I imagined a disc-jockey up in the former choir loft while supermodels strut a runway walk up the same center aisle the brides used to traverse. It happens regularly.
Stepping off the smooth, quiet Trenitalia Frecciarossa train into the soaring timepiece that is Milan train station was both jarring and exciting. I had come, at the suggestion of the world-class IC Bellagio “Italian Connection” travel planners, to Milan by train after comparatively quiet visits to quaint Venice and Verona.
Massive Milan is another matter.
And the sky-high, curved ceilings and skylights, up-lit tapestries, iron chandeliers, sculpted molding, and mobs of people coming in and out of the station showed Milan meant business.
As a note, the late afternoon lines of people queueing for taxis were very long, so I rolled my luggage across the expansive front footprint of the train station, across the street, and around the corner and summoned an Uber from in front of a small hotel.
The driver was amiable, but spoke very little English. Personally, I do not mind cowboying to improvise in a situation such as this, but IC Bellagio can arrange to have a comfortable car awaiting, if you prefer.
A Reverent Arrival
I was dropped off at the entrance to the NH Collection City Life Hotel. I felt a sense of reverence as I walked up the center of the arched, porticoed, bronze-ceilinged, open-air atrium lounge leading to the hotel’s front doors.
Once inside, the check-in desk, to the right, had an artistic backdrop of what looked like long, vertical organ pipes.
Perhaps I should have genuflected when the erstwhile and diplomatic guest relations
manager, Paolo Barbe, revealed that the front portion of the hotel occupies what was once a Chiesa del Cristo Rey church.
He pointed between the white pillars up to the former choir loft at the front of the entrance atrium, and then directed me to a series of historic photos near the elevators. (It is a bit irreverent, but I noticed a cocktail bar on the left of the lobby where I suspected the tabernacle and altar wine might have been, for many Masses.)
NH Collection Hotels across Italy and other countries exist in buildings of intrigue and significance.
Holy Hospitality!
The historic photos, with captions in Italian, taught me enough to realize that the church, Chiesa del Cristo Rey, had existed since 1934 on the spot now occupied by NH Collection Milano City Life Hotel.
For more details, I sat in the former church area with Riccardo Bombaci, the very experienced general manager of the NH Collection Milano City Life Hotel. We shared the fellowship of espresso, but I can reveal that one confession also took place.
“There was a time when sitting here,” I suggested, “we would have had to whisper and occasionally get on our knees.”
Bombaci smiled and nodded. “Deconsecrating the church and renovating this property took more than three years. The architect wanted to keep the meaning of the original structure, so you can see we kept touches of the church: the pillars, the columns, the white and bronze colors, and the wall behind the front desk appear to be pipes from the organ,” Bombaci said with reverence.
The open-air atrium space in front of the hotel, where the congregation used to sit, is now filled with couches and coffee tables accessible to anyone. “We organize many events and presentations in this space.”
I imagined a disc-jockey up in the former choir loft while supermodels strut a runway walk up the same center aisle the brides used to traverse. It was a vision Bombaci confirmed happens regularly. Of course, Chiesa del Cristo Rey never had a rooftop panoramic pool and swank bar high atop a high-rise tower until NH Collection City Life added one to the hotel in 2022.
I Was In Fashion But Not In Style
When we met, Bombaci knew I was an American at first glance because I overdid it: I wore three Gucci-logoed accessories – shoes, glasses, and a scarf – at the same time. He could have said, “Troppo, basta!” (too much – enough stop!) of my tourist-to-Italy fashion faux pas.
Instead, Bombaci was politely tolerant, even though his wife, a style expert, helps to dress the likes of Beyonce and Taylor Swift because she has worked in the fashion industry for the likes of Cavalli and Versace!
“Instead of dressing me, my wife prefers to tailor dresses for celebrities, Bombaci insisted. “I am not a celebrity.”
But, in fact, fashion is in the family: Riccardo Bombaci, himself, was almost once hired by Giorgio Armani, personally.
And to top it off, as we spoke, a Chanel-sponsored event was taking place in his hotel, so I felt compelled to try to save my damaged fashion credentials.
“Fashion Week took place two weeks before I got to Milan; however, I am going to a
black-tie party tomorrow,” I told Bombaci. “It is the birthday of Barbara Torno Sangalli, the wife of Federico Sangalli, the famed fashion designer.”
Bombaci leaned in to learn more. “The location, in the Brera area, like your hotel, has
religious history. The party is at his atelier, which is in an ancient building restored by Cardinal Borromeo in 1500 because it was once the rectory of the church of San Carpoforo, built for Sant’Ambrogio – the patron saint of Milan – and his sister Santa Marcellina,” I recited.
I then told Bombaci that years ago, Sangalli had invited me to Milan Fashion Week. “I missed them, but the Sangallis, during Milan Fashion Week, staged three shows at their historic atelier I just described.
Bombaci nodded as I continued. “Anyway, by 1800, that building was used to store the documents and weapons of Napoleon, who used Palazzo Cusani as his personal residence…Saints and sinners under one roof,” I smiled.
The notion of the word “sinners” provoked me to confess:
“And you think my ‘triple Gucci’ outfit is bad fashion? The first time I interviewed Sangalli, the great designer, about eight years ago…I was wearing a dreadful shirt designed by ‘Amazon Essentials!’”
Now we were both laughing.
NH Collection Murano City Life Hotel’s Stylish Location
Recently in style, according to Bombaci, is the “City Life” area of Milan, where the hotel opened in 2022.
“Developers started building luxury residential homes and there are lots of clubs and restaurants. A lot of rich people, like football players, actors, and presenters, are moving here.”
Bombaci and his wife live in an equally exciting place. “Our home outside Milan is directly on the Curva di Lesmo of the Autodromo Nazionale in Monza. Every weekend in my garden, I can hear the race cars zooming by. It is music to my ears,” he insisted.
“During the F1 Italian Grand Prix, Monza and Milan become a big party everywhere with a lot of exhibitions in the Duomo Square and Monza Square. The drivers take pictures and sign autographs.”
Bombaci may insist he is not a celebrity, but he has been around plenty of autograph-signing stars during his award-winning career. He remembers early on pouring vodka martinis for actors George Clooney and Nicolas Cage at the Excelsior Hotel on the Lido during the Venice Film Festival.
Bombaci has held management and training positions at more than a few Venetian hotels and worked in Rome and London.
Get Me To The Church On Time
After our conversation in the church-turned-hotel, I decided to “go in peace” to Milan’s most famous, still-existing cathedral. I took the nearby subway and emerged after six or seven stops beside the comparatively young (circa 1965) Duomo di Milano – an ornate basilica built in the Gothic, Renaissance style.
Restoration was taking place on one side, so a muralled, artistic panel meant to conceal the construction had projections of animated advertising appear to be the side of a holy building!
But it seemed in line with the neon Aperol, Gucci, and Martini sponsor signs soaring over the surrounding, church-front, Piazza del Duomo, giving the gathering area a lively “Times Square” feel with its busking musicians, souvenir sellers, political demonstrators, and even ladies of the evening.
Milan Mounts Olympic-Style Hospitality Effort
In the front corner of the lively Piazza del Duomo, full of tourists, I spotted the snazziest advertisement of all: a giant glass snow globe!
It was the size of a small room with flurries blowing inside around the artistic, red, sculpted Olympic logo. A red, digital clock counted down the days and hours until the opening ceremonies of the winter games.
NH Collection Milano City Life, which will be the host hotel of the American television media during their coverage of the Milan-Cortina Olympics, in February 2026.
Some of those fortunate sports telecasters will be housed in the 185-room, luxury hotel for all of three months since the Olympic world media center and headquarters are at Allianz MiCo convention center, Europe’s largest, across the street.
“We will be in the red zone, so there will be a lot of checkpoints here regarding the many activities and transportation elements, but it will be a very challenging and exciting experience,” Bombaci, who is a skier, told me.
Olympic TV Tips for NH Collection Milano City Life Long-Term Guests
During my two days at NH Collection Milano City Life Hotel, I lived like a local (or, at least, like a visiting American broadcaster covering the Olympics) by walking around the area.
One afternoon, I ended up in a storefront window under the scissors of barber Davide Mucelli, who, himself, looked like an Italian fashion model. His small shop on Via Giovanni da Procida was “fico” (hip.)
Crema Alta Gelateria, around the corner, also had a window to its “laboratorio,” where artisans baked waffle cones and created more than 40 gourmet gelato flavors, including white rice, bergamot, marsala, and black mulberry.
I savored a “coppetta two palline” with stracciatella and gorgonzola flavors.
In Milan, Fashion Week is Every Week
I did make it to the Barbara Torno Sangalli birthday party I had told Bombaci about (I resisted wearing “triple Gucci” accessories.)
I do hope, someday, due to their involvement in fashion, to introduce him and his wife to Federico and Barbara Sangalli – hopefully over a spritz at either of their religious-related facilities. (It would just be a treat to see how each of them dresses.)
The award-winning Federico Sangalli has outfitted stars on stage and presented his creations, including magical illuminated dresses with innovative fabrics, from Rome to Tokyo to Istanbul to Milan’s Royal Palace.
His atelier is a creative lab, where fashion, art, culture, and technology live together.
“What is the secret of looking fashionable?” I asked the humble, jovial genius.
He took a puff from his cigar and answered, “There is no secret. It is really, like the Billy Joel song about New York, a state of mind.”
Read more of Michael Patrick’s work at The Travel Tattler and contact him at MShiels@aol.com. Order his book Travel Tattler – Less Than Torrid Tales at
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