Milano! Life in Milano is shopping and older architecture. The appearance of buildings here is more gothic than the other places I have visited in Italy.
There is an air of wealth that covers the city and requires its patrons to have some form of required admiration for beauty that is created, not sought.
It reminds me of the metropolitan cities in the United States including Chicago or Berkley except on a smaller scaler, but with shopping like San Francisco.
In the Piazza della Duomo there was a talented man playing the guitar. He played some of the rock classics that I know well including Pink Floyd, but he also played Hallelujah, which seemed appropriate giving the religious setting.It reminded me that this is truly a city of artists, but in a different way than some of the other Italian cities. High Fashion, pastries and architecture are Milano's art.
Milano is a structured place, with people in their adult lives coming to shop with their spouse or, for locals, with their friends. There are also groups of younger women who seem to primarily interested in the fashion. I have seen many people fully dressed in dress-ware in the summer sun. Nothing is too good for Milano, I suppose. It's my favorite part — the class.