Milan has claimed for some time to have overtaken Paris. Their city, say the Milanese, is now the world's fashion capital. Certainly, clothes and all that goes with them have the Lombard capital in a firm grip. Shops in the area bounded by Via Manzoni, Via Montenapoleone and Via della Spiga are given over to moda: lesser known houses as well as big ones such as Gucci, Ferragamo, Valentino and Missoni.
Italians are famously fashion conscious. Style counts. That much will be obvious to any visitor taking an aperitif in Crova, the smart cafe standing at the corner of Via Montenapoleone and Via Sant'Andrea - the drinking hole of Ernest Hemingway's hero in A Farewell to Arms. Yet, less than 300 metres way is Boeucc, a plush restaurant with tables placed well apart to give diners the privacy needed for cooking up schemes and digesting deals. At lunchtime, it fills with top commercial bankers, investment bankers, industrialists and Italy's leading corporate lawyers.
