"Overseen by the same person who owns Kanpai (the Japanese izakaya dining establishment in the same street), Røst is another casual restaurant that serves up sharing plates. Sicilian chef Piermaria Trischitta mans the kitchen using seasonal, top-quality ingredients. To start, there are tasty mondeghili (Milanese meatballs) followed by pork belly as well as fish and vegetarian courses. To drink, there is wine from small-scale producers and natural vintners."

"Unassuming and discreet, this hotel overlooking the canal is an intimate 30-room affair – and surprisingly quiet, considering its location in buzzy Navigli. Four years of sensitive restoration were needed to revamp the 19th-century casa di ringhiera, a typical Milanese house with a shared balcony. The result, finished in 2011, is all the more tasteful thanks to the vintage furnishings chosen by collector Raimondo Garau. The main part of the hotel wraps around an internal courtyard and each floor’s railings are covered in sweetly scented jasmine. Under a coffered ceiling on the ground floor, Ristorante Bugandè serves chef Davide Brovelli’s contemporary versions of Lombard classics, including the omnipresent cotoletta (veal cutlet) and creamy risotto."

"Set on a bucolic canal on the outskirts of the city (read: a decent taxi ride), Erba Brusca is run by French-US chef Alice Delcourt, whose previous positions include a stint at The River Café in London. A mainstay of the menu is the pasta with clams, truffles and wild erba brusca (sorrel). As with many of the ingredients that end up in Delcourt’s colourful dishes, the sorrel is plucked directly from the adjoining garden: come in the warmer months when the tables spill out onto the patio. Delcourt’s partner – sommelier and maître d’ Danilo Ingannamorte – will help you to navigate the natural wine list."

"Rossana Orlandi has established herself as the guru of the Milanese scene, launching emerging designers with her renowned and offbeat taste for new ideas. A warren of ever-changing installations by talents such as Piet Hein Eek, Nacho Carbonell and Maarten Baas surrounds Orlandi’s covered courtyard, which acts as a living room for Milan’s design world. “It’s more than a gallery,” says Orlandi. “It’s a design hub – a space to experience design with an open mind.”"

"The huge statue of Napoleon in the courtyard hints at this museum’s past – in 1809 the French emperor exhibited Italian art looted by his armies here. Today the 17th-century palazzo holds the pick of Italy’s masters, including Raphael and Caravaggio, and modern works by Umberto Boccioni and Modigliani. Careful lighting and fresh decor, courtesy of new director James Bradburne, make the canvases an even greater pleasure to see. Visit the Ettore Sottsass-designed glass restoration chamber to see paintings unframed for retouching."

"Built between 1967 and 1974 to an urban design co-ordinated by Carlo Aymonino, with involvement from postmodernist poster-boy Aldo Rossi, this terracotta-coloured complex is a must-see for anyone with an interest in social-housing architecture. The layout comprises five blocks of varying forms and sizes, designed as a whole in three geometric shapes – cube, parallelepiped (slanted cube) and cylinder – while primary-colour accents act as overarching motifs. In true brutalist fashion, the architects ignored all links to context and instead chose to revive historic concepts of the city: the street, the square, the shared balcony and, perhaps most pleasingly, the theatre – the amphitheatre at the heart of the complex is a true urban gem."

"After years of abandonment, the Pier Lombardo Fondazione (the organisation behind the nearby Franco Parenti theatre) decided to revive this 1930s gem. Another masterpiece by rationalist architect Luigi Secchi, today Bagni Misteriosi features two beautifully restored public pools and wide terraces popular with locals looking to catch some rays. In summer, fees range according to the time of day. On Thursdays, the pools are open until midnight."