By Cathy H. Burroughs
International Travel Writer/Blogger

Milan in Northern Italy is currently drawing renewed and heightened attention by intrigued and curious culture and fashion vultures. Visitors from all over are swarming with a fervor, resulting in a dramatic upward trend in tourism. Between last February’s dazzling and beautifully orchestrated Winter and Para Olympics and the wildly popular Devil Wears Prada 2 movie release, Milan is hot hot hot in more ways than one.

The movie drew heightened awareness, centering on Milan’s more than 40 shows of its own high-voltage blend of intercontinental fashionistas, high profile brands and designer stars for its own Giorgio Armani instigated Fashion Week.

The movie, as would our tour, showcases Milan’s own glossy style center Quadrilatero della Moda, threatening to one day eclipse Paris’s.

Indeed, Milan, Italy is an impressive, sophisticated epicenter of genius, forward- thinking architects and furniture designers, fashion market dominance and worldwide financial prowess. It constantly surprises; for this city is fully loaded with unexpected curveballs and out of left field factoids as our guide Ludo would reveal. From his six person chariot, he would dynamically peel back the layers of this multi-layered metropolis.

So it went. We galavanted through the city where the happy hour aperitivo phenom was created (and is going strong in the city’s last canalled neighborhood Navigli where sidewalk cafes come alight at night). Where saffron risotto was cooked up and panettone is served to celebrate the holidays year-round.

There, via golf cart we would access elusive courtyards, rarely traversed palazzos and back-alleys of nearly all eight of its remarkable and distinctive flavored districts.

Under the esteemed tutelage of the handsome, multi-lingual ( English, French, German, Spanish and Italian) tour meister Ludo of Lechuguita Travel and his swiftly maneuvering VIP Luxury Golf Cart half or full day citywide, we would more fully begin to truly crack our own version of this alluring and inscrutable city’s own DaVinci Code.

DaVinci was based in Milan for two decades. Here he created his masterwork The Last Supper. With his life and work come some of Milan’s closely held secrets: Even more would be revealed from the lips of Ludo of Lechuguita Travel, our in-the-know, in-the-loop master guide.

Throughout our multi-hour afternoon immersion course details would emerge revealing in part the full scope of the great DaVinci’s contributions to the Milanese economic and cultural landscape. These would include the invention of the lock system, converting an intricate canal system, that no longer exists today. With an absence of sea water, the locks would transmute these canals into a complex, highly-effective global trade network. The locks would then play a key role in shaping Milan into Italy’s, and, for that matter, the world’s, power-brokering financial hub that it is today.

In Ludo’s capable hands:

  • WE CAME aloft the lavish golf cart where Ludo picked us up and showered light on our residential Dergano outskirting base.
  • WE SAW the city’s authentic sprawling contrast of its Old World and fully contemporary Chinatown, the second oldest in the EU; the lyrical and enticing artsy and fashion ateliers of once magical and metaphysical Brera; the edgy bohemian converted industrial spaces of Isola, evocative of New York’s artists’ lofts of Soho in its early years. Of course we paid homage to the iconic duomo, castle, and, overarching galleria; the towering curving record-breaking skyscrapers and vertical forests of Porto Nuovo and City Life, boasting the residences of many of Milan’s top-ranked soccer players and Italy’s tallest building; its signature gargantuan conceptual and deconstructed avant garde sculptures, notably our tour’s culminating heroic towering sculpture – the middle finger.This famed/ infamous piece defiantly faces off with the city’s Stock Exchange, boldly expressing Milan’s indefatigable spirit of invention, self expression, freedom and the indomitable will to overcome adversity. Seeming to shout: “Let the spirit of Milan inspire and awaken all who enter its Roman ruins of its Medieval gates, and thus be made more fully aware of its vibrant and futuristic ferocious soul of innovation!”
  • AND, lastly, WE CONQUERED, the sometimes nearly 100 degree Fahrenheit red alert August summer, Milan’s mean sidewalks, testing quixotic summer bus routes and steaming miles of its subterranean metro.
  • WE FINALLY SUCCUMBED to the absolute rarity of an actual Golf Cart Tour in Milan, downright breezy and reinvigorating with Ludo’s golf cart prowess and ebullient and dynamic delivery.

All this and lots more courtesy of Ludo’s red letter comprehensive VIP Luxury Golf Cart Tour into Milan’s sublime treasure trove of earthly delights – exceeding all expectations!

LECHUGUITA TRAVEL & EXPERIENCES
with their Premium Partner Featuring the luxury Golf Cart VIP Experience Milan & Rome: ITALY VIP TOURS.
WhatsApp: +39 3514782849)

Ludo (Ludovico) and his partner Antonella head up this premier boutique travel design agency with officially licensed tour leaders. They specialize in crafting tailor-made itineraries and providing high-end guiding services for both daily experiences and multi-day trips. They work directly with international clients, as well as in collaboration with top-tier tour operators and travel agencies worldwide, providing comprehensive A-to-Z travel planning (flights, land services, 24/7 support, and insurance.

To contact:
www.lechuguita.art
Info@lechuguita.art
WhatsApp / Phone (ITA): +39 3793052307
Facebook: Lechuguita Travel & Experiences
Phone (USA): +1 (786) 822-6338 (Active during specific time zones)

*Exclusive Lechuguita Discount:*
While standard prices are listed on their website, travelers who book directly through Lechuguita Travel will receive exclusive dedicated discounts.

Big thanks go to Giacomo Chieffi of YesMilano.

Cathy H. Burroughs is a widely published travel writer and blogger whose passion for Europe permeates her articles and travel coverage. Her articles have appeared in the New York Times international supplement and elsewhere. She is the travel and adventure blogger for www.journeypod.com, a lauded online luxury travel guide, and others.