Life style ... window shopping on Via Monte Napoleone.
In a city bursting with passion and style, Ben Groundwater is quick to indulge.
FRANCESCO walks over to our table, hands wrung in concern. "Tutto bene?" he asks worriedly, motioning towards the plates of risotto and tortellini, wanting to make sure we're enjoying them.
I nod. "Si, tutto bene, very nice."
Francesco's face cracks into a smile as he gazes up to the sky.
"Oh, grazie Signor!" he cries in mock thanks to God. "Grazie Signor."
Galleria Vittorio Emanuele.Credit: Getty Images
It's all a show, of course, for the happy customers but Francesco's theatrics come from somewhere real. There's a lot of love that's gone into these simple dishes at his eponymous Milan restaurant, Papa Francesco, and he wants to know that it's being appreciated.
Francesco has passion and it's a great thing to see. But he's not the only one - this is a city of passion. Most people don't come to trendy, aloof Milan expecting to find hearts on sleeves but they're there if you look for them, especially in the pursuits that give the northern Italian city its soul: food, fashion and football. The three F's. Milan's heart beats for these three.
Francesco is passionate but so too are the fans who pack the terraces of the San Siro, Milan's main soccer stadium, every Sunday to watch two of Italy's most successful teams battle for supremacy. Most conversations in Milan inevitably turn to football - who's injured, who's the star, who's going to the game.
Similarly, an obsession with fashion runs through the Milanese veins. Everyone's outfit is chosen as carefully as a football team line-up or an antipasto platter - it's there to be appreciated in this famously stylish city. You are what you wear in Milan; attention to detail counts.
The city's passions might seem divergent but there are places where they meet. Try the Emporio Armani Caffe, in the heart of the city, a restaurant crossed with fashion boutique, the sort of spectacular clash between haute couture and haute cuisine that Milan counts as normal.
Bar della Crocetta is another, more downmarket example. It mightn't be the most fashionable address in town but the food is amazing and if AC Milan, Internazionale or the Italian national football team is playing, you can guarantee there will be a large crowd of men cheering in front of the big screen that's attached to the wall.
Bar della Crocetta is to panini what the city's favourite footballing son, former AC Milan star Paolo Maldini, is to the round-ball game: the ultimate exponent. There are more than 150 sandwich combinations on the menu and if none of those takes your fancy the staff will knock up the combo of your choice. It's an unpretentious little joint in an unpretentious suburb but if you can eat a mortadella panino, drink a beer and watch a football game and not have had one of the most enjoyable dining experiences of your life, something's amiss.
Football, in fact, seems to permeate most levels of Milanese life. It crosses all boundaries - from politics to families, food to fashion, it doesn't take much to dig up an obsession with soccer.
If there was ever a question of the Milanese's commitment to their city's two biggest teams, you only have to look at those clubs' owners. One, Massimo Moratti at Internazionale, is an oil baron determined to lift his boyhood team back to its former glory. The other, a certain Silvio Berlusconi at AC Milan, is ... well, Silvio Berlusconi. Media baron, recent prime minister of the country, possible nutcase. No more need be said.
The city's football rivals are unique in that they share a home stadium, the imposing San Siro, more correctly called the Stadio Giuseppe Meazza. The city has a rich history - AC and Inter are equal as the second-most successful teams in Italian football - and there's a match on every Sunday during the season, when the San Siro stands fill with Milanese supporting either of the city's teams or, in the rare case of a derby match, both at the same time.
Even when there's no game on, visitors can take a tour of the famed stadium, wandering through the stands, checking out a football nerd's dream array of silverware in the trophy cabinets and even visiting the changing rooms, which have been designed by their respective clubs' owners: Inter Milan's rooms are simple, reflecting the working-class ethic of Moratti, while AC Milan's rooms are plush, with leather seating and plasma screens, a sign of the more outlandish tastes of the maligned former prime minister.
In a city such as Milan there is, of course, a link between football and fashion, a notion that might seem incongruous in Australia (at least, if you've ever watched a Dally M or Brownlow ceremony) but which just seems to work here. Local designer Giorgio Armani is a well-known AC Milan tragic. The Versace label dresses the Inter players. The fans in the stands might treat football jerseys as fashion statements but everywhere else in the city the dress sense is impeccable. There's not a scuffed boot or ill-considered hem to be found. It's not an overt sense of high fashion, though - it's subtle. It's less Lady Gaga and more Carla Bruni-Sarkozy.
To begin with, you don't feel out of place as a traveller in Milan. What's all the fuss about, you wonder - for the fashion capital of the world, no one seems particularly fashionable. Gradually, however, the neat, refined look of everyone around you begins to sink in and within a few days you're feeling chronically underdressed. It almost seems a good idea to drape a jumper around your shoulders, or throw on a natty scarf to try to fit in.
This is the home of Armani and Versace, of course, but also Gucci and Prada, Dolce & Gabbana and Miu Miu. Your average Milanese can't afford to wear those labels, of course, but there are options, as the streets around the Duomo - the cathedral and centrepiece of Milanese culture - are lined with boutique stores selling slightly more affordable versions of those world-famous classics.
The Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II is a good place to begin your odyssey della moda. It's a spectacular building, a huge glass-ceilinged arcade that leads straight from the square around the Duomo.
It houses Prada, Gucci and Louis Vuitton but also, rather strangely, a mood killer in a McDonald's.
A stroll down nearby Via Monte Napoleone is like a window into a fabulous life you have no chance of leading.
It's Milan's couture capital - you half expect to see Berlusconi go strolling past, or at least Maldini. Ferraris slowly trundle down the slim road; a Lamborghini purrs at an intersection.
You can check off the fashion world's biggest names like a shopping list: Rolex, Yves Saint Laurent, Valentino, Armani, Miu Miu, Ferragamo, Bally ... they're all there. The price tags are astronomical but the window shopping is free.
Fortunately, dining out in Milan doesn't have to be so fashion-forward. Breakfast is usually a simple affair, a quick cappuccio and a cream-filled croissant eaten standing at the bar at one of the city's thousands of cafes. It's not something to linger over - you get in, slam your coffee down, yell and wave your arms at your breakfasting compatriots, laugh uproariously and get out. Lunch is more of the same - a quick panino or a figure-friendly salad and it's over.
Dinner, however, is an event and Milan's best establishments can be found in the most unfashionable places. Papa Francesco has pride of place near the Duomo but the best pizzas in town are at Da Maruzzella, a family-run joint in one of the city's rougher areas. It feels dodgy but the permanent line winding out the door says it all: these guys have passion. And it's appreciated.
The writer was a guest of Singapore Airlines and Expedia.
Trip notes
Getting there
Singapore Airlines flies daily from Sydney to Milan. 13 10 11, singaporeair.com.
Staying there
The Hotel Romana Residence is centrally located and has spacious, clean rooms from $99 a night. expedia.com.au.
See + Do
San Siro Museum and Tour is open every day from 10am until 5pm, with exceptions for match days. Tours cost €12.50 ($17). sansirotour.com.
Papa Francesco is at Piazza della Scala, Milan.
Da Maruzzella is at Piazza Guglielmo Oberdan 3, Milan.
Bar della Crocetta is at 67 Corso di Porta Romana, Milan.
The Emporio Armani Caffe is at 2 Via Crocerossa, Milan (near Via Manzoni).
More information
Five other things to do
1 Opera at La Scala One of the world's most famous concert halls, La Scala is a must-visit for culture vultures, particularly after recent renovations. Tickets are available online.
2 Shop on Via Buenos Aires It can be a little daunting seeing all those Gucci and Prada signs but help is at hand: Via Buenos Aires provides shopping at a reasonable price.
3 Stroll through the Navigli When the sun sets, there's only one place to go to soak up modern Milanese nightlife: the Navigli. The area's canals are lined with restaurants, bars and people who like to look at each other.
4 See The Last Supper at Santa Maria delle Grazie Responsible for millions of tourists and one fairly silly novel, Leonardo da Vinci's The Last Supper is reason alone to visit Milan. Tickets for a 15-minute slot in front of the famous mural must be booked online.
5 Clamber over the Duomo Take an elevator to the top of the centrepiece of Milan, the Duomo cathedral. The roof provides a beautiful view of the city, sometimes to the chorus of the hymns being sung in the church below.
For the diary
January 15, 2012: Internazionale v AC Milan It's the fixture that stops a city — or something like that. The whole place comes to a standstill when Internazionale and AC meet and if you're lucky enough to score a ticket to the San Siro, it's one of the great sporting experiences. Otherwise, any old bar will do.
February 22, 2012: Milan Fashion Week Get your hit of Armani, your taste of Valentino and your dose of Dolce & Gabbana at one of the world's premier fashion festivals. The Milanese look great any time of the year but they go to serious lengths during this twice-yearly showcase of the latest haute couture.
June, 2012: Milano Food Week Sample the best of Lombardy cuisine — gorgonzola, salami, osso buco, cassuela — during this weeklong series of events. There are usually free cooking classes and many restaurants put on special menus from which to gorge.
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