A food tour in Porta Romana, the Milan district beloved by the locals

Porta Romana is the name of one of the six doors built in the past as an entrance to the city of Milan. It denotes the road that connects Milan with Rome, and if one should ever be brave enough to follow it, they could see an example of one of many Italian cities that leads back to Rome.  Nowadays, the door of the Porta Romana district stands in the middle of the square called “Piazza delle Medaglie d’Oro”, at the beginning of Corso di Porta Romana. If you take the yellow metro line M3 and then stop at Porta Romana station, you can admire this majestic building from the Middle Ages that has been perfectly preserved.  In fact, you can see many buildings in Milan just like it that have been untouched by the grind of tourism.

This district is one of the most beloved by the locals due to its strategic position in the middle of the city, and the fact that it offers so much in the way of entertainment, dining, and leisure.  In just a few years it has become a residential district thanks to the presence of one of the most important universities in Italy, Bocconi University. Many students from Italy and abroad come to Milan for the sole purpose of attending this school, and they usually choose to live in Porta Romana district.

Porta Romana is also rich in interesting sites such as the Carcano Theater, the Ravizza Park, the QC Thermal Baths and the Rotonda della Besana. It is a baroque building with a circular structure and a beautiful English-style lawn, an ideal place for an open-air lunch break or a much needed time-out from the daily grind.

You can find so many options in this zone that will lure you in and there is something for everyone, such as cocktail bars, fusion restaurants, street food venues, and classic Milanese trattoria’s, of course.

If you want to chow down on local foods just like the locals do, the Porta Romana district is the ideal place where you can most definitely experience a food tour in Milan

The perfect food tour in Milan

Usually, when someone from abroad arrives to Milan, the first thing he or she wants to order is the Risotto alla Milanese or the Cotoletta alla Milanese. They are some of the most famous Italian dishes in the world and for a good reason: they’re delicious! However, many tourists want to step outside of the box and try to discover more about Italian cuisine and try to sample some authenticity.  Therefore, they end up asking for a food tour that will let them check out the less known food stores and restaurants in Milan; ones that are away from the tourist haunts.

Taking part in a food tour is the best way to discover a new city through its gastronomic culture, and you can really get a feel for the city’s identity by trying out and sampling its traditional food.  You will be taken under the wing of a licensed guide who will do their best to suggest the best restaurants and specialty grocery shops to you.  These are the places where you will have a chance to munch on both the typical and less known dishes: a perfectly balanced harmony between familiar and unfamiliar!

If you take part in a Walking Palates food tour in Milan, for example, you can have the opportunity to try original recipes from Milanese cuisine set in a classic trattoria, far from the crowds and noise.

You will also be taken on a journey through strong smells and unknown flavors, one that will allow you to sample the local cheeses and typical wines of Lombardy.  As if that wasn’t already enough, let’s not forget the desserts.  Did you know that Milan is famous not only for the Panettone, a sweet bread usually eaten around Christmas or special holidays, but for chocolate pralines and marron glacé, too?

In the Porta Romana district you can find the only cheese shop in Italy that sells cheeses made with unpasteurized milk and one of the city’s historic pastry shops that dates back to 1911!  You’ll have the chance to take in not only the gastronomic delights but also little morsels of history while you’re at it!

So, let’s go ahead and book a food tour in Milan and let yourself be led away by the food experts and by your senses, of course.