The 108-metre view
Duomo to Alps — Milan in a full circle around you.
Maurizio Moro5153 — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Fred Romero — CC BY 2.0 · Paolo Mastromo — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Paolo Mastromo — CC BY-SA 4.0
The Torre Branca is a slender steel needle of 108 metres among Sempione's trees, designed by Gio Ponti — modern Italy's foremost architect — and raised in just six months in 1933 for the Triennale. Its small lift takes under a minute to a narrow circular platform opening all Milan: the Duomo, the new business towers, San Siro — the Alps and Apennine line on clear days. It is the antithesis of the crowded Duomo terraces: near-unknown, near-queueless, and cheap — with one odd condition: limited opening times leaning to afternoons and evenings, shifting by season and weather, so checking before you go is mandatory. At its base stands the famous Just Cavalli café for evenings — tower and neighbour together make an elegant finale to a Sempione day.
Duomo to Alps — Milan in a full circle around you.
The 1933 steel icon by modern Italian design's father.
Golden hour over Sempione — the local photographers' secret.
Parco Sempione, Viale Camillo 2, 20121 Milan
Parco SempioneSempione is Milan's green lung: forty-seven hectares of English-style lawns, pon2 minutes walk4.7
Arco della PaceThe Arch of Peace closes the Sempione axis with neoclassical pomp: a marble triu3 minutes walk4.8
Museum of Ancient Art, Castello SforzescoIn a bare stone hall that was once a ward of a Spanish military hospital stands 7 minutes walk4.6
Sforzesco CastleThe Castello is the fortress of Milan's dukes: a huge red fifteenth-century squa7 minutes walk4.8
Leonardo's Last SupperOn the refectory wall of Santa Maria delle Grazie, between 1495 and 1498, Leonar9 minutes walk4.5Two non-substitutes: the Duomo is a walk amid sculpture on a legendary roof, at its price and crush; Branca is higher, wider, a tenth the effort — with the Duomo itself in your shot. Practically: terraces for the carving, Branca for the panorama.
It is a privately run exhibition tower, not a state monument — opened by a small crew in limited windows, stopped by wind, maintenance and seasons. That is the price of its secrecy: confirm by phone or the Triennale pages before crossing town.
The lift is a minute and twenty satisfies the platform — but peak times rotate ascents, so allow half an hour all told. The narrowness up top is real: the height-shy should know the floor is see-through mesh.