While the Auditorium di Milano is trumped by the Conservatorio historically and architecturally, it is still one of the concert halls in Milan worth seeing as it holds its own with the latest acoustic technology and an accomplished resident choir and orchestra (La Orchestra Sinfonica). It was opened in 1999 in an old 1930s cinema, and the area surrounding it was widened to accommodate the traffic of musicians and audiences (and named after Austrian composer Gustav Mahler).

Under the auspices of Musical Director Riccardo Chailly, it plays a traditional repertoire of Mozart, Beethoven, Haydn, Rachmaninov and so on, in a strikingly modern pearwood-panelled concert hall that seats 1,400 guests. Innovative fixtures, such as a children’s programme, and a brunch-like Sunday sitting that serves up coffee and newspapers to classical music (11am every Sunday), attest to the Auditorium’s modern status.