Milan Guide

Located in the city center (Brera), the family-owned spot has been a wonderland of alcohol since 1952. You can find everything you need to make the season a bit brighter, including prosecco, champagne, wine and every kind of liquor.

An historic destination—open for more than a century!—near the center of Milan, Drogheria Radrizzani is an excellent one-stop shop for a whole host of holiday needs. Their Pugliese taralli are tops; their selection of wine, champagne and liquor is excellent; and there is a veritable cornucopia of biscuits and the brightly wrapped chocolates that Italians love to place in bowls around their homes come December.

This 62-year-old grocer sells meat, cheese, wine, homemade ice cream, and they can even source you a rare-in-Italy turkey. However, its ‘Orchard’ section is truly a thing of wonder—where Caravaggio might have sent his apprentice to pick up perfectly picturesque mandarins, pomegranates and grapes. It’s ideal for Italians who have a penchant for luxurious displays of fruit during the Christmas season.

Utterly old-school and flawless in presentation, Peck deserves a visit whether you’re shopping for your at-home aperitivo spread or not—especially during the holidays. However, if you are shopping for perfect festive ready-made-splendor, look no further than their salatini, meats and cheeses.

Not everything about an Italian holiday needs to be over-the-top. This shop, opened by architect and designer Paolo Tilche in 1955, provides the city’s design community with sleekly modernist votives and vases for their Christmas tables. Consider it an aesthetic breath of fresh air.

Walking into this jewel box of a shop is like stumbling into a czarina’s cupboard, stacked with exquisite colored glass all finished in lacy gold trim. Their selection of ornaments is nothing short of dreamy—with prices to match. For further festivity, pick up some of their equally regal goblets to toast to the year ahead.

This isn’t a fancy candle brand with cult scents. Rather, it’s the spot to pick up decorative candles for your centerpieces, mantels and other festive lighting needs. They have a rainbow of cylinders and tapers—both smooth and in the twisty torchon variety—along with tealights, festively hued ball-shaped candles and more.

One of the last great pasticcerie in Milan still doing things the old-fashioned way. Sometimes your order never materializes, but nobody minds at Cucchi, where the sfoglia alla mela is delectable and the dapper 84-year-old Mr. Cucchi commands the cash register in a finely pressed suit and tie. There’s wonderful outdoor seating and a fabulous clientele—fashion designers, art directors, screaming toddlers and octogenarians galore.

If you don’t mind standing up, this jewel box of a bar is the place for your morning cappuccino and brioche. Bought by Prada in early 2014, luckily nothing has changed at the 90 year-old café. The chocolates are to die for, the coffee top class, and the panettone consistently wins kudos from locals.