Milano's Secret Places

Just outside the Romanesque Basilica di Sant'Ambrogio, one of Milano's oldest churches, stands a lone Roman-era marble column with two clearly visible holes near its top. According to local legend, the Devil himself left them there, furious after failing to tempt St. Ambrose — he charged at the saint, missed, and drove his horns straight into the stone instead.

The story doesn't stop at the legend: locals say that if you press your ear to the holes, you can hear the faint sounds of Hell, and catch a whiff of sulfur. Whether or not you're brave enough to try, the column itself is a genuine Roman relic, likely repurposed from an earlier building, standing in the same spot for centuries.

It sits directly in the piazza in front of the basilica, visible to anyone who walks past — most people just don't know to look for it.

Look up on Via degli Omenoni and eight enormous stone figures stare back down at you, each modeled on a barbarian tribe defeated by the Roman Empire — Svevi, Quadi, Adiabeni, Parti, Sarmati, and Marcomanni among them. They're the "omenoni" (big men) that give the street its name, built into the facade of Palazzo Leoni-Calchi.

The building belonged to Leone Leoni, a sculptor from Arezzo who worked for the Milanese Mint and had it renovated in 1542. Art historians have long noted the resemblance between these figures and Michelangelo's "Prigioni" (Slaves) sculptures — no coincidence, given Leoni's own artistic circle.

Leoni was also a serious art collector: his holdings once included Leonardo da Vinci's Codex Atlanticus, now housed at the nearby Biblioteca Ambrosiana.

About a kilometre from the elegant Quadrilatero del Silenzio, Via Lincoln is a different Milano entirely: a narrow private street lined with low terraced houses, balconies, palm trees, and private gardens, each facade painted in a different bright colour. Locals nicknamed it the "Milanese Burano", after Venice's famously colourful fishing island.

It's a genuinely residential street, not a designed attraction — the charm comes from real people's homes rather than a curated installation. A short stroll through the surrounding blocks turns up quiet cafés and restaurants worth a stop.

Nearby on Corso XXII Marzo, look for the Suffragio market and a mural dedicated to St. Ambrose the Apiculturist, one of Milano's more recent street artworks, honoring the city's industrious, resilient character.