Flip through the latest issue of Gulf Weekly.
Gulf Air will shortly start services to Milan offering holiday-makers as well as businessmen and women a direct route to Italian style and sophistication.
Tourism bosses are urging Bahrainis and expats to travel to Milan to discover the 'alternative' Italy, for the city embodies everything that is chic and sophisticated in Italian culture, far removed from quaint Tuscan villages or warbling gondoliers.
Milan is the home of haute couture and haute cuisine, world-class shopping, supreme opera, sleek skyscrapers, tasteful galleries and museums, and spacious piazzas. A holiday in Milan is a 'stylish experience', they say.
The Gulf Air flights to Milan will begin on March 27, with four weekly services and the national carrier's CEO Samer Majali said: "Milan is one of the EU's and the world's major financial and business centres boasting Europe's fourth highest GDP. From finance to fashion, from designer automobiles to discerning music, from architecture to art , the city of Milan is undeniably one of the most popular destinations in Europe attracting millions of visitors every year."
The best time to holiday in Milan is in early summer, or early autumn, when the weather is warm and sunny. Winters are very chilly, wet and foggy. In similar fashion to Bahrain, mid-summer is stifling hot and humid in the city and most locals head for the lakes at that time of year.
Fashion followers, shopaholics, opera lovers and anyone who enjoys the finer things in life (and can afford to pay for them) will revel in a holiday in Milan, travel writers say. Art lovers are also drawn to visiting Milan to see the treasures stored in its leading galleries, but the piece de resistance, da Vinci's The Last Supper fresco, is in the refectory of the Santa Maria delle Grazie.
Shopping, eating and clubbing are also serious businesses in Milan and it is no surprise that the city boasts one of the world's most beautiful shopping malls, the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II. Equally vying for admiration is the Milanese icons of La Scala Theatre (Teatro della Scala).
The city's urban tentacles stretch for miles, although the significant historical attractions are contained between the two landmark sites - the Duomo and the Sforzesco Castle. These reside within the inner loop of the city's concentric design, which is split into four squares: Piazza Duomo, Piazza Cairoli, Piazza Cordusio and Piazza San Babila.
The modern civic centre lies to the northwest, around Mussolini's colossal train station built in 1931. The area around here is dominated by a skyline of skyscrapers from which the sleek Pirelli Tower emerges. The Fiera district that stretches around Porta Genova station is the nub for trade and fashion fairs.
Gulf Air has also recently announced that it will also start services to Geneva in Switzerland from March 29, with three flights a week. Next week, TravelWeekly focuses on Switzerland's second largest city.
