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The National Science and Technology museum knows what draws the crowds, hence its subtitle, “Leonardo da Vinci,” which refers to the wooden scale models of his inventions, which fill the main hall. However, the telecommunications work of Marconi, displays on physics, cinematography, electricity and other scientific marvels don’t get short shrift either (see Museo Nazionale della Scienza e delle Tecnica – Leonardo da Vinci, Milan).

Second only to the Duomo among Milan’s great churches (and to many, rather more beautiful), this 4th-century basilica, with a cloistered entryway, Paleochristian mosaics, medieval carvings and late Renaissance frescoes, counts among the region’s main Top 10.

Sant’Ambrogio

A free-standing row of 16 Corinthian columns – once part of a 2nd-century temple – sets San Lorenzo’s frontal piazza off from the road. The vast interior of the church is magnificent and sombre. It was built on a circular plan, with a ring-shaped ambulatory and matroneum, or raised women’s gallery, which often marked such early churches. The Chapel of S. Aquilino, to your right as you enter the building, preserves 4th-century mosaics, a 3rd-century sarcophagus and a Roman-era portal.

This museum houses important works from the treasuries of churches across Milan and Lombardy. In addition to numerous small panels by the 14th- and early 15th-century post-Giotto Gothic schools of central Italy, it preserves 17th-century Flemish tapestries and a number of fine altarpieces. Among these are Hayez’s glowing Crucifixion with Mary Magdalene and Tintoretto’s Christ and the Adulturer .

The chapels opening off the right side of this ancient church were added between the 11th and 13th centuries, and frescoed in the 1300s and 1400s – Bergognone provided the triptych in the first one. The immense and impressive Arc of St Peter Martyr in the magnificent Portinari Chapel (see Sant’Eustorgio, Milan) was carved by Balduccio.

A city as grand as Milan needed a port, so the long pool of the Darsena was dug in the 12th century, with the Naviglio Grande – a 50-km/30-mile canal stretching to the Mincio River (and thence the Po to the Adriatic) – leading into it. Today, the Navigli district is Milan’s most lively, bohemian neighbourhood. Its old warehouses now contain fashionable apartments and the towpaths are lined with restaurants, clubs, bars and shops. Its streets teem nightly with foodies out for a fine meal, young folks cruising the bars and street vendors spreading out sheets and rickety tables to form an impromptu bazaar. This is the only part of the city that stays open during the dog days of August.

The name reflecting its proximity to the abutting Romanesque church of San Celso, this Renaissance church shot up with remarkable speed between 1493 and 1506. Its most alluring aspect is the cloister-like court before the entrance, designed by Cesare Cesarino and considered one of the best examples of early 16th-century architecture in Milan.

This Greek-cross church, dating from 1713, is now used for exhibitions. It is surrounded by a small green park bounded by a lovely rosette-shaped ring of a cloister. Here, in summer, films are shown al fresco.

Rotonda di Via Besana

Originally a modest Greek-cross church of 1486–1530, it was elongated with a massive nave and deep chapel niches in 1573 to make it the second largest church in Milan. Its interior is dominated by the work of Daniele Crespi: a portrait of San Carlo in the first chapel on the left, most of the Passion series below the cupola at the crossing, the organ doors and throughout the Museo della Basilica (a series of rooms that open to the right of the altar).

A countryside abbey now surrounded by the roar of suburban Milan, Chiaravalle has survived the centuries since its construction (between 1172 and 1221) remarkably well. Its lovely Romanesque architecture is enhanced by 15th- and 16th-century murals and a Luini Madonna with Child in the right transept.

Abbazia di Chiaravalle