Milano Day 2
Friday 26th June 2026
We are staying in the Navigli area of Milano. Navigli means canals. We took a cruise along the Naviglio Grande (Grand Canal) of Milano this morning. Canals have played a major role in the development of Milano with the first one connecting the city to the river system in 1179. Over the next 300 years additional canals were built but a big improvement was led by Leonardi da Vinci who designed a lock system to manage a 1.5metre height difference along the waterways. They were amongst the busiest river ports in Italy handling coal, grain, paper and wine. The canals were used in the early 1800’s when Napoleon ordered the Duomo facade to be completed and this required significant quantities of marble to be transported into the centre of the city. During the 20th century barges were replaced by trains and trucks. Most of the canals have now fallen into disrepair leaving only 2 canals (Naviglio and Pabese) in use today, for recreational purposes only.
Naviglio Canal
Local resident of the canal
Church of St Christopher on the canal
Milano Rowing Club
In the evening we took a lesson in cooking pasta, with dessert and wine of course.
The menu – Gnocchi with truffle sauce, Ravioli with fresh tomato sauce (the ravioli was in the Cappellacci shape) and Tiramisu.
On our way to the cooking class – typical Aperitivo in Italy.
Ready, set ….
Whipping the egg whites for the Tiramisu
We used an unusual servicing bowl for the tiramisu – a coffee pot
Now to make the gnocchi
Rolling out the pasta dough for the ravioli
….and now it’s time to eat and enjoy
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