoon into a small celebration. The vintage trams that trundle through it all, utterly unbothered by the five centuries of architecture on either side of them.

The Duomo

The Duomo di Milano. 600 years in construction. Still the most extraordinary façade in Italy.

There is no preparing for the Duomo. Simply breathtaking.

It is not, strictly speaking, beautiful in the conventional sense. It is too much for that, too complex, too spiky, too relentlessly detailed. There are 3,400 statues on the exterior alone. The marble changes colour in different light, white in the morning, honey-gold at noon, something close to rose at sunset. Every time you look at it from a different angle it becomes a different building.

The best views are always the accidental ones, the Duomo glimpsed through a gap between buildings.

I photographed it at three different times of day. I never felt like I got it right. That is not a failure, that is the Duomo doing what the Duomo does.

My suggestion: see it first thing in the morning before the tour groups arrive, then again in the late afternoon when the light catches the upper spires. Come back at night if you can. It is different every time.

The Galleria

The Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II at golden hour — built for a king, now belonging to everyone.

The Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II connects the Duomo to La Scala and is, in the most literal sense, a shopping mall. It is also one of the most beautiful interior spaces in Europe. The glass and iron roof, a barrel vault meeting a central dome, was revolutionary when it was completed in 1877 and remains astonishing today. Standing beneath the dome looking up, watching the light change through the glass, you understand what architecture can do when it is asked to do more than simply contain commerce.

Looking straight up at the dome, the photograph every first-time visitor takes and is right to take.

The shops inside are beyond the reach of most travellers' budgets, which is fine, the building is free. Walk through it. Have a coffee standing at the bar (sitting will cost you considerably more, as it does everywhere in Italy). Look up. Turn around slowly. Then do it again.

Street Milan, The City That Photographs Itself

Via Montenapoleone. The city as runway. This man knew exactly what he was doing.

What makes Milan particularly rewarding for street photography, and I say this having now my fair share of street but still a novice, is that the city's inhabitants are entirely comfortable being observed. There is a performative quality to Milanese public life that is not vanity but something more like civic pride. People dress well because the streets deserve it. The streets are beautiful because the people are.

The light in Milan in late morning and early afternoon is also remarkable, sharp, directional, creating deep triangles of shadow and warm pools of illumination that do most of the compositional work for you.

The geometry of a Milan afternoon, shadow, light, and someone who knows how to walk.

Aperol Spritz at noon from a street cart. This is what aperitivo culture looks like when it's done properly.

The Vintage Tram

Tram 1602, Milan's fleet of vintage trams has been running since the 1920s. They are still the best way to see the city.

A note on Milan's trams, because they deserve one. The city operates a fleet of vintage ATM trams that have been running since the 1920s. They are battered and magnificent and completely at odds with the luxury environment they navigate, and they are, for both practical and aesthetic reasons, the best way to move around the city.

A single ticket covers 90 minutes of travel across the network. Validate it when you board. Sit by a window. Watch Milan happen outside.

Milan at Night, Where Milano Oscuro Lives

Milan after dark, somewhere near the old centre. This is the city I came back to find.

The Milan I missed twenty years ago is the nocturnal one. After the tourists have returned to their hotels and the aperitivo bars have transitioned to dinner service, the old streets around the Duomo and the Brera neighbourhood take on a different quality entirely. The cobblestones are darker. The light becomes warmer and more isolated. The city compresses into something more intimate.

Somewhere between the Brera district and the old city, the Milan that doesn't appear in the guidebooks.

I have been working on a Lightroom preset I'm calling Milano Oscuro, an edit that tries to capture this particular quality of the city at dusk and after dark. Warm but contained. Rich but not saturated. Ancient stone with modern life pressed up against it. I haven't finished it yet. Milan keeps showing me what it should be.

If you are coming to Milan and you are 55+ and you are wondering whether it is worth it, it is absolutely worth it. But stay at least three nights, not two. Give yourself one full evening with nowhere to be. Walk toward the Duomo after 9pm when the piazza has thinned and the floodlights are on and the marble is doing something that can only be described as glowing.

You will not regret it.

What Comes Next

Next, Florence. Which means a different Italy entirely. Less fashion, more history. Less aperitivo, more art. The kind of city that takes everything Milan promises and roots it four hundred years deeper.

I suspect I am ready.

Practical Notes: Switzerland to Milan

The train: EuroCity services run from Zurich HB and Lucerne to Milano Centrale. Journey time is approximately 3.5 hours from Zurich, 3 hours from Lucerne.

Booking: Use the SBB website (sbb.ch) or the Trenitalia app (.www.trenitalia.com) Book at least a few days ahead for better prices. Buying online means no queuing at the station, in a city like Zurich HB, this is not a small thing.

Tickets: The Swiss Travel Pass covers Swiss territory only. You'll need a separate fare from Zurich HB to Milan. Buy both legs separately or use an aggregator like Trainline.

Milano Centrale: Arriving here for the first time is an experience in itself. Budget 20 minutes to simply stand and look at the station before navigating it. It is enormous. It is also well signed and the Metro connection is straightforward.

Transport in Milan: Buy a 24-hour or 48-hour transit pass rather than individual tickets. Covers metro, trams and buses. The trams are the right choice whenever they're available. I didn't do that as walking is the way for most street photographers.

When to visit the Duomo: Mornings before 9am or late afternoons after 4pm. Midday is for the organised tour groups. Free to enter the exterior, ticketed for the roof, something I did not do but apparently worth the view.

📍 Next stop: Florence 🌿 Day 11 of 37. The Renaissance awaits.

If this post was useful, save it, share it, and follow along. 37 days, 5 countries (+ the Vatican City), one very awake 55+ traveller. The best is still ahead.

Tags: Milan travel, Milano, Duomo di Milano, Galleria Vittorio Emanuele, Switzerland to Italy train, Swiss to Italian border, Zurich to Milan, over 55 travel, travel over 50, bucket list Europe, Milan street photography, aperitivo Milan, vintage trams Milan, Milano Oscuro, slow travel Italy