I think LHR to Europe has the best deals on flights. You might want to check LHR plus the add on for European destinations. I think you could get a $1100 V fare for 7 day advance (may not be fast enough for you) plus a fare to your European destination that would be cheaper than Milan alone?

But if you need to go right away, then MXP is your ticket.

If you need more flexibility and know you will be there a week (or you want to spend a little vacation time there), I would opt for the YJE9 or something like that fare. It is more expensive (but may not be if you have to change both outbound and inbound). You can usually buy them to "add on" type destinations like GVA etc. I would check out the YJE9 fares (or something similar to several locations and see what you come up with, if you can tolerate the 7 days).

A YKE10 YVR to NCE is $2800 CAD and allows 2 stopovers.

No advance purchase requirement, totally changeable (with 7 day limitation of course).