Milan Webcam – See the Skyline of Porta Nuova

The Milan Webcam looks out over Porta Nuova, the business district just north of the city center, where Italy’s tallest building and the tree-covered Bosco Verticale rise above the rooftops. The camera is mounted high above the street and takes in the whole cluster of towers at once: the UniCredit Tower and its slender spire on the left, the planted balconies of the Bosco Verticale in the middle, and a spread of ochre and cream apartment blocks running out to a hazy horizon. Light changes the scene more than anything else. Around midday the sun falls on the building fronts facing the camera and the glass towers take on the color of the sky, while winter haze can flatten the distant city into a single gray band. On the clearest days, the faint outline of the Alps can appear along the horizon.

About Milan and the Porta Nuova Skyline

Milan is the capital of Lombardy, home to about 1.36 million people, and sits on the plain of northern Italy at 120 meters (394 feet) above sea level. Porta Nuova takes its name from a Neoclassical city gate built on the site in 1810 to a design by Giuseppe Zanoia. The land around it was left to decay for decades, and the redevelopment that produced today’s skyline began as a project in 1997 and was laid out by three master planners: Pelli Clarke Pelli, Boeri Studio and Kohn Pedersen Fox.

The tallest tower in view is the UniCredit Tower, designed by Cesar Pelli and home to UniCredit, Italy’s largest bank by assets. Its stainless steel spire was fixed in place on October 15, 2011, and makes it the tallest building in Italy, although the Allianz Tower across town is taller to the roof. Further back stands the Bosco Verticale, or Vertical Forest, a pair of residential towers 116 meters (381 feet) and 84 meters (276 feet) tall, designed by Boeri Studio. Their balconies hold about 730 trees, 5,000 shrubs and 11,000 perennials, which is why the tower reads as dark and shaggy on camera rather than glassy. It opened in October 2014 and was named the best tall building worldwide by the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat in 2015. It stands in the Isola district, whose name means island, because railway lines once ringed it.

Closer to the camera, a tall blue glass tower fills the left edge of the frame, and a wide, straight avenue runs away between the towers with traffic moving along it. A broad lawn opens up in the middle distance at the foot of the skyscrapers. On the right, a dark tower stands beside red and white tower cranes, a sign that building work here is still going on.

Weather and Climate in Milan

Milan has a humid subtropical climate, with hot, sticky summers and cold, often hazy winters. At Linate Airport, the 1991 to 2020 averages run from highs of 7.3°C (45°F) and lows just below freezing in January to highs of 30.7°C (87°F) and lows of 19.3°C (67°F) in July. Summer peaks can top 35°C (95°F), and the nights stay muggy because the city gets so little wind, sheltered by the Alps and the Apennines on three sides. Summer rain tends to arrive as thunderstorms, sometimes with hail.

Spring and autumn are milder. April averages 19.3°C (67°F) by day and 8.4°C (47°F) at night, and October is almost the same at 19.0°C (66°F) and 10.2°C (50°F). Autumn is wet, with November bringing about 112 millimeters (4.4 inches) of rain at Linate against 44 millimeters (1.7 inches) in July. Winter is when the camera changes most. Thick fog used to blanket the city, though the loss of the rice paddies south of Milan and the urban heat island have made it far less common since the turn of the century. Temperature inversions still trap haze and smog over the plain, which can hide everything beyond the nearest towers.

Things to Do Near Porta Nuova in Milan

The towers on camera are easy to explore on foot. Piazza Gae Aulenti is the square at the foot of the UniCredit Tower, and the Biblioteca degli Alberi, or Library of Trees, is the park laid out between the skyscrapers. A short walk north leads into the Isola district and up to the Bosco Verticale, and Porta Garibaldi railway station sits right beside the UniCredit complex.

The historic center is a little over 2 kilometers (1.3 miles) to the south. The Duomo and the glass-roofed Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II arcade sit side by side there, and Sforza Castle, the medieval fortress the Sforza family enlarged and completed, is a short walk northwest. Leonardo da Vinci painted The Last Supper in Milan, and in the evening the Navigli, the old system of interconnected canals, draws crowds to its bars and restaurants.

Similar Webcams You Might Like

More Lombardy views, and another city skyline with mountains behind it:

• Bergamo Webcam
• Lake Como Webcam
• Denver Webcam

Frequently Asked Questions

Where is Milan located?

Milan is in northern Italy, the capital of the Lombardy region, on the plain between the Alps and the Apennines. The camera looks over Porta Nuova, the business district a little over 2 kilometers (1.3 miles) north of the Duomo.

What can you see on the Milan Webcam?

The Porta Nuova skyline: the UniCredit Tower and its spire, the tree-covered Bosco Verticale, a tall glass tower close by on the left, a wide avenue between the towers, and rooftops stretching to the horizon, with the Alps faint in the distance on clear days.

What is the tower with the spire on the Milan skyline?

That is the UniCredit Tower on Piazza Gae Aulenti, completed in 2011. Its spire makes it the tallest building in Italy, and the bank’s name is visible near the top of the curved glass tower beside it.

Does the Milan Webcam show the Duomo?

No. The cathedral and Piazza del Duomo are a little over 2 kilometers (1.3 miles) south of Porta Nuova and outside this camera’s view, which is filled by the modern business district instead.

Can you see Malpensa Airport on the Milan Webcam?

No. Malpensa lies well outside the city, northwest of Milan in the province of Varese, far beyond anything the camera can pick out.

What is the weather like in Milan?

Hot and humid in summer, with July averaging 30.7°C (87°F) by day, and cold in winter, with January highs of 7.3°C (45°F). The camera is a quick way to see whether haze or fog is hanging over the city before heading out.

Does it snow in Milan?

Sometimes. The city averages about seven days of snow a year, and the 1961 to 1990 average snowfall across the Milan area was 25 centimeters (10 inches). The record is 90 centimeters (35 inches), set in January 1985.

Is the Milan Webcam live right now?

Yes. The current broadcast from Espansione Tv has been running since October 20, 2023, so the player normally shows the skyline at any hour of the day.

Source: Espansione Tv