Spring, with its long, warm days, is the perfect time to roam around Milan and stop by the new places to eat and shop. The city’s museums, too, are staging fresh exhibitions of established and emerging artists. For those looking for a taste of what’s new in the city, here are our recommendations.
Osteria di Brera
Osteria di Brera is open again at Via San Marco, 5, after four years of renovations. Well-known restaurant manager Enrico Forti founded the locale, set in the city’s storied and arty Brera neighborhood, in 2010. Fori’s son Marcello currently owns and manages the restaurant, continuing the tradition of offering mainly raw fish.
Taking inspiration from the seaside brasseries of southern France, Osteria di Brera is headed by chef Giovanni Muro. Marked by informal design with a wooden floor that adds warmth and a color palette of red with touches of blue, the restaurant seats around 40 people, and the space also features comfy sofas and additional tables.
There are traditional dishes such as Milanese cotoletta with clarified butter, saffron risotto and veal ossobuco with gremolata. Vegetarian options include potatoes with thyme, cabbage salad and fennel, orange and walnut salad.
Osteria di Brera
Via San Marco, 5 – 20121
Tel. 02-29-06-1051
osteriadibrera.it
Sachi Milano
Sunset Hospitality Group (SHG) has brought Japanese restaurant Sachi to Milan. It is located in Via Orefici, 26, inside the Hotel Palazzo Cordusio, Gran Meliá. In Japanese, “sachi” means happiness, which is the feeling chef Moon Kyung Soo aims to infuse throughout his menu with the kappo ryori approach, literally “cutting and cooking,” which combines more formal dining “kaiseki” and the casual izakaya-style cuisine, which includes small dishes served with drinks.
The menu begins with the starter, “kobachi” — such as the green friggitelli with honey red miso, caviar and truffle aioli. The raw plates on offer include salmon tartare, bluefin tuna carpaccio with truffle and Japanese pumpkin. Sachi has a wide selection of fine wines, beers, sake, Japanese whiskies and signature cocktails.
“Japanese cuisine is an ancient art that has now conquered even the most traditional palates,” explains chef Moon Kyung Soo. “The menu designed for Sachi tells a story of Japanese rituals and traditions that are combined with seasonal products such as rare breed meat and fresh fish, and which maintain a deep connection with nature, using vegetables from local growers.”
Sachi Milano
Via Orefici, 26 – 20123
Tel. 02-82-75-9853
sachirestaurants.com
Frab’s Magazines
The central Porta Venezia district has welcomed a new destination for magazine lovers. Frab’s Magazines has opened its first permanent store in Via Sirtori, 11.
Founded five years ago by Anna Frabotta, journalist and professor at IED in Milan, and Dario Gasparri, retail manager, the shop sells independent magazines and organizes activities related to art, culture and publishing.
More than 900 magazines from fashion, design and photography to art, literature and cinema and more are available in the store. Most of them come from Europe but there are also options from Asia, the United States and the Middle East.
Events play a leading role at the Prota Venezia store, with a rich schedule of presentations and workshops ahead of Mag to Mag, the independent periodical publishing festival curated by Frab’s, the only one in Italy exclusively dedicated to magazines. The second edition of the festival will take place from Sept. 14 -15 in Milan.
Frab’s Magazines
Via Giuseppe Sirtori, 11 – 20129
frabsmagazines.com
Kult hair salon
The hair salon Kult celebrates its second unit in Milan, located in the heart of Porta Venezia, on Via Bellotti, 7. Kult’s treatments include hair color and lamination.
According to Kult’s founders Giampaolo and Daniele Gore, the salon represents a creative laboratory with hair.
The setting of Kult is a tribute to craftsmanship and functional design. The furniture was custom-made by skilled artisans, and the space is intended as an art gallery with plans to rotate through different art projects.
The salon’s intimate, cozy and bright environment creates a relaxing and inspiring atmosphere, where each person feels motivated and valued. “At Kult, we believe that the environment we are in has a profound impact on our experience, which is why we have put so much effort into creating a space that not only reflects our philosophy, but also enhances creativity,” the founders said.
Kult hair salon
Via Felice Bellotti, 7 – 20129
kultmilano.com
‘Miranda July: New Society’ Exhibition
Fondazione Prada has unveiled the first solo museum exhibition of artist, filmmaker and writer Miranda July’s work, running until Oct. 14 at the Osservatorio in Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II. Curated by Mia Locks, the exhibit spans three decades, from the early ’90s until today, with short films, performances, and installation works by the artist. It also debuts a new work by July called “F.A.M.I.L.Y.” (Falling apart meanwhile I love you), a multichannel video installation featuring the yearlong collaboration with seven other performers via Instagram. July’s entire filmography will be screened at Fondazione Prada’s Cinema Godard.
“July’s work examines a range of human relationships and forms of intimacy,” says Locks. “Her questioning of established hierarchies and normative power dynamics is a distinctly feminist position that spans across the various media she has used in her career.”
“I’m so honored and excited to not only share my newest work at the Fondazione Prada, but that it will be contextualized by past work from the last three decades,” says July. Some of the artworks presented at the Osservatorio are documents from July’s earliest performances in punk clubs and major performance pieces, such as “”Love Diamond” (1998-2000), “The Swan Tool” (2000-2003) as well as two other collaborative projects — “I’m the President, Baby” (2018) and “Services” (2020).
Osservatorio Fondazione Prada
Galleria Vittorio Emanuele, II – 20121
Tel. 02-56-66-2611
fondazioneprada.org
‘Race Traitor,’ Adrian Piper’s Exhibition
The retrospective of American artist Adrian Piper, “Race Traitor,” is open at Milan’s contemporary art museum PAC through June 9, sponsored by Italian textile and coating specialist Limonta SpA. Diego Sileo curated the show, displaying some of Piper’s most exemplary artworks throughout her more than 60-year career. Many of the works are from MoMa and the Guggenheim in New York, MoCA in Los Angeles and Tate Modern in London, among others.
Born in 1948, Piper established herself as a conceptual artist, minimalist and performer in the late ‘60s in New York. Committed against racism, xenophobia, social injustice and hatred, with her art, themes range from politics to racism and gender identity. Through installations, videos, photographs, paintings and drawings, she displayed the pathology of racism.
As a female artist and philosopher, Piper’s work brings up misogyny and sexism drawn directly from her experiences. In this sense, her research has inspired entire generations of contemporary artists.
PAC Padiglione d’Arte Contemporanea
Via Palestro, 14 – 20121
Tel. 02-88-44-6359
pacmilano.it
