In a month’s time the international rag trade will descend on Milan for Fashion Week along with the first brush of Autumn, the streets will be full of rushing fashionistas and smart suits, and the wheels of commerce will speed up again.
But today is high summer and Milan is emptied of half its residents. Those still here can long to be on holiday, or revel in the grand metropolis with less traffic and fewer crowds.
We met friends after work and they took us to Bottigliette Moscatelli for the fine Milanese evening tradition of apertivo.
Borrowed from the French ‘aperitif’, apertivo, as a pre-dinner drink, was popularised in Italian cities in the 19th century, but the evolution of the accompanying snacks has turned the concept of apertivo into more of a dinner substitute than a taste to whet one’s appetite.
Our smorgasbord of complementary drinking food at Bottigliette Moscatelli included frittata, grilled eggplants, peppers and artichokes; salads; pasta and mussels, risotto balls, as well as lighter bite-sized snacks like nuts.
Apertivo is typically served between 6 and 9pm.
After nice wine, food and good chats we said goodbye and headed towards the duomo which was just catching the evening sunset on its beautiful gothic fretwork.
We finished off with gelato and lemon granita (a traditional Sicilian refreshment that has been popularised in Milan by Sicilian immigrants over the 20th Century) from GROM, one of Milan’s many excellent gelato vendors.
But today is high summer and Milan is emptied of half its residents. Those still here can long to be on holiday, or revel in the grand metropolis with less traffic and fewer crowds.
We met friends after work and they took us to Bottigliette Moscatelli for the fine Milanese evening tradition of apertivo.
Borrowed from the French ‘aperitif’, apertivo, as a pre-dinner drink, was popularised in Italian cities in the 19th century, but the evolution of the accompanying snacks has turned the concept of apertivo into more of a dinner substitute than a taste to whet one’s appetite.
Our smorgasbord of complementary drinking food at Bottigliette Moscatelli included frittata, grilled eggplants, peppers and artichokes; salads; pasta and mussels, risotto balls, as well as lighter bite-sized snacks like nuts.
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| Aperitivo party |
Apertivo is typically served between 6 and 9pm.
After nice wine, food and good chats we said goodbye and headed towards the duomo which was just catching the evening sunset on its beautiful gothic fretwork.
 |
| Duomo |
We finished off with gelato and lemon granita (a traditional Sicilian refreshment that has been popularised in Milan by Sicilian immigrants over the 20th Century) from GROM, one of Milan’s many excellent gelato vendors.
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| Gelato |
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