Linate or Malpensa?

Malpensa--more flights. It's further outside the city, but it's the big airport for Milan. Lots of shops and places to eat, too.

You likely won't find any direct flights from the states to Linate, so that means a transfer at a European hub (Paris, Frankfurt, etc.). As the previous reply mentioned, you'll have lots more choice with flights to Malpensa. While it's further outside the city, it's not hard to get into Milan from the airport using the Malpensa Express.

Check schedules and prices for both. For a Milan-Seattle route on Delta/KLM, for instance, I chose Linate because that departure connected at Amsterdam Schiphol, while the Malpensa departures connected at Paris Charles de Gaulle. If given a choice, I prefer connecting at Schiphol, and on that occasion also wanted to have a day in Amsterdam. The transportation between Milan and either airport is easy enough not to be an issue.

Short version: either one works fine. Choose whichever has the best connections and price from your home airport.

Long version: Milan Malpensa airport is the only one that gets nonstop flights from the US. It is far from the center of Milan, but is connected by regular trains to both Milano Cadorna station and Milano Centrale station. You have to get on the correct train at the airport (in other words, a Cadorna-bound train will not stop at Centrale and vice versa). Which station is better depends on your hotel; both are on the Metro line 2 (green line). There are also buses to Milano Centrale station (big buses with luggage storage underneath). A taxi has a fixed rate of €90.

Milan Linate airport is very close to the city. It only gets flights from within Europe. There is daily frequent bus service to Milano Centrale station, and on weekdays there's also a bus to the San Babila Metro station (Line 1 - red line) that's even cheaper. A taxi is only €25-30 to the center.

Just for completeness, there's also Bergamo Orio Al Serio airport. This was Bergamo's airport, until someone noticed that it was about as far from central Milan as Malpensa is. It's used by budget airlines; if for some reason you arrive here, there are buses to Milano Centrale station.

The easy way to think of these, if you know the Washington, DC airports: Linate is Washington National, Malpensa is Dulles, and Bergamo is BWI.

It depends on your carrier.
LIN, which is close to the city center, has a short runway (8000ft) therefore only narrow body Intra-EU flights are available.
MXP, which is far, has the transatlantic flights aboard the wide body planes.
If you fly non stop from North America with a North American Airlines (or Emirates) or Alitalia, then MXP is the only option.
If you fly a European airline via a European hub, the only option might be LIN, because all European airlines decided to stop (Air France, KLM, Alitalia) or severely limit (all others) flights to MXP.

Thanks all! I may fly from Baltimore (my home airport) to JFK and then nonstop to Malpensa. Other possibility is I visit friends in Brussels first for a few days. All still to be determined!