At the top we find publication date crediting BAD ROBOT and MELCHER MEDIA, at the bottom MULLHOLLAND BOOKS and LITTLE, BROWN. Two birds frame on top and bottom that information. Abrams and Doug Dorst along with the title, the same iconic S. The cased in side of the carton credits the two authors/creators J.J. A seal to keep the volume inside itself has three sides. Be on the lookout in your wanderings for the Visconti family emblem-a viper, its jaws straining wide, devouring a child.The slipcase also offers a wealth of information on its three sides as well as the top and bottom. These families were known, justly or not, for a peculiarly aristocratic mixture of refinement, classical learning, and cruelty much of the surviving grandeur of Gothic and Renaissance art and architecture is their doing. From 1277 until 1500 it was ruled first by the Visconti and then the Sforza dynasties. Its heyday of self-rule proved comparatively brief. After being completely sacked by the Goths in AD 539 and by the Holy Roman Empire under Frederick Barbarossa in 1157, Milan became one of the first independent city-states of the Renaissance. Virtually every invader in European history-Gaul, Roman, Goth, Lombard, and Frank-as well as a long series of rulers from France, Spain, and Austria, took a turn at ruling the city. Visitors tempted by world-class shopping will appreciate Milan's European sophistication while discovering unexpected facets of a country they may have only thought they knew. A side street conceals a garden complete with flamingos (Giardini Invernizzi, on Via dei Cappuccini, just off Corso Venezia closed to the public, but you can still catch a glimpse), and a renowned 20th-century art collection hides modestly behind an unspectacular facade a block from Corso Buenos Aires (the Casa-Museo Boschi di Stefano).

But Milan's secrets reveal themselves slowly to those who look.

They're right, of course: Milan is more European than Italian, a new buckle on an old boot, and although its old city can stand cobblestone to cobblestone against the best of them, seekers of Roman ruins and fairy-tale towns may pass. Most visitors prefer Tuscany's hills and Venice's canals to Milan's hectic efficiency and wealthy indifference, and it's no surprise that in a country of medieval hilltop villages and skilled artisans, a city of grand boulevards and global corporations leaves visitors asking the real Italy to please stand up. Milan even reigns supreme where it really counts (in the minds of many Italians), routinely trouncing the rest of the nation with its two premier soccer teams.Īnd yet, Milan hasn't won the battle for hearts and minds when it comes to tourism.

Leonardo da Vinci's Last Supper and other great works of art are here, as well as a spectacular Gothic Duomo, the finest of its kind. Rome may be bigger and wield political power, but Milan and the affluent north are what really make the country go.

S doug dorst