It is always tempting to time a trip to Milan when there is a glamorous event going on. Friends from Italy tell me to plan for Design Week and Salone del Mobile in April, Fashion Week in September or a celebrity gala concert at La Scala. But I am here in decidedly unfashionable, off-season winter, to avoid the crowds and discover an alternative Milano.

I won’t be joining the long queues to see the Duomo, nor booking months in advance online to squeeze in a visit to Leonardo da Vinci’s Last Supper. My first big surprise comes straight away as I arrive at the imposing Milano Centrale train station, for years an edgy no-go zone.