Milan Youth Hostel

Milan Hostel 'Piero Rotta', the Municipality of Milan and Politecnico University are collaborating together on a big project.

Milan is known worldwide for its fashion, its trade fair, the Scala and the Duomo. Almost everything has been written and said about these features of the city. But what can Milan offer to a young low or medium budget traveler? First of all, Milan is the most vital city in Italy, by day…and by night!

If you step just outside the centre, with its big expensive shops, you can find, especially in the Ticinese area, a whole amount of small shops producing and selling their own clothes, shoes and everything a shopaholic loves to bring Andrea Paparini home after a visit to the world capital of fashion. If you are looking for more unconventional shopping, on Saturday the Ticinese area hosts two events you can’t miss: Milan biggest street market, in viale Papiniano, and the strangetst flea market in town, the Fiera di Sinigallia, near to Porta Genova Station. Almost everything is sold here: clothes, jewels and all sorts of things from all over the world, old records, CDs…

If budget is not a problem for you, then visit the “Quadrilateral”, the area around via Montenapoleone, where the world’s best stylist have their main shops. Also the Isola-Garibaldi area, where the new “fashion city” is growing, is a good haute-couture shopping place. But Milan isn’t only fashion and shopping: a huge number of museums are spread from the centre to the outskirts: they offer every kind of exhibition and collection, with an increasing number of museums about modern art and design, such as the newly opened Triennale Bovisa and the Design Museum.esides the big museums, some new small museums are growing, each of them with its own specialty: photography, personal exhibitions of great artists, modern art…

If you love music and opera, you can’t forget to pay a visit to the Scala theater, maybe just for a guided tour; if you prefer sport, then you’ll enjoy the guided tour of what we call “the Scala of football”: the San Siro stadium, home court of Milan A.C., the Champions of Europe, and Inter Milan F.C., the champions of Italy. The stadium tour also includes a visit to the museum, where memorabilia of the great history of Milan’s teams are exhibited. If you’ve read “the Da Vinci Code” would you miss the chance to check whether the person sitting right of Jesus in Leonardo’s Last Supper is a man or a woman? You’ll need to book your visit in advance, but it will be worth it. Whatever the reason you are walking around the city, you may like to take a rest in Milan’s parks. They are not a lot, and they are not very big, but they are nice restful spots. Most of all, you’ll find there a place to escape the heat in summer.

The Giardini Pubblici are between the Duomo and corso Buenos Aires, Milan’s best shopping area. Not far there is the Guastalla park, where students meet and spend their afternoons. On the backside of the Sforzesco castle you can find the Sempione Park, with its small lake with its ducks (but even in Milan nobody knows where they go in winter). After resting in the park you may like to visit the Castle, which hosts many different museums, from ancient Egypt, to the middle age. The Pietà Rondanini, the famous sculpture by Michelangelo, is exhibited in the castle. Milan also prides on having the best nightlife in Italy…and in fact it does. Milan’s nightlife areas are spread around in different parts of the city, and they will satisfy every kind of tourist: from the clubber to the jazz fan, from those who want good music to those who just like to have a drink in a young, international atmosphere. The areas around corso Como and corso 22 Marzo are the nightclub areas, were you’ll find any sort of club and disco where world famous djs perform. The Navigli area, alongside the two channels of the city, offers the widest possible choice: discos, jazz-bars, pubs, and the San Lorenzo columns, Milan’s favourite hangout for young people.

Small cozy pubs and crowded bars can be found around piazza Medaglie d’Oro, in the Porta Romana area, the fastest growing nightlife area in the city. Also the Isola area, besides the Garibaldi Station, is a new, rapidly growing area to spend a nice night. When you find yourself in small crowded streets with trendy pubs you‘ve reached the Brera area, just besides the Scala and the Duomo, Milan’s oldest nightlife district (it turned a bit posh, lately). Milan’s night atmosphere is young and international: the city is home to seven universities, and special nights for foreigner students (or just for foreigner tourists) are organized often in clubs or pubs: that’s the right place to get in touch with the atmosphere and make new friends from all over the world.

Milan is also a good city for food lovers: restaurants are located in every part of the city and offer an incredible range on both prices and kind of food: Mexican, Japanese, Chinese, Indian, African, Asian restaurants will satisfy every taste. Don’t forget that restaurants in Italy charge a fixed amount per person called “coperto”, which should be shown on the menu, and is usually between 1 and 2 Euros. Bike lovers will enjoy the Navigli in daytime too: a bike route runs alongside the channels, from Milan to the Natural park of the river Ticino The new trade fair in Rho hosts world famous events concerning design and technology, but the breathtaking building itself deserves a visit. Milan is known for fashion, design, arts and , sometimes, for its high prices. But this is not true. Not at all, at least. Small, cheap shops and small, cheap restaurants are spread all over the city, you just have to look for them. Sleeping in Milan, also, could be very expensive, but the Youth Hostel only charges 19 € per night, breakfast included (20 € in high season), offering also a friendly multi-cultural environment. If you visit the city by car don’t forget the Ecopass, the fee that vehicles rated Euro 1 or 2 have to pay to enter the city centre: you must pay within 24 hours from your access to the centre.

Book YHA Ostello di MILANO Piero Rotta