The One European City Every Art and Design Lover Should Visit This Year—and, No, It’s Not Paris

It is not Rome. It is not Venice. And that is precisely the allure of this cosmopolitan city often overlooked by travelers yearning for the splendors of Italy . What a blind spot.

Milan , long a global center of fashion and textiles and the gateway to the Italian Alps and Lake Como, "is a city that sneaks up on you," says gallerist, collector, and patron Nina Yashar. "You think you know it, and then you stumble upon a tiny gallery, a rooftop with a hidden view, or a perfect pastry shop. It is a place where history and innovation meet effortlessly."

The canniest luxury travel experts have spotted the moment. "Design is the new art, which was the new food," says Embark Travel founder and CEO Jack Ezon, who journeys the world peering around the corner for what's coming next. And what he and others see in the city that cohosted the 2026 Winter Olympic Games is a new generation of luxury hotels and design brands flocking in—notably The Carlton, a sumptuous hotel on the Via della Spiga; and RH's new outpost in the Porta Venezia district, a 75,000-square-foot gallery set to open in a historic palazzo during April's Design Week. Better yet: The buzz in Milan has a distinctly untouristy feel. "Milan rewards curiosity and time, not checklist visits," says Britt Moran, cofounder with Emiliano Salci of Dimorestudio and Dimoremilano.

"This is a city that you can't 'discover' in five days," adds interior designer Paolo Moschino, who with partner Philip Vergeylen created the aforementioned Carlton. "Milan is incredibly elegant, but everything is behind doors. It takes time, but then when you start, you find things that you didn't think existed!" Although their studio and showrooms are based in London, Vergeylen says he'd move to Milan in a heartbeat. "There's an energy in Milan," he says. "It's what London had 15 years ago."

A Sizzling Shopping and Gallery Circuit

The thrill of the hunt in Milan begins with fashion beyond the international brands that line Via della Spiga. Ezon adores sending style-loving clients to the flagship boutique of luxe urban brand Golden Goose, while Yashar's hit list includes the fresh, elegant curation at Antonia and 10 Corso Como for discovering emerging designers ("Every corner holds a surprise!").

But there's much more to the city than just the sartorial: Yashar scoops up gifts and perfumes from Mazzolari; Moschino and Vergeylen love Merceria Guffanti, a historic haberdashery that's home to, as Vergeylen puts it, "at least a million buttons!" In Milan's gallery scene, the road begins at Yashar's esteemed Nilufar on Via della Spiga and her newer Nilufar Depot on Viale Vincenzo Lancetti, and the gallerist happily shares another pick: Building Gallery, which specializes in contemporary masterpieces.

Art Exhibits That Challenge and Thrill

"What excites me most in Milan is how the city continues to evolve while staying deeply rooted in its cultural identity," says Nina Yashar, who has been championing contemporary design in addition to vintage masterpieces at her Nilufar galleries for more than four decades. She begins her list of favorites with the world-renowned Fondazione Prada, which occupies a restored circa-1910 distillery in the southern section of Milan, and adds the Fondazione's Osservatorio—two floors devoted to the intersection of art, design, and technology housed within a 19th-century iron-and-glass-domed indoor shopping arcade.

Milan's lively conversations of old, newer, and newest continue to thrill her, like the long-awaited next phase of La Grande Brera, a cultural complex in the heart of the city that unites two 18th-century palace museums: Pinacoteca di Brera, with its collection spanning from the Renaissance to the early 20th century (including Caravaggio's Supper at Emmaus); and Palazzo Citterio (just opened in 2024), with 20th-century masterworks from Modigliani to Picasso.

Superb, Step-Back-in-Time House Museums

"When preservation is done well," Britt Moran says, "it feels rare, poetic, and deeply meaningful, offering a sense of continuity amid a changing city." Fortunately, he adds, "Milan still has cultural institutions and heritage protections that safeguard many precious spaces." He offers as an example Casa Museo Boschi Di Stefano, the former residence of art-collecting couple Antonio Boschi and Marieda Di Stefano—which is also a favorite of Moschino and Vergeylen, who add Villa Necchi Campiglio, an early-1930s family house in the heart of the city designed by Piero Portaluppi in the Milanese Rationalist style.

"It's one of my favorite houses in the world!" Vergeylen says. Other can't-miss house museums: Neo-Renaissance Museo Bagatti Valsecchi and midcentury Casa Fornasetti.

Hotels: Milan's New Swans

Milan's latest runway moment belongs to The Carlton from Rocco Forte Hotels, Paolo Moschino and Philip Vergeylen's transformation of a faded midcentury hotel on the Via della Spiga into a celebration of the city's sophisticated design DNA. (For those who want to experience life in a 19th-century palazzo, the intimate apartments of Moschino and Vergeylen's exquisitely restored Rocco Forte House are nearby.)

The Carlton joins Jack Ezon's other favorite new luxury hotels—Casa Brera, a Luxury Collection Hotel that's a handkerchief-wave from Teatra alla Scala; and the Ferragamo-owned Portrait Milano. "I'm obsessed with Michele Bönan's design and the local vibe in the bar at Portrait," Ezon confesses.

This new generation of Milan hotels, he says—with their dynamic, inviting public spaces—cultivates the ephemeral magic of mingling: "Imagine sitting at a lounge in your hotel surrounded by a who's who of Italian elite," he says. "People whose family names are probably emblazoned on your bag or sweater."

Design's "It" Show, Salone del Mobile

"In the past few years, Salone del Mobile has become a hotter ticket than Art Basel," Ezon says. No one knows this better than Yashar, a driving force in the April juggernaut of Milan Design Week. "It's the heart of creative energy in the city," she says, "when Milan really turns into a stage for design." The main exhibition at Rho Fiera Milano shows the latest in furniture, lighting, and interiors from top international and emerging designers, while Fuorisalone brings the city to life with installations and events in galleries, showrooms, and historic spaces.

"Designers, journalists, collectors, and design lovers from everywhere come," Yashar says. (More destination events: Milan Art Week and MiArt take over the city a week earlier with exhibits, talks, gallery events, and pop-up exhibitions. From late October to early November, Milano Arch Week celebrates architecture and spatial design.

This article was originally featured in the May/June 2026 issue of VERANDA.

You Might Also Like

• 9 Landscaping Ideas That Make Your House Look More Expensive

• 34 Rare Vintage Photos of The Plaza Hotel

• These 10 Things Are Making Your Antiques Look Cheap, According to Designers