Walking across the park from the Castello Sforzesco to the Arco della Pace means immersing yourself in all the autumnal shades. Parco Sempione is one of the largest green spaces in the city centre where you can discover hidden corners such as the Ponte delle Sirenette (Mermaid Bridge), visit museums such as the Acquario Civico (Civic Aquarium) and the renowned Triennale Milano.

You can also admire other cultural attractions such as the Arena Civica and Burri’s Teatro Continuo with its ‘stage’ that creates a natural focus of the beautiful perspective that you can appreciate from Castello to the Arco della Pace. 

Climb the lofty 108.6-metre-high Torre Branca next to the Triennale to get an unmissable view of the park’s colours in Autumn: it’s the tenth tallest structure in the city, and one of the best places from where to admire Milano from above.

Entrances: from Castello Sforzesco – Piazza del Cannone, via Pagano, via Bertani, viale Elvezia, viale Milton, viale Gladio, viale Alemagna and viale Legnano, Via Principe Eugenio and Via Ammiraglio Caracciolo.

How to get there: M1 Cairoli, Cadorna stop | M2 Cadorna, Lanza stop

The Villa Reale Park - which houses the GAM - Gallery of Modern Art, the oldest contemporary art museum in Italy - is a fairytale corner nestled in the centre of Milano.

This English-style garden is designed so that every curve of the paths offers pleasant glimpses of something new. You can admire the Autumn colours as you stroll along a botanical path up to the pond, crossing little bridges and discovering grottoes.

However, this park has a special rule: it is reserved exclusively for children accompanied by adults.

Entrance: Via Palestro, to the left of the GAM entrance

How to get there: M1 Palestro

There is another park to discover in Autumn opposite the GAM: the Indro Montanelli Gardens. These are English gardens where you can walk through leafy groves alternating with clearings, streams and ponds populated by ducks and mallards.

The area is also ideal for a bike ride, perhaps starting from the GAM park, crossing the Montanelli Gardens and ending at Villa Necchi Campiglio, not far away.

Here too you can visit great museums such as the Natural History Museum, the Planetarium and the Luigi Rovati Foundation Art Museum, which is located right in front of the park.

Entrance: via Palestro, Corso Venezia

How to get there: M1 Palestro stop | M3 Repubblica or Turati stops | bus 61 | 94

Parco Papa Giovanni Paolo II, best known as the Park of the Basilicas, is located in a splendid corner of Milanese culture between the two basilicas of San Lorenzo and Sant'Eustorgio: you might like to opt for an ‘archaeological walk’ between the apses of these two ancient churches, admiring the magnificent colours of Autumn.

Amongst maples, elms and plane trees, the protagonists of the autumnal foliage, there is also a path lined with roses, but if you’re hoping to smell their scent you’ll have to return in spring!

This park is also the perfect place to celebrate Halloween: find out why in our itinerary of ‘scary places’ in Milano.

Entrance: via Molino delle Armi, Piazza della Vetra, via Vetere and via Santa Croce

How to get there: Tram 3, 15 | Bus 94

A short walk from the centre, in the Brera district, a green oasis framed by imposing 20th-century-style buildings creates the ideal place to admire the season’s spectacular foliage.

Giardino Perego, a small English-style park that is now open to the public, represents what remains of the green area that encircled the eighteenth-century palace of the noble Perego family. In fact, amongst the foliage, you can still find a statue that belonged to that ancient park: the eighteenth-century statue of Vertunnus.

A relatively unknown place, normally frequented by locals, where you can enjoy the Autumn atmosphere in a very pleasant setting.

Entrance: via dei Giardini

How to get there: M3 Turati or Montenapoleone stops | tram 1 | bus 61

Milano’s Monumental Cemetery is a large open-air museum and was designed by the architect Carlo Maciachini as more of a garden for strolling around.

In autumn, the quiet pathways are tinged with a thousand hues to be admired, and the foliage acts as a stunning backdrop to sculptures and monuments created by some of the greatest 19th and 20th-century artists.

There are plenty of itineraries to discover the most beautiful tombs, and we suggest one of the most unusual ones: if you follow a secondary avenue on the left of the entrance, you’ll reach the Campari tomb. The family, famous for its well-known brand of aperitifs, chose to build a larger than life-size bronze sculpture of the Last Supper.

Entrance: Piazzale Cimitero Monumentale

How to get there: M5 Monumental stop | M2 Garibaldi stop | Trams 2, 4, 10, 12, 14, 33

The stunning spectacle of all the trees turning yellow, orange, red and gold can be enjoyed while jogging or taking a break in the BAM - Biblioteca degli Alberi di Milano. This is a unique park with areas designed in a large patchwork pattern to enable nature to integrate with the architecture; as an evocative backdrop, the towers of the Vertical Forest change colour and are illuminated with autumnal shades.

Be careful where you step as you walk along the paths because various botanical and poetic phrases are inscribed on the ground to pleasantly accompany you on your stroll.

The park is also a place of culture and learning where educational and recreational activities are held for everyone to participate in.

Entrances: Piazza Gae Aulenti, Via Melchiorre Gioia, Via Gaetano de Castillia

How to get there: Porta Garibaldi FS station stop | M2 Garibaldi and Gioia stops | M5 Garibaldi and Isola stops