Milan

Milan is the working capital of Italian fashion, design, and advertising, and the financial centre that funds them. Studios and agencies cluster in Brera, Porta Romana, Tortona, Isola, and the warehouse belts in Ripamonti and Lambrate. Production crews, fashion stylists, photographers, illustrators, and an unusually strong industrial and graphic design bench all work here at international standards. The city compresses fashion week, design week, art and luxury campaigns into a calendar that runs flat out from February through October.

Milan eats Lombard and Italian: risotto alla milanese, ossobuco, cotoletta, panettone in winter, plus a serious aperitivo tradition that runs through the city's evenings around Navigli, Brera, and Porta Venezia. Coffee is short, strong, and standing. The metro is the city's spine; trams cover the rest; everything stops between 13:00 and 16:00 in the older districts in summer. Tipping is light (round up; mancia is appreciated, not expected). For the country baseline on visas, tipping, and broadcast rules, see /countries/italy.