Hubby is a huge fan of soccer – or as the Italians say, calcio. Every trip to Europe has involved attending at least one, if not more, soccer games. I can’t really complain though. Soccer games in Europe are especially fun because of the devoted fans and the high level of competition.
Hubby is also a huge fan of trains, especially high-speed trains. He would prefer to travel by train than any other way I think. Lucky for us, and lucky for Italy, there are several high speed train options that leave from the nearby city of Reggio Emilia, including Italo which run at speeds as fast as 300 km/hour.
It should be no surprise then, that our first full weekend together in Italy, Hubby decided that we needed to go watch a soccer game and take a high speed train to get there.
Juventus and AC Milan are the top two teams in Serie A (the top Italian soccer league), and they just happened to be playing each other our first full weekend together in Italy. Serie A games are somewhat challenging to get tickets for though, because you have to be a registered, non-troublemaking Italian with an ID card to order them online (an effort to identify the members and curb the hooliganism of Ultras). Hubby was certain the game would be sold out, but wanted to figure out how to get tickets for another game, so he called the ticket office on Monday. Much to his surprise and delight, there were still a few tickets available and he quickly ordered them and we were off to Milan on Saturday.
Milan would normally be at least a two-hour drive by car, but on the train, it was a short 20 minute car ride to the train station (with free parking!) and an hour long train ride (only 40 minutes to the first stop in Milan).
After we quickly dropped off our stuff at the hotel, we made the journey to the city center. At the exact center of the city sits Il Duomo di Milano, seat of the archbishop of Milan. The Duomo is the 5th largest Cathedral in the world, and arguably one of the most beautiful. Going inside the Church is free, but to get to the top, you have to pay. There is an option to take an elevator or to climb the steps, and we climbed all 919 steps! There are actually two landings – the first is accessible by stairs and the elevator, but the top is accessible only by stairs.
I’ve been to some of the most beautiful Churches in Europe – La Sagrada Familia in Barcelona, Notre Dame in Paris – and this one is certainly near the top.
After our climb to the top, we needed some nourishment! I’d read about Luini’s on a expat blog, and saw that it was close to the Duomo, so we had to try it! Luini’s is a small storefront with two lines that are consistently out the door. They serve panzerotti, which is dough stuffed with mozzarella and tomato with other ingredients, and then they are baked or fried and served hot. They look like calzones, but are so much better. I had a spinach and ricotta, and Hubby had prosciutto. Delicious!
As we were walking away from the Luini’s, we came across the Adidas store. Hubby was determined to find me an AC Milan shirt or jersey to wear to the game, and sure enough, we found one! (Of course, I was wearing it to the game, but as soon as we got home, that t-shirt went directly into Hubby’s wardrobe.) After our successful shopping trip at Adidas, we went to the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II and the Quadrilatero d’Oro for window shopping and gelato! This is the heart of Italian fashion with all of the big names – Versace, Prada, Valentino, Armani, etc. It’s impressive to see everything but I was never in danger of spending any money.
After exploring the city center, and a quick change into our AC Milan gear, we headed out to Stadio San Siro for the game! The stadium is shared by the two Milan teams – AC Milan and InterMilan. It holds 80,000 people and is the second largest stadium in Europe. Hubby kept referring to it as “the Mecca of Italian soccer.”
The game was really exciting, but Juventus totally dominated. In the end, Juventus won 1-0. It was the first game we’ve been to where the home team lost. We happened to be sitting next to the Juventus fan section (which was separated from our section by a thick plexiglass and rightly so – the fans on both sides got rowdy!) so it was fun to see the other team get so excited by their road victory over their arch rival.
We left Milan early on Sunday to head back home because we had to catch a flight to Amsterdam that afternoon! It was a quick weekend trip, and hopefully we’ll be back soon to do more exploring. Until then, Ciao Milano!
