Milan Food & Wine Tours
Milan invented the aperitivo, perfected the saffron risotto and the bone-in cotoletta, and hides its food life in the Navigli canals, the Brera lanes and a covered market inside the central station. This is our Milan hub. Below are the top-rated food and wine experiences in the city, then our detailed pages: food tours, cooking classes, wine tastings, and Franciacorta, the sparkling-wine country an hour away.
Top-rated food and wine experiences in Milan
Why Milan for food? Because the city eats seriously and drinks at six: risotto alla milanese, cotoletta, ossobuco, panettone, and an aperitivo hour that is a civic institution.
Four ways in: a food tour along the Navigli or through Brera and the street-food stalls; a cooking class for risotto and fresh pasta; a wine tasting at the city’s urban winery or a sommelier flight; a Franciacorta day to the traditional-method sparkling cellars near Lake Iseo. For the lake, see Lake Como.
What to eat: risotto alla milanese, cotoletta alla milanese, ossobuco, mondeghili meatballs, a Campari at Camparino in the Galleria, panettone in December, and the aperitivo spread from six to nine.
Where the food is
The Navigli, the two surviving canals south of the centre, are the aperitivo district: bars line the water from six in the evening, and sunset food tours work the towpaths with a drink at every stop. Brera is the old artists’ quarter, now delis, wine bars and trattorias in narrow streets behind the Pinacoteca. Mercato Centrale opened inside Stazione Centrale in 2021 with about thirty artisan counters and a cooking school. The Porta Romana covered farmers’ market, run by the Coldiretti growers’ network, sells direct from producers Wednesday to Saturday mornings and hosts a Friday evening “agri-aperitivo”. See Milan food tours.
The aperitivo
Milan’s aperitivo runs roughly six to nine in the evening, busiest between seven and half past eight: a drink, usually a spritz, a Negroni or a Campari, comes with snacks, and the “apericena” version buys you a buffet that replaces dinner. It descends from Gaspare Campari, who opened in Milan in 1862; the Camparino bar in the Galleria, from 1867, is still where it starts.
Learning to cook it
Milan classes teach risotto alla milanese, which is a technique rather than a recipe, and the standard trio of fresh pasta, gnocchi and tiramisù, often at a host’s home with wine. See Milan cooking classes.
Wine from Milan
The city has an urban winery where the tasting is the tour; sommelier flights cover Lombardy and beyond. The day trips are Franciacorta, about an hour east for bottle-fermented sparkling wine, and further afield the Oltrepò Pavese and Piedmont. See Milan wine tastings and Franciacorta wine tours.
Frequently asked questions
Is Milan a good food city?
Yes, and underrated: it has Italy’s best aperitivo culture, the risotto and the cotoletta are its own, and the Navigli and Brera reward a guided evening.
How much is a Milan food tour?
Roughly 50 to 110 dollars for two and a half to three hours, drinks included; evening Navigli tours sit at the top of that range.
Can I do Lake Como or Franciacorta as a day trip?
Both. Como is 40 minutes by train; Franciacorta is about an hour by car and most tours include transport. See Lake Como.
Read next: Lake Como: Varenna or Bellagio?
How we choose
We list only experiences with a strong rating over a meaningful number of reviews and free cancellation where available, and we favour small-group and family-run hosts. FindEatLocal earns a commission when you book through GetYourGuide or Viator links on this page; it doesn’t change the price you pay. More about how we choose.