Festival of Sant’Ambrogio

Once a year, on the 7th of December, Milan celebrates its saint who is Saint Ambrose (Sant’Ambrogio) with a fair called: "O bei O bei". This festival takes place on the streets in the area around the Basilica of Sant'Ambrogio in the centre of Milan. In this day all the area is full of stalls where you can find antique furniture and handicrafts but there are gastronomic stalls too! In fact you can find cold cuts, cheese, sweets and have the ufficial wine of the day, the vin brulé, with roasted chestnuts, that are what you need to warm you up in a cold day.The festivity starts two days before and finish with the fair on the 7th of December. The festival overlaps the opening of the opera season at the Scala.

The Carnival Ambrosiano and the typical costume

When everywhere else in Italy the carnival has ended, the carnival arrives in Milan.
The Meneghino, which is the costume of Milan, consists of the tricorno, a hat with three edges, a wig with a braid, a long jacket which is red and brown, green pants to the knees and striped socks in red and white. Under the jacket you wear a yellow shirt and a bandana around the neck. The shoes are brown, formed like arches and a clasp. You hold an umbrella which is pink.

Corteo dei Re Magi

This festival takes place on the 6th of January, the Epiphany day and commemorates the arrival of the wise men. In fact there is a religious procession in which three persons play the part of the wise men and lead all the people from Piazza Duomo to the Church Sant’Eustorgio. In that place the wise men offer some presents to the poor children finally they give their crowns to the priest and the religious procession ends.

Tredesin de mars

To celebrate the beginning of the beautiful season on 13 March; but it is also the day of Milan's religious conversion to the Catholic one.The legend is about Saint Barnaba who arrived in Milan on the 13th of March 51. Entering the city he would have had to do a sacrifice for the pagan gods , but he took his cross and drew 13 signs on the ground. (Today these 13 signs are on the floor of the church Santa Maria del Paradiso.) In that moment all the pagan temples fell down while many flowers started to blossom, in a beautiful spring day. After that Saint Barnaba entered the city and celebrated for the first time Mass. The following year Saint Barnaba went away from Milan, but he left one of the most famous ritual: the Tredesin the Mars. In fact in that day there is a fair of sweets and flowers between Porta Romana and Porta Vigentina, and a little religious procession which arrives to the church Santa Maria del Paradiso. This is only a legend because it is historically proved that Saint Barnaba never came in Milan.

The Fair of Flowers

It is on April and it lasts one day. All the florists expose their beautiful flowers creations along the Naviglio Grande, for once the streets will look like colourful gardens and the best creation will receive a prize.

The Milanese summer

Milan is one of the most vibrant Italian chief towns, a city full of people of any age who, beacause of the most varied reasons, sometimes stay at home during summer time, so several events are organized every year to delight hot summer nights in the city and its surroundings for citizens and tourists who decide to visit the city during this period. Concerts of any kind, cultural events, cinema and theatre reviews, art expositions and much more...

Milano Film Festival

The Milano Film Festival is the most important exhibition of inedited and short-films. It is one of the most popular movies events in Italy, well known both at a national and internatonal level, where movies coming from different coutries compete. Directors of the Milano Film Festival creations are not divided into categories as usually happens, and they do not follow the normal rules of movies' market. The festival allows to emergent directors to participate with their works and it gives to them the possibiity to have a direct contact with the public that attend to the screening of the movies and also can take part to workshops and meetings. The Milano Film Festival is organized every year in September and includes other interesting initiatives such as the "Festivalino" (dedicated to young people) and the "Music Film Festival"