A Food Tour Through Navigli
Our last full day in Milan opened with a walking food tour through Navigli. We were buzzing before we’d even left the apartment. This was shaping up to be the most purely delicious few hours of the entire trip, and it delivered. We met our guide Simone near the Duomo and walked with him about ten minutes to join the rest of the group: a couple from north New Jersey and two young women, one from Virginia and one from Chicago. Simone, young and friendly, moved through Milan’s narrow side streets like he’d been born knowing every turn.
A Balsamic Vinegar Education at Giusti Boutique
Our first stop set the tone for everything that followed: a balsamic vinegar tasting at Giusti Boutique near the Duomo. It turned out to be one of the unexpected highlights of the entire trip. For thirty or forty minutes, a wonderfully knowledgeable salesperson, also, delightfully, named Simone, walked us through the aging process. He pulled out bottles at one, five, ten, fifteen, and twenty years and let us taste the difference at each stage. I’d always just grabbed the first balsamic vinegar I saw off a supermarket shelf, without a second thought. That illusion is now permanently shattered, and I couldn’t be happier about it.
Street Markets and a Vintage Car Show
From there the day just kept giving. We browsed a street market selling old coins, postage stamps, vintage cards, and assorted knickknacks. A vintage car show stopped us in our tracks, a beautifully kept old Citroën among the highlights. A few more stops followed, each one a small surprise: the former home of a notorious murderer from a century ago, and a museum housing works by Michelangelo.
Pizza (and White Wine) at Materia Pizzeria
Ten or fifteen minutes later, we arrived at Materia Pizzeria in Milano Centro on Via del Torchio, absolutely ready to eat. It delivered: authentic Neapolitan-Milanese pizza made with organic tomatoes, basil, and mozzarella from the owners’ own farm near Naples. Freshly baked sourdough disappeared before we’d even properly noticed it going. Here’s the twist that had us all buzzing at the table: the restaurant served it with a medium-dry white wine. That pairing apparently complements tomato and fresh mozzarella beautifully. Americans somehow missed that memo entirely. We walked away feeling like we’d been let in on a delicious secret.
Charcuterie at Blue M – Bottega Marchigiana
Barely had the pizza settled before we sat down at Blue M – Bottega Marchigiana for an aperitif and a spread. For us, that meant a vegetarian, eclectic mix: cheese, sautéed potatoes, sliced baby tomatoes, cucumber, breaded rosemary, and seaweed. The combination sounded unlikely on paper and worked completely on the plate. I ordered a Campari spritz to go with it, because by this point in the trip, why not.
Pastries and One Last Gelato
We moved on, still buzzing, to Pasticceria Cucchi on Corso Genova. Then, because it was hot and humid and how could we possibly resist, we stopped at VERO Gelateria Cremeria on Corso di Porta Ticinese for one last, exquisite gelato. It made the perfect final bite of a food tour that never once let up.
Packing Up and Heading Toward Piedmont
Had to stop for an aperitif, and one last look at the Duomo. Packing that night felt bittersweet in the best way, the particular mix of exhaustion and satisfaction that only comes from genuinely using up a place. In five days we’d covered Milan on foot, by tram, by boat, and by sheer stubborn appetite. Somehow, we still wished we had more time. The next morning we checked out of the Airbnb and caught a taxi to the Thread, Needle & Knot statue near Milan’s train station, our meeting point for the next chapter: a guided tour into the Piedmont region. Milan had been extraordinarily generous with us: gelato at every turn, a surprise appearance by a Formula 1 champion, a near-missed train that somehow turned into one of our best days, and a balsamic vinegar education we never knew we needed. As the taxi pulled away, one thing felt certain: Piedmont would have to work hard to keep up.
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