If you think Italians are passionate, just wait until you pack into San Siro Stadium to watch a football match. Especially if you manage to get tickets for the Derby della Madonnina, also known as the Milan derby, between A.C. Milan and Inter, both of which consider San Siro to be their home stadium. This massive football shrine–it’s one of the largest stadiums in Europe and the largest in Italy–is a testament to the popularity of both A.C. Milan and Inter. The stadium was consistently enlarged over the first half of the 20th century to accommodate more and more fans, eventually reaching a capacity of around 80,000 people. Now imagine the roar of 80,000 people when a winning goal is scored–that’s what you call passion.
Time Out tip: Leonardo da Vinci began several projects that he never finished, one being a horse sculpture commissioned by Ludovico il Moro, the Duke of Milan, in 1482. But thanks to the dedicated enthusiasm of an American art collector and an experienced animal sculptor, this equine statue–which at the time was intended to be the largest such statue in the world–was completed in 1999 and is now on display a few hundred meters away from the stadium.