dolce vita

Last week I was sitting at my desk in St. Gallen, reflecting about supplier development in Russia and the developed research construct as the phone rang. Rici, a fellow survivor from Piter offered me to come to Milan over Easter… I was a little bit struggling as I just bounced another city trip plan but… MILAN… dolce vita… and the opportunity to meet some people who shared my experiences in Russia was just too tempting. I accepted the nice gesture! At the moment just in the train back to St. Gallen, je ne regrette rien! In just 2 days I had the chance to see Milan from its various facets… from looking at models on Rici’s balcony at Via Spartaco… to a very sweet Italian family get together this afternoon with delicious food… in between lounges, churches, cafes, friends, new people and of course plenty of espressi!

We left Friday at noon and were lucky with the traffic jam at the Gotthard as there was just a 3 kilometres queue (can be up to 15 kilometres long at the Easter weekend!). Arriving in Milan the first sightseeing out of the car (the fact that it was not a Fiat Punto but a VW Polo disturbed my stereotype a little). At Via Spartaco then ‘buon giorno’ and ‘ciao a tutti’. We left immediately for a first walk, took a break for Panzerotti behind the Duomo and ended in the Castello with a phone call and apologies for a late arrival at the dinner with Rici’s parents. After a delicious Milanesi dinner with his lovely parents we headed for Matteo’s flat… hugging, kissing and plenty of ‘ciao’ there. It was great to laugh and talk bullshit with the boys I have had such a great time with! After a beer and of course an espresso we headed to the twelve columns, grabbed some ‘walking beers’ on the way and stayed then outside, preparing for nightlife the Milanesi way… very cool indeed! The night ended at Porta Ticinese in a life music club with one of the strongest drinks in my life, the ‘invisible’.

This clear liquid caused that I was a little tired the next day as we got up at 11 and continued to explore the city. Once again the rule seemed to be proved that you can never experience a place than with a local matador! Passing Bocconi University that creates Italy’s leaders of tomorrow to Milan State University with its fantastic building from the 12th century we continued to the city centre with its shopping streets. We started at Via Monte Napoleone, dropped into Gucci’s store (great interior design) and Armani center (disappointing as it doesn’t meet the expectations of a luxury brand store and annoying that Armani seems to be the master of brand extension: you can find from Armani chocolate to underwear and toilet paper everything with his label), checked out the Bulgari hotel from the outside and back on Via della Spiga what represents in my opinion the stylish fashion shopping of Milan. No money, no shopping… too many temptations but I could resist. Well, it was rather the rational of my wallet… but for sure some of my first salaries will be spend in Milan ;-) we took a break with gelati from tre gazzelle and enjoyed them in front of the Duomo, checking out fashion victims, suburb gangsters (mostly meet the first characteristic too), models, invasions of tourists and other ‘see and be seen’s’.

Saturday night started at Palo Alto with an ‘apéro’ an amazing institution: 7 EUR make you get a big tasty drink and access to a delicious home made buffet à discretion. We continued with a bunch of people to Milano(where I could say ‘ciao’ to Paolo and that is somehow sponsored by the Italian furniture industry therefore has amazing interior design), then an ethnic lounge that served drinks in fruits (it felt for a sec like at the beach on a sunny afternoon though it was 2am in downtown Milano) and ended at Princi with some fresh pizza slices (I am jealous as the Milanesi can even finish their nightlife in a stylish way with great patisserie as back home I usually end up in a smoky kebap place… that of course has its charm too!).

Sunday was dedicated to a lovely brunch with the Bonetta family and its new members. Unfortunately I had to leave early afternoon to get back on track with my work on Monday. Grazie mille to the Bonetta’s and others for the fantastic weekend! Italian lifestyle and dolce vita was just a great escape from daily business. Furthermore I had the opportunity to experience this cool city from a local perspective though for only 48 hours and despite my non-existing Italian.