Milan's art quarter, a wedge of cobbled lanes between the Castello Sforzesco and the fashion district that has kept more bohemian character than almost anywhere else in the centre. The Accademia di Belle Arti has trained painters here since the 18th century, and the streets still carry the residue of that — easels in shop windows, antique dealers, fortune-tellers, and small galleries tucked between bars.
The hinge of the neighbourhood is the Palazzo Brera, the great Jesuit-era complex that houses the Pinacoteca di Brera alongside the academy, a botanical garden, and an astronomical observatory. Around it, Via Brera, Via Fiori Chiari, and Via Madonnina form the main spine of cafes and boutiques, opening onto Piazza del Carmine with its brick Gothic church. On the third Sunday of each month the lanes host an antiques market.
Brera is best walked slowly with no particular destination. It has grown polished and pricey over the past two decades and the evening aperitivo crowd can be thick, but a weekday morning still gives you the quieter version: gallery owners opening up, coffee at one of the long-standing bars, and the Orto Botanico almost to yourself.