Milan or Verona?

I’ve been to both, multiple times.

I like Verona a lot, and it’s very close to the Dolomites, your intended destination. I think that a full solid day (2 nights) would be enough to see Verona, and possibly to attend an opera night at the Arena. If you plan to stay 3 days, maybe you could include a day trip or two somewhere nearby, like Lake Garda (Sirmione?), Valpolicella Wine region, Vicenza, Padua, to name a few.

Milan is a big metropolis. I never cared for it much, but admittedly it has important places to see, like La Scala Opera House, the Duomo, the Galleria, Leonardo’s Last Supper, Pinacoteca di Brera, Sforza Castle museums, etc.

Your call.

Verona, hands down. A lovely, welcoming little city, with history going back to the Romans. The Roman arena there is much better preserved than the coliseum in Rome, and you can attend an opera there. And there are more sites of historic interest. The path along the river is pleasant to walk, as it follows a horseshoe shape around the city. Whether you stay inside or outside the walls, your hotel can be walkable from the train station.

milan over verona, especially if architecture and art are your things. in addition to roberto's sugestions i would add sant ambrogio, santa maria delle grazie, san maurizio and pinacoteca ambrosiana. more modern architectuctural sites worth taking in are the milano centrale itself, torre hadid and bosco varticale. as for walking and exploring the brera and navagli districts are great. milan has wonderful transportation so while it is large getting around is a breeze. you could make a day trip to see the beautiful monza cathedral and capella di teodolinda. all types of trains from frecciarossa to regionale make visiting nearby cities like pavia easy as well.

verona is lovely. san zeno, ponte scaligero, santa anastasia and the duomo. the famous balcony/courtyard is a myth and swarming with tourists but the architecture is evocative.

you can't go wrong with either one.

I would not hesitate to stay in Verona. Do you have 3 nights or 3 days? Whichever it is you won’t run out of things to see. My first visit was for 2 nights, so I had one full day. I returned another time and spent 4 nights (3 days) and did day trips to Lake Garda and Mantova. In Mantova it was a Monday and many things were closed. You will run into that in Italy and it’s good to plan around it.

Milan. I was flying out of there and was coming from Lake Como. I took a morning train to Milan to allow time to see it. After dropping my luggage at the hotel I took a hop on/hop off bus to see as much as possible. The cathedral is stunning, but otherwise Milan didn’t do anything for me. I left for the airport the next morning with no regrets that I had missed out on anything.

People have already said everything about why they prefer Verona, so I’ll just add my vote to theirs.

My choice would also be Verona. It has a laid back vibe to it in addition to all the things to see and do. Many good restaurants, and practically all of the things you'll want to visit are within walking distance of the center of the city.

Given this choice I would easily side with Verona over Milan, however, the two cities are very different so the question for me is "What kind of experience are you looking for?"

Milan is a large city of over a million people and Verona is a tenth of that and feels even smaller within the city core. Milan is the center of banking and fashion in Italy full or urgency and people going about their busy, important lives while Verona is a much quieter, pedestrian friendly and genteel city. If you are looking to pack 3 whirlwind days full of historical sites and art then Milan has much more to offer. If you want to see some Roman ruins, an interesting art museum and church or two while wandering between buildings with faded frescoes and choosing between the many charming cafes in a relaxed way then I would go with Verona.

The only curve ball I'll throw in there is that if you really want to pack 3 days with amazing art, history and architecture then I would immediately send you to Florence over Milan. It's less than 2 hours away by fast train and while smaller and more accessible it is one of the great art and history cities in Europe.

My $.02 - have a great trip!
=Tod

I personally would take Verona over Milano because I am not so fond of big cities. I have been to both. I liked charming Verona very much. Since you mentioned architecture, you could consider Vicenza which is not far from Verona and the Dolomites. Vicenza is famous for its Palladian architecture.

Vicenza is famous for its Palladian architecture.

Yes it is, and it's beautiful. Very close to Verona, and can easily be done as a day trip by local train.

I also love Verona (and Vicenza, too).

We’ve been to Milan three times, at the end and beginning of long trips. The Cathedral is spectacular and a visit to LaScala is great, but we found it to be a very large, impersonal city.

On the other hand Verona is a lovely walking city with lots of interesting nooks and crannies, museums, and restaurants. The arena is cool, and, if you plan right, you may be there in time for a food festival of one kind or another.

My preference is Verona.

This is what I wrote about my last time there: “ Verona – 2 Days: Another activity that dictated my itinerary dates was attending the Aida Opera at the Roman Arena. What an experience to sit under the stars in the historical arena and hear an opera in Italian in Italy! Since my husband & I had previously stayed several days in Verona, I also had reserved both a bike tour & a cooking class with Veronality to fill my two days here. I thoroughly enjoyed both of them, although the cooking class in Lucca was even better. I booked Hotel Bologna because it was within site of the arena, and I knew the opera would finish around 12:30am.”

The first time we stayed in Verona, we bought The Verona Card - not sure if they still offer them. We enjoyed going to many of the locations on the card.

While I was staying in Milan I saw the magnificent Duomo, walking through the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II and area. I walked a few blocks to tour the Museo Poldi Pezzoli, a home containing a private collection of paintings, glass, weapons, furnishings, interesting time-keeping pieces, glass drawers of beautiful lace, etc. There were only a few other people in the museum, making it a very enjoyable time. I would have loved to also tour their monumental cemetery to see the beautiful sculptures.