A district that did not exist fifteen years ago, built on railway land between the Garibaldi station and Isola: a raised piazza called Gae Aulenti with a ring of fountains, Italy’s tallest tower, and the two residential towers of the Bosco Verticale with about eight hundred trees growing on them.
It is the clearest statement Milan has made about what it thinks it is now.
What it costs
⭐ Free. The piazza, the steps and the walkways are public, and the towers are private housing that you look at from below.
When to go
Late afternoon for the light on the glass, or a summer evening when the piazza fills. The trees are worth seeing in leaf rather than in February.
Getting there
Porta Garibaldi on M2 and M5, or Gioia on M2. The Monumentale is a ten-minute walk west and makes a good pairing.
⭐ One urban ticket lasts 90 minutes and covers the metro, the trams and the buses inside the city zones — one metro journey plus as many surface changes as you can fit. A contactless bank card works at the gate, and ⚠️ you tap the same card again on the way out of a metro station. See Getting Around.
If you only have an hour
Up onto Piazza Gae Aulenti, round the fountains, then north into Isola under the Bosco Verticale and through the old low streets behind it. Forty minutes, and Isola is the half that makes the point.
What people get wrong
⚠️ You cannot go up the Bosco Verticale. It is somebody’s flat. The view of it from the Biblioteca degli Alberi park below is the visit.
Nearby
Admissions, closing days and booking arrangements as published and checked on 7 September 2026. These change — the Last Supper’s release schedule has changed more than once — so confirm anything you are relying on before you travel. More sights, and how they fit together, in Landmarks & Sights.