‘Milan? Really? Why on Earth Milan?’ exclaims Gaddo Cardini, an Italian businessman to whom I had voiced my most daring recent idea: I want to move from dreary London to trendy, up-and-coming Milan. Having worked in Milan himself, Cardini gives me a sceptical look. ‘It’s quite a boring city where people are working all the time; lawyers, bankers and bureaucrats who keep to themselves most of the time, and don’t like to mix with foreigners. But,’ he emphasises, ‘these are serious people doing serious business.’

Known as the economic heart of Italy, and admittedly lacking in the carousing and excitement of Ibiza, Milan is certainly no stranger to fun. In the 80s and 90s, the city was as bohemian as it was flamboyant, earning itself a moniker to match:&nbsp;Milano da bere (Milan to drink) &ndash; a world away from its modern-day reputation as a sober-minded, output-oriented city.

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Milanese journalist, Renata Molho, witnessed those heady days first hand: &lsquo;It was easy money,&rsquo; she says, &lsquo;constant partying, and half of the people in the street were foreign&rsquo;.&nbsp;

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Furthermore, in the 80s, Milan was at the centre of the fashion industry, rivalling Paris and London both in terms of scale and profit; but most notably in terms of emerging creative talent. Milan became the home of fashion powerhouses such as Versace, Armani, Valentino, Moschino and Dolce &amp; Gabbana, all of which share Milan as their fashion alma mater; a&nbsp;nurturing arena and supportive springboard that prepared her native artists for global conquest.&nbsp;

But as is often the case, the city&rsquo;s cultural monopoly was precarious; perhaps Milan had taken its eye off the ball and was guilty of resting on its laurels? Whatever the cause, its success was soon to fall victim to political corruption and&nbsp;complacency. Marco Tabasso is one half of the visionary duo behind Anotherview Project; the 24/7 window-view videos that were the talk of Art Basel 2017, and who has his base in Milan today. He explains: &lsquo;Milanese themselves began moving out; going to places like London, New York and San Francisco. I went to what you would call a bourgeois school &ndash; in other words, with kids from families who had the means to travel and make such life choices. Most of my schoolmates now live abroad&rsquo;.

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And in answer to whether the dispersed Milanese are coming back home, Marco takes the view that it&rsquo;s not the natives who are reigniting the zeitgeist in Milan. Tati Uzlova is Marco&rsquo;s creative partner at Anotherview and she concurs with Marco&rsquo;s train of thought: &lsquo;Milan is a really wonderful city for all kinds of emerging artists. Theirs is a culture of philanthropy amongst the wealthy Milanese, dating back to Michelangelo and Da Vinci who both benefitted from patronage in Milan. Art is very much in the Milanese DNA, both in terms of creating and appreciating.&rsquo;

Prominent Milan-based gallery owner, Rossana Orlandi, represents a number of international artists like Maarten Baas, Cypraea, and Kiko L&oacute;pez, who today see Milan as being the best foothold for their art in Europe. She shares the same view as Tati Uzlova: &lsquo;I like to discover and support young artists &ndash; and that is a new trend I&rsquo;m seeing in collectors too,&rsquo; Rossana explains. &lsquo;They specifically want to support and collect young, emerging artists.&rsquo;

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I recall the art collector Ekaterina Luki, once telling me that the general rule of thumb was &lsquo;Wherever artists go, the culture follows, and everyone else follows in tow.&rsquo; That&rsquo;s to say, artists are the canaries in the mine, singing for the sign of the times. And it currently looks like the name of the song is &lsquo;Milan&rsquo;.

Mattia Pozzoni, an art adviser with over fifteen years&rsquo; experience in the art world, shares his view:

&lsquo;I left Milan in 2009&nbsp;and lived for ten years in London. The city I left definitely wasn&rsquo;t the same as the one I found&nbsp;when I returned&nbsp;in 2019. Milan&nbsp;is now a truly international hub, despite being really small compared to other European cities like London, Madrid or Paris,&rsquo; he says. &lsquo;Yes, Milan is home to unique art museums like Pinacoteca di Brera and Museo del Novecento, showcasing masterpieces by Raffaello,&rsquo; he continues, &lsquo;and we have Fondazione Prada, with their private collection &ndash; we mustn&rsquo;t forget Milan&rsquo;s crucial role as international centre for art and design. But, industrial design was also invented here and all the renowned design brands have their factories around Milan. It&rsquo;s not a surprise that Milan plays host to not just one, but two design museums: Triennale di Milano is housed in a 1930s rationalist building in the heart of Parco Sempione (do not leave without having had a drink on the roof terrace), and the ADI Design Museum, in the lively Chinatown area.&rsquo;

But despite its reputation as an innovator in art and design, and as a serious, business-focussed city (it accounts for the lion&rsquo;s share of Italian GDP), Milan&rsquo;s attitude is far from arrogant. On the contrary, Milan boasts an outward &lsquo;arms-open&rsquo; approach to its own cultural development, constantly moving forward and embracing new ideas. Having been only moderately popular with tourists in previous decades, unable to compete with the popularity of destinations such as London, Paris and New York, the picture shifted when Milan hosted the world expo in 2015. Expo 2015 appeared to act as a catalyst for the big change, simultaneously boosting an influx of tourism and business investment into the city. Hot on its heels came mega-tech companies such as Microsoft, Gartner, and Deloitte, choosing Milan as the base for their new headquarters. With London losing its lustre post Brexit, and Lisbon seducing the expats with easily obtainable residents permits through the purchase of real estate, Milan was determined not to be left behind and so put forward a tempting offer of its own: the &lsquo;Golden Visa Path&rsquo; &ndash; an immigration scheme based on attracting foreign start-up businesses, skilled professionals and bright new talent.&nbsp;

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I can personally vouch for the shift in attitudes when I think back to the first time I travelled to Italy with my family twenty years ago. My mother, who then spoke little English herself, found it novel to find her limited linguistic ability being equalled by the glamourous Milanese boutique vendors. But in present day Milan, at Toni and Guy for example, the hairdresser can give you a choice of hairstyling in fluent English, right down to the exact tilt of your fringe and how it will complement the aesthetics of your face. The same can be said of the cafes and grocery stores, where the Milanese are keen to flaunt their knowledge of spoken English rather than have to endure tourists cracking on awkwardly in basic tourist-guide Italian! This being a refreshing contrast to the perennially indignant French who might sometimes not answer back if addressed in anything other than decently accented French. Quelle horreur! 

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Of course, this rise in Milan&rsquo;s popularity, has also been bolstered, in no small part, by its convenient geographical location and convenience for travel. Ski resorts, such as Montecampione, and the seaside fishing village Portofino are only a ninety-minute drive by car. Lake Como, where one can wink and wave at George Clooney, is approximately the same distance, as are Paris and a few other significant capital cities in Europe; placing Milan beautifully central for international jet-set links; so convenient in fact, that it&rsquo;s almost criminal not to take full advantage of it for both work and leisure.

Traditionally, however, the Milanese have found it difficult to mix with the newly arriving foreigners. Something that motivated one Brit to launch a new business aimed at making that connection easier.

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&lsquo;That&rsquo;s one of the reasons I&rsquo;ve started Dinner Conversations,&rsquo; says Natasha Slater, who founded the exclusive members&rsquo; and lifestyle club after spending eighteen years doing PR in Milan. &lsquo;We are a global community of like-minded people that want to drive change by connecting with each other; because through connections, the change happens. To be sure, Milan is changing,&rsquo; she says, &lsquo;but the Milanese themselves are not changing to the same extent.&rsquo; Natasha, however, remains optimistic: &lsquo;The mindset will develop with an influx of new residents,&rsquo; she says, &lsquo;and those new residents need to connect with people. The club doesn&rsquo;t just create introductions, it hosts a range of events and experiences that facilitate an authentic connection between people - from cocktail masterclasses, to brunch parties, talks, wine tastings and private events.&rsquo;

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This is not only encouraging for someone moving to a new country and wanting to make meaningful connections, apparently, bigger international brands do not intend to miss out on the opportunity either. Soho House, the private members&rsquo; club group aimed at those in the arts, politics and media, is opening in Milan this year, as is Casa Cipriani; another private members&rsquo; group keen to be part of Milan&rsquo;s international growth. There is already talk circulating regarding the possibility of some British clubs joining the foray; also keen to start pop-ups of their franchises in Milan. Interesting then, that one particular member observed: &lsquo;Well, if these guys are moving in, it&rsquo;s safe to assume that&rsquo;s where zeitgeist will be in Italy for the foreseeable future&rsquo;.

Indeed, Milan is poised to become the new trendy kid on the block, with the added advantages of fine food (Milan is the fifth most Michelin-starred city worldwide), a climate far better than that of the UK, and a culture scene to rival Paris.
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I recently learned that one of my friends is planning a move to Italy, on the basis that, &lsquo;I only live once, so I might as well choose the best that Italy has to offer.&rsquo; When I asked her exactly what she meant by that, she said. &lsquo;Well, Milan, of course. What else?&rsquo; She eyed me shrewdly and added,&lsquo; I can see that you&rsquo;ve already made up your mind about moving yourself, Miss Daria Malich. So my advice is - do it. Italy is the kind of card that is dealt you only once or twice in life. Seize the chance while you have it.&rsquo;

Well, she was right! I am just about to finish this article in my flat in Brera, a marvelous, old-school charm district in Milan. Pedestrian conversations - all in Italian - wafts up to my window and except for Ciao, I don&rsquo;t understand a word. But that&rsquo;s the fun part! The thrill of a new chapter starting from a blank slate... and in Italy.

Daria Malich: All Roads Lead to Milan

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