Historical secret hiding from view… in a hotel parking lot: Milan’s last remaining Roman city gate.

Where in Milan is there a place where you can see three city gates – all three with the same name: a 200-year-old gate from the Napoleonic era; then half way up the road, a thousand year-old gate from Medieval times; and at the end of the road, yet another city gate with the same name, but this time two thousand years old from the time when Milan was a Roman city named Mediolanum?

A) Illustrated reconstruction of Milan’s last remaining Roman city gate. Image Credit: FrancescoCorni.com

Well, there is only one such place, because there is only one (or actually just half of one) remaining Roman gate left in Milan. SEE the article to find out the history and where it is: “Three city gates with the same name in Milan“.

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B) 200-year-old city gate built during the early 19th century in the brief Napoleonic era – actually was a replacement gate along the old Cerchia dei Bastioni path of the 16th century Spanish Walls. Image Credit: Mauro Marenco – mauro1968 in Panoramio.com . C) Medieval era gate further up the road, one thousands years old. Image Credit: Claudio Pedrazzi in Panoramio.com

Strangely, the remaining tower of Milan’s oldest city gate is hidden behind a restaurant, jutting into the car park of a 3-star hotel in Milan. The gates are picturesque, and the walk from the “newest” 200-year-old gate, all the way to the oldest, is historical as well as lively, with plenty of shopping, restaurants and cafes – but that neglected and hidden Roman gate, Milan’s oldest specimen, staring into the sterile space of small parking allotments, is perhaps less picturesque – but more odd.  Go take a look!

  

D) Can you spot the proud remaining tower of Milan’s last Roman city gate, jutting into this hotel carpark, hidden behind a street-front restaurant? From Google Streetview images taken in 2008. You can go to the interactive Google Map and explore this streetview. E) Image Credit: Roberto Arsuffi at Skyminohouse.

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Alternative to Milan’s Duomo? Try the area around Largo Cairoli in the Castello area.

Instead of the usual hotels grouped around Milan Cathedral at Piazza del Duomo, there is a collection of hotels that centre around Largo Cairoli you could try (with good restaurants around as well) – in the Castello area of Milan’s imposing Sforza Castle. SEE Around Cairoli Instead of Piazza del Duomo.

Cadorna Station and Duomo Station are both accessible from this area (which means you can hop directly on to three out of the four Metro lines that exist in Milan). There is a Cairoli Metro Station right at your doorstep (red M1 line). And not only are there also trams that go through Cairoli, but there are a whole bunch of trams that go through the tangle that is Piazza Cordusio a couple of hundred meters down the road before reaching the Duomo.

Hotels in the background, with popular Ristorante Andry in the foreground right, and more hotels in the vicinity – on Via Rovello (almost an alley!) near the intersection with Via San Tomaso (just off Via Dante), not far from Largo Cairoli in the Castello area of Milan – from a Google Streetview available at Milanfinally.com

Visiting the Cathedral at the Piazza del Duomo is still not too far away at all, and the quaint and attractive Brera district is closer here than it is to the Duomo.

It’s a definite alternative.

You can click to go to an interactive Google Map of the area showing landmarks, local attractions and good popular restaurants nearby and in the adjoining Brera neighbourhood northeast of Cairoli.