Milan

In post-war Italy, the northern city of Milan became synonymous with modernity, as the city's fathers set about rebuilding the bomb-damaged city with functional high-rise blocks rather than restoring historic buildings, as many other Italian councils chose to do. The result is that, 50 years on, Milan is one of the country's less aesthetically pleasing cities.

The busy Milanese have no time to worry about that, however, and for the first-time visitor, the city offers much to admire. Most visitors make time to see the beautiful Romanesque church of Sant'Ambrogio, visit the Brera art gallery and check out the designer stores clustered into the Quadrilatero d'Oro area.

The city's one jaw-dropping monument is the Gothic cathedral, and the long queues for the city's other major attraction, Leonardo da Vinci's Last Supper, in the church of Santa Maria delle Grazie, mean that it's really only for tick-box tourists who "do" cities.

For nightlife, the once-bohemian Navigli district, the Brera neighbourhood and the up-and-coming artisan's quarter, Isola Garibaldi, are well worth visiting.

The city has a fair claim to being the birthplace of modern Europe as it was in Milan, during the fourth century, that the Romans finally embraced Christianity. The powerful Visconti and Sforza dynasties ensured its pre-eminence through medieval and Renaissance times and today the city is Italy's capital of commerce, the fashion industry, and, of course, football.

Silvio Berlusconi, the cruise-line crooner turned real-estate salesman turned former prime minister, owns slick, successful AC Milan. His divisive, Thatcherite politics whilst in power mean that the club is widely disliked in Italy despite having produced some of the country's most entertaining teams, notably the Arrigo Sacchi and Fabio Capello sides between 1987 and 1996. The present team, under coach Carlo Ancelotti, has been Serie A's most fluid passing outfit for several seasons, and won the Champions League, beating Liverpool in the final, in 2006-07, the club's seventh such success.

Internazionale, by contrast, were widely viewed as perennial underachievers up until 2005, having won practically bugger all since their 1960s heyday under catenaccio merchant Helenio Herrera. But two successive Serie A titles have finally got that particular monkey of the club's back.

Up until then, Inter president Massimo Moratti had shot a £500m wad buying some of the world's greatest players but had just one UEFA Cup to show for it before handing over the reins to Giacinto Facchetti in January 2004. The club should be embraced by football romantics the world over for demonstrating that money can't buy success, but instead people just snigger.

AC Milan fans were once drawn largely from the city's working classes and Inter's from the suburban bourgeoisie but it's hard to detect any demographic differences these days. The rivalry between the two sets of fans is more Liverpool-Everton than Celtic-Rangers - families often have divided loyalties - so trouble between the teams is rare.