Via Manzoni (Manzoni Street), Milan

Via Manzoni is a busy and fashionable street in Milan that runs from Piazza della Scala towards Piazza Cavour in the northwest. This impressive refined-air street is lined with aristocratic apartment blocks and opulent churches, as well as quite a few notable buildings, such as the Museo Poldi Pezzoli, the elegant Grand Hotel et de Milan (where composer Giuseppe Verdi passed away in 1901), and several fine palazzi.

The street was named after Alessandro Manzoni, an Italian writer, poet and playwright, on the day of his death in 1873. The reason for it was that the writer lived nearby, on via Morone, at #1168 (now #1), in a house whose garden almost overlooked the street. In the 19th century, Via Manzoni was considered the most luxurious street in Milan.

Today, it is also one of the city's premier shopping destinations – notably a home to the Armani Megastore and a part of Milan’s high-end fashion district, Quadrilatero della Moda. Vogue retailers like Anna Rita N, Antonini, Armani Casa, Artemide, Bolaffi, Bottega del Cashmere, Coccinelle, E. Marinella, Frette, Gattinoni, Grimoldi, Les Copains, Mila Schön, Napapjri, Pal Zileri, Patrizia Pepe, Paul Smith, Scappino and El Ganso have all established their presence here.