It’s the coldest month in Milano, when it really feels like a Northern European city. It’s foggy and it can snow, but for the Milanese January means one thing above all: "SALDI". This the magic word for the sale season opening after Jan 6.

The Milanese buy lavish gifts for Christmas, but for their own gear they wait for the month of discounts, when the shopping craze is palpable in the store-filled streets and boulevards of Corso Vittorio Emanuele, Via Montenapoleone, Via Torino, Corso Buenos Aires, Corso Garibaldi, and throughout the city.

January is also the month of resolutions for the new year: this usually translates into more jogging in the parks, and more workout in the gyms. It can also mean embracing new cultural activities, like drama circles and civic activism.

January is about reflection and rebirth. Come to Milano and you’ll be born again.

It’s the month of Carnival, and St. Ambrose gave the Milanese three extra days of masquerading and partying after Ash Wednesday. As a consequence, in Milano we celebrate Fat Saturday when the rest of the world is done with Mardi Gras.

"Commedia dell’arte" costumes (Harlequin, Pulcinella, Brighella, Meneghino, Cecca) abound and kids dressed like zorros and fairies throw confetti ("coriandoli") and streamers ("stelle filanti") in Piazza Duomo and Via Mercanti and all around downtown.

There are carnival parades in various neighborhoods, although Carnival now has to contend with the growing popularity of Halloween in Milano. We at YesMilano feel for the Ambrosian Carnival and dream that one day it will compete with Rio de Janeiro and New Orleans in flashiness and gaudiness.

Most especially, February is the month of the Milano Fashion Week (from 25 to 27 February), when all international stylists and the models on magazines come to the city to showcase women’s fashion collections for the fall/winter.

Fashion shows and great parties are everywhere and the best catwalks are broadcasted live on large screens in Piazza San Babila and the Fashion District.

Milano is in bloom in March. The trees explode with flowers and a new frenzy is in the air. The area around Piazza Conciliazione and Corso Magenta is among the best places to marvel at the pink and white blossoms of plum, almond and cherry trees under the terse blue sky.

We think it’s the best season to visit Leonardo’s Last Supper, right in the neighborhood. Then it might be time for some quality shopping in Corso Vercelli and a relaxed walk looking at the palazzos in leafy (now flowery) Via Pagano.

Make sure you visit all of Milano’s Liberty palazzos and modernist villas during the FAI Spring Open Days, when all the architectural elegance of the city can be experienced with guided tours organized by the Italian association for the protection of cultural heritage.

April is a good time to visit Milan. It is the month of eggs, bunnies and blue skies. The Milanese take it to the parks for sports and socializing, without forgetting the customary open-air picnic for Pasquetta, the day after Easter.

The month opens with the now famous Milano Marathon (2nd April), open to professional and amateur runners.

April also brings the Salone and the Fuorisalone, turning the city into the world capital of design during the Milano Design Week (from 18 to 23 of April). The International Furniture Fair and the complementary program of events, presentations and vernissages organized in the Tortona Design District and elsewhere have been a great success for two decades.

Now Salone and Fuorisalone are back in full glory after the pandemic, and the city is packed with creative youth from all over the world, who have come to admire and bring ideas to the world of Milanese design.

"Milano Is Design Is Milano": we’re the only city with two design museums! Make sure you don’t miss them, as Triennale Milano and ADI Museum help you make sense of how industrial design has evolved in Italy’s economic powerhouse. 

May is one of the best months for visiting Milano. The city smells of roses and lime trees. Everything is leafy and the weather is congenial to spend the night out. Aperitivo culture is in best display in the nightlife zones of Milano: Navigli, Brera, Sempione, Nolo, Isola, Porta Venezia, Porta Romana, and more.

Schools are approaching the end of the semester and the 200,000+ students of Milano invest more time in leisure, although they should be preparing for finals.

It’s the perfect month for a night at the museum, like at MUDEC or Museo del ‘900, or to be enchanted by the music of an unknown pianist during Piano City (from 19 to 21 of May), one of Milano’s zaniest cultural events with dozens of pianoforti a coda set in iconic indoor spaces for all to enjoy and play. In May, Milano feels just perfect: the city of eternal springtime.

The city starts to unwind as the hot season approaches. White collars clock out earlier to enjoy the sunshine in the late afternoon hours.

During weekends, there are more tourists than Milanese, because a significant portion of people start spending weekends on the lakes and the rivieras, perhaps joining their kids who are out of school and already at the seaside.

It’s the month of Milano Pride. The Parade (which will be held on 24th June 2023) is every year bigger than the last one, proving that Milano is a rainbow city, where gays, lesbians and transsexuals are welcome to live freely and openly.

the Milano Fashion Week (from 16 to 20 of June) for men’s collections, with Armani and the other Milan-based fashion stylists proposing new concepts for business suits and male elegance. This year, the Filarmonica della Scala, the theater’s orchestra, will execute a free concert in Piazza Duomo. It will be a triumph of classical music in a mild June night.

July tends to be as hot as August used to be. The Milanese flock to the public swimming pools and the Idroscalo, a vast water basin where you can do kitesurfing and boating and there’s the amusement park with rides of all kinds in the vicinity.

You can also take the brand-new M4 subway to Linate Airport and get off at Forlanini to enjoy the park and its Cascina (Lombard country house).

The Milanese summer is on and the municipality traditionally prepares a rich program of cultural events and open-air concerts at Castello Sforzesco, the San Siro Stadium, and in all the neighborhoods of the city. In July 2023, Iron Maiden, Depeche Mode, Muse and Maneskin will play at San Siro.

The Milano of banks and workshops shuts down for most of the month. Business slows down, and free time takes the lead.

In August, you are free to do anything you want. In the 1900s, Ferragosto (August 15) left Milano nearly deserted, as factories shut down and only a minority decided or were forced to remain in the city for the traditional end-of-summer holiday. Today, Milano in August is flooded with visitors from all over the world and the program of exhibits is possibly richer than in the dead of the winter. There are neighborhood food festivals all across the city. 

The Milanese get back to business and start hatching plans for the new year. But the weather is still warm and the sun goes down late, so people are out in large numbers for social dinners and urban exploration.

The Venice Film Festival comes to Milano as theaters show all the movies featured on the Lido. It’s also a good month to go to the San Siro Stadium and watch FC Inter or AC Milan play at the top of Serie A league. Milano’s two football teams are among the best in the world and the show on the pitch is as great as the show on the stands, with tifosi being loud and inventive.

The month ending in Halloween is when the major art exhibitions are opened. Palazzo Reale will feature El Greco and Goya, major expressions of Spain’s timeless genius for art, and a major retrospective on modern artist Giorgio Morandi and his metaphysical still lives.

The weather is not chilly yet and the nights are enlivened by JAZZMI, the music festival that displays Milano’s love and talent for the art born in black New Orleans, with international artists and jazz bands playing in clubs and theaters, both downtown and in Isola and Navigli neighborhoods.

November is really the fall month in Milano, when yellow and red foliage dominates the landscape and the morning fog makes the urban contours uncertain and mesmerizing. It rains and gets dark early, and the Milanese are deeply absorbed in their duties.

The Milanese are book lovers and the Italian publishing industry is here. That’s why over the last decade Book City Milano has taken off, a city-wide event with countless presentations and debates with authors.

It’s also when major fairs and conventions are held, at Rho Fieramilano and Fieramilano City. One of the year’s biggest is EICMA, the International Motorcycle and Accessories Exhibition, that is also attended by the general public, eager to find out what’s new in motorbikes, mopeds, scooters, bicycles, and anything else having two wheels.

Finally, dive into digital transformation in November, with the Milano Digital Week devoted to AI and social media.

There’s no month that is more Milanese than December. December 7 is the day of St. Ambrose, protector of the city, when the Scala premiere is traditionally held and all the eyes of Italy are on Milano. Opera music can be listened to everywhere ("Prima Diffusa") and everybody has an opinion as to whether this year’s soprano or director was really excellent and whether the style and attire of the Milanese bourgeoisie in attendance was really fashionable.

Families do their Christmas tree and Milano lights up for holiday shopping, attracting all of the country in Santa’s polar vortex of gifts and charity. The Christmas magic is at its highest in Milano’s shopping boulevards like Corso Vittorio Emanuele and Corso Buenos Aires.

There’s no better place to spend the winter holidays and the ski resorts of the Alps are nearby for a New Year’s Eve on the snow. There’s no other way to put it: "Milano è il Natale Italiano" – Milano is the Italian Christmas.