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.

Tokyo transplant Tenoha offers a 360-degree Japanese experience with a restaurant, shop, event space and ramen joint at their via Vigevano complex.

Every Sciura’s secret weapon is a fully stocked arsenal of Richard Ginori dinnerware. The historic Tuscan ceramics maker is now owned by Gucci, which has given it a new fashion-focused flair. Stop by the Brera flagship to check out collections from past and present.

Milan’s already excellent vintage shopping scene just got a little more competitive with the opening of The Cloister in Cinque Vie, a tightly curated edit of clothes and accessories spanning the last century.

The cool kids of the New York design scene, furniture and lighting designers Apparatus, have installed their elevated style sense into a moodily rendered shop front on via Santa Marta.

Milan-based jewellery designer Osanna Visconti shows her exquisite bronze wares in a former stable on via Santa Marta. There you’ll find remarkable jewelry and tabletop offerings.

A concept shop for the city’s coolest girls, Lizard champions independent designers in their Instagram-worthy HQ in Cinque Vie. Find ultra-feminine dresses, accessories and design objects over two adorable floors.

Every ballerina from London to St. Petersburg knows the importance of a quality shoe, and this Milanese outpost has been outfitting La Scala’s ballerinas for years. Those who don’t know their plié from their pirouette, fear not: Porselli make a range of ballerina flats for normal life, and there’s no pre-requisite for being on point.

You already know that Italy is the place for great glasses, but here you can check out the whole history of it. Everything from old-school monocles to 60’s butterfly lenses to modern-day Valentinos– this dense little shop has it all, and will look even better through a fresh pair of frames.

Only the Italians would take the traditional shape and silhouette of the “fisherman’s lunch bag” and repackage it as a cute, totally practical day-to-day handbag. Soft, stripey cotton and sturdy leather handles make this the perfect carry-all for your work gear and equally cool for your seaside stash.