Yearning for water in the summer heat

Milan is a resourceful city. If they don't have something, they make it. No mountains? They built the artificial hill near the San Siro district and optimistically named it "Monte Stella". No lake? What could be better than the Idroscalo, near Linate airport, excavated in the 1930s? No sea? They built a system of canals, and Milan's port, the Darsena, became the most intensely-trafficked inland port in 19th-century Europe. No fish? Milan's fish market is the largest in Italy, and its restaurants provide a superb range of culinary seafood preparations.

In particular, it is Milan's fascination with the sea that has become proverbial. "Milanes al mar", literally "a man from Milan at sea", is a colloquial expression of scorn used by the real coastal dwellers of the city of Genoa to describe the hapless landlubbers and their enthusiastic attempts to become sailors.

The link between Milan and the sea was once real. Italy's largest river, the Po, is an enormous waterway running about 100 km south of Milan and continuing eastwards to the Adriatic sea. Leonardo da Vinci understood the importance of transportation routes and designed a system of canals linking Milan, via the river Adda, to the Po and thence the Adriatic, but the link was actually forged only in the 18 th century. As other canals ran from Milan westwards to the Ticino, lake Maggiore and Switzerland, and southwards to Pavia, the city was at the heart of an extensive network of water-based communications. Milan itself was like a Mediterranean version of Amsterdam, with concentric and radial canals. They were covered over in the late 19th century, but still today the water keeps flowing under street level, unseen and forgotten. The canals outside Milan are no longer used, and those remaining of Leonardo da Vinci's system are mostly dried, overgrown and ruined.

Today the relationship between Milan and the sea has never been stronger. It's partly a question of fashion, of course. Up until the mid 19th century, the sea was regarded as a dangerous place to be avoided at all costs, and the nobility of Milan took their holidays in villas built in the countryside north of Milan (the "Brianza" district) and on lakes Como and Maggiore. However, just as happened in England and France, it was soon discovered that the sea air was good for health, and so seaside resorts gradually became the "in" place for holidays. Today, many of the million-odd Milanese people (of a population of about 1.5 million) who take their holidays in August go to a beach somewhere.

Even in late June the temperatures were at 35°C and beyond. Which reminds me: wear enough clothes if you want to visit the Cathedral. Bare shoulders are not allowed, and neither are shorts above the knees.

Given the typically clammy heat of Milan's summer, it's no surprise that many of the events this month take place in outdoor locations, villas in particular. There is a series of late-evening concerts at Villa Reale in Via Palestro.

That's fine in the evenings, you may say, but what about cooling off during the day time? Particularly as sales start on 5th July, which may mean that you'll be spending some time tramping up and down gooey pavements. Well, one of the new ideas this month is that of running happy hour aperitifs in municipal swimming pools. The most central of these is the "Bagni Botta swimming bar" at the Caimi pool in via Botta 18 (MM3 Porta Romana), open every day 19.30-23.30 for music, cocktails, and a dip in the smaller pool. More swimming pool addresses inside. Further out, the Idropark, an artificial lake near Linate airport, offers all sorts of recreational activities.

Today, the Idroscalo has become a comprehensive sports facility, with woods, bars, restaurants and nightlife areas. The lake is 2,600 metres long, and it has an average depth of 4 metres. The water comes from the spontaneous springs or fontanili typical of the Po valley. This means that it is clean – the cleanest lake in Lombardy, and one of the cleanest of Italy – and very cold (12°C).

Sometimes, after all the asphalt and concrete of central Milan, it would be nice to find a nice little garden in which to just sit on the grass and have a break. The largest of Milan's parks is Parco Sempione. The Bar Bianco in this park offers a trendy location for cocktails. The Giardini Pubblici di Porta Venezia are conveniently located near Corso Buenos Aires, one of the longest shopping streets in Europe.