The nightlife is vibrant
as one would expect in a young cosmopolitan Milan. The evening starts
with the passegiata, a cultural institution itself in Italy and
where everyone dresses in the smartest clothes, ‘walks out’
– strolling up and down central streets in order ‘to
see and be seen’.
Centres of the passegiate vary in Milan but the Galleria
Vittorio Emanuele II and the pedestrian zones of the city
along the Via Dante are good areas to go and observe.
The modern European feature of Milan is the profusion of restaurants
and bars, which catch clients for the whole evening and where it
is possible to dine leisurely or just sit over an aperitivo or a
bottle of wine. The trend is to move on during the night, visiting
two or three locales, thereby demonstrating social savvy and bella
figura.
The Navigli district around the canals in the southwest
of Milan is one of the best locations for bars and cafés,
extending up to Porta Ticinese. North of the Cathedral,
the area around the Brera offers many pleasant
boutique cafés, clubs and restaurants. Many bars and restaurants
stay open until late (0100 hrs), after which the energetic move
on to the nightclubs and discoteca, which stay open till 0400 hrs
(most are closed on Mondays).
The legal drinking age is 16 years. Expect to pay €6 for a
bottle of wine in a bar and at least €7.50 for entry to clubs.
Entertainment listings for Milan are available online at www.corriere.it
and www.hellomilano.it.
The newspapers Corriere della Sera published on
Wednesday and La Repubblica, published on Thursday,
also supply listings, as does the tourist offices, Spettacoli
Milano and Mese Milano.
Bars
Coffee drinking throughout the day is a quick-fix for the business
community and only the serious shoppers settle down for coffee and
wonderful pastries. Between 1800hrs and 2100hrs, cafés and
bars come into their own as the afterwork crowds seek out the perfect
aperitivo, as well as the best place to see and be seen. Some bars
offer free finger food with aperitives. Classic cocktails often
involve Prosecco (dry or sweet sparkling wine) or Campari. Drinks
range in price between €4-9.
Dieci (10) Corso
Como, Corso Como 10, with its slightly oriental slant to
decorations is one of the ottest bars in Milan, as is the Victoria
Café located in the financial district, Via Clerici
1. Il Gattopardo Café, Via Piero della Francesca
17 in a deconsecrated church in the upwardly mobile northwest of
the city centre is still the haunt of the idle rich, booking in
advance is essential.
The Garden Bar
of the Sheraton Diana Majestic, Viale Piave 2 is the place to visit
during warm weather, especially during Milan fashion weeks. In the
Navigali district, La Biciclette, Conca del Navigalo
10, with its monthly changing display of artwork, attracts an extremely
varied group and the the buffet is a classic. ATM in a refurbished
former tram station, Bastioni di Porta Volta,
north of the Duomo, is often considered the city’s best bar,
frequented by an artistic crowd and certainly somewhere to check
out the forefront of Milanese fashions.
Casinos
There are no licensed casinos in Milan.
Clubs
The Black, Via Canonica (telephone number:
02 3360 3907) with its retro science fiction feel has taken over
from Killer
Plastic, Viale Umbria 120 (telephone number: 02 733 996) as
the place to go for Italian house and techno music, although the
latter remains very popular.
Hollywood
Rythmoteque, Corso Como 15 (telephone number: 02 659 8996) remains
popular with the glamorous crowd, especially on Sundays.
Café
L'Atlantique, Viale Umbria 42 (telephone number: 02 5519 3925)
begins with aperitivi and later becomes an very popular club into
the early hours with hip-hop and house music is featured on Thursday
and Friday evenings and more commercial music on Saturday and Sunday.
The
Shocking Club, Bastioni di Porta Nuova 12 (telephone number:
02 8656 4650) reopened early in 2002 with a new minimalist decor.
The club lives up to its name, especially on Wednesday evenings
with its outrageous theme nights.
Large clubs (up to 2000) include Propaganda, Via
Castelbarco 11 (telephone number: 02 5831 0682) and Alcatraz,
Via Valtellina 21 (telephone number: 02 6901 6352) a refurbished
industrial building which includes two dancefloors, two performance
spaces, three bars and a pub. As this is Milan, one should always
dress to impress for any club or disco. More clubs are introducing
a pay-as-you-leave system where you are given a ticket (tessera)
at the door which is punched when you use the cloakroom or buy drinks
or food and the fine for losing one's tessera is usually exorbitant.
The Milanese usually go clubbing midweek, weekends are when large
numbers from the outlying suburbs come into Milan to party.
Live music
Rolling Stone,
Corso XXII Marzo 32 (telephone numberl: 02 733 172) is very much
Milan’s temple of rock during the week with dancing on Fridays
and Saturday evenings.
Scimmie,
Via Ascanio Sforza 49 (telephone number: 02 8940 2874) still manages
to maintain its reputation as the place for jazz in the heart of
the Navagali district, although there are many
blues and world music concerts these days. In the same area, Blues
House, Via S Uguzzone 96 (telephone number: 02 2700 3621)
is equally popular both with locals and visitors. Tangram,
Via Pezzotti 52, is excellent for rock and blues, and Tunnel,
Via Sammartini 30, is a good venue for indie music. All the major
bands and solo artists include Milan on their tours, usually playing
either at the FilaForum
stadium, Via di Vittorio 6 or PalaVobis Music Village,
Via Sant’Elia 33 (telephone number: 02 542 754), close to
Lampugnano. |
