Nightlife; music cafes and clubs
Nightlife in Milan is concentrated in two areas: in the streets around the Brera gallery and on the Navigli canal and in the neighboring Ticinese district. The clubs are the most authentic during the week (especially on Thursdays), because during the weekends they are flooded by a wave of newcomers from outside the city and every self-respecting Milanese or stays at home then, or goes to the bar. Most clubs have quite unclear rules for selecting a clientele, which often depend on the humor of the so-called. "Goalkeeper”. On entry, you usually pay by 20 OOOL, which usually includes the first drink (are usually very expensive). As for the music, Milan has good jazz bands, but rock and disco music stand pretty low.
Music cafes
Terminus, Via Lodovico II Moro 119 (•470524). Established in the year 1969 famous jazz cafe. All the best Italian and foreign musicians played here. The name comes from a nearby loop (terminus) tram # 19.
Club Due, Via Formentini 2 (•873533). On the first floor there is a bar with a piano. Jazz is played in a smoky cellar. Cocktails, champagne, wine and flour dishes are served to 2.30.
Leoncino, Corso Garibaldi 50 (• 802315). Brazilian club-cellar. You can get milk and rum cocktails and coconut cakes. The bands are currently playing on Wed. and Thu.
The Magic of Musie Meeting, Via Salutati 2 (•4813553). Small cellar for young teams.
Patuscino, Via Madonnina 21 (• 807264). Every day there is a trio with a soloist. Cafe crowded, Loud, road, open until late at night.
Scimmie, Via Ascanio Sforza 49 (• 839174). One of the most popular places in Milan. Small café, noisy and smoky. Every night a different band plays (jazz prevails).
Zelig, Viale Monza 140 (• 2551774). Right next to the "socialist cafe” Garage. Pretentious and very expensive.
Clubs and discos
Hollywood, Corso Como 15 (•6598996). Near the former Alitalia airport. The atmosphere is also aviation: service in flight attendants uniform, etc.. Popular with journalists and actors.
Plastic Killer, Viale Umbria 120 (•743674). A place for people with strong nerves.
Pręgo, Via Besenzanica 3 (•44075653). Currently, the roof is decorated with a Chevrolet wreck. Sometimes pop bands play. On Wed. music from the sixties, w pt. and weekends rock and rhythm and blues.
Rolling Stone, Course XXII Marżo 32 (• 733172). The hall is huge, music very loud. Sometimes famous rock groups perform. We wt. evening swing band plays tunes from the forties.
Opera, teatr i cinema
Some tourists come to Milan just for that, to go to one of the most prestigious opera houses in the world, La Scali. The season begins 7 December and lasts until VII, and from September to November, classical music concerts are held here. As you can guess, opera tickets are sold out months ahead. Reservations can be made by letter, by sending the international return coupon to Botteghino's address, La Scala, Via dei Filodrammatici 2, and attaching a check. In the absence of places in the requested time, the check will be returned. However, coming to the opera on the day of the performance, approx. an hour earlier, you can often get places on the swallow.
There are two theaters in the city: Small Theater, Via Rovello 2 (•872352), considered one of the best in the country with a traditional repertoire and staging more modern plays Teatro dell'Elfo, Via Ciro Menotti 11 (»716791; bus # 60). There are twenty cinemas on Corso Vittorio Emanuele, by the angelic, Piazza Sant’Angelo 2 (• 6592748; bus #61) shows movies in the original version (mostly English; Wed-Sat; screenings 21.15).
Moda, design and shopping
Milan is the European capital of fashion and that's why it's worth at least a look at the exhibitions of sophisticated boutiques, otherwise you will not have a complete picture of the city. W Quadrilatero d'Oro, an area of several hundred square meters enclosed by streets (via) Montenapoleone, Sant'Andrea, Spiga the Borgospesso, there are shops of all major designers, design studies and contemporary art galleries. On the outskirts of this area, there are stores geared towards a young clientele, such as Emporio Armani or Oaks by Ferre, where the prices of clothes still far exceed the financial capacity of most people. On Saturdays, early morning at the market on Via Papinaio, however, you can purchase rejects from these stores.
The most quirky store in town is Francesco Moschino, Corso Venezia 41. His owner, called in Milan "the philosopher of fashion”, is of the opinion, that fashion is "the stupidest.", the most absurd, but the funniest thing, what exists”, this view is fully confirmed in his shop. Armani on Via Sant'Andrea encourages you to do more shopping, where elegant plain jackets are on sale. From other boutiques, Romeo Gigli is worth visiting, Krizia i Gianni Versace na Via Spiga oraz Valentino na Via Santo Spirito.
Economical tourists, apart from visiting the market on Via Papinaio, they can go to one of the several second-hand stores, for example. to the rather expensive Zeus on Via Vigevano in Navigli, do Surplus, Corso Garibaldi 7, or one of the shops in Corso Ticinese or one of the warehouses, for example. Gastone, Via Vanzetti 20, or Niki Blocchista, Via Fontane 19 (Court area), to buy costumes fashionable in the previous season at half price.
The inhabitants of Milan not only appreciate the exterior, but also obsessed with the aesthetics of furniture and other items, with which they surround themselves. That is why the Milan elite is a zealous clientele of leading design companies. Pictures of chairs designed by Le Corbusier on the covers of magazines, Mackintosha i Gio Ponti (designer of the Pirelli tower) performs in Cassina on Via Durini. Alessi, known for producing cutlery, has launched a "postmodern” eighties watch, whose shield is placed on a chain that is more fashionable today than the belt, and also produced the most fashionable caffetiere in the 1980s. SICC company based in Pakowa, Piazza San Babila, wanting to popularize the thermos, designed its steel version with a shoulder strap.
In the same rectangle of streets, wealthy Milanese buy irreplaceable on the walls of wealthy houses, works of contemporary art worth several billion lire. This is because Milan is competing with New York to be the center of the world art market, but many of the galleries here have small exhibitions that are rarely changed, geared more towards viewers, than to the merchants. Among the large number of them, it is worth mentioning the very prestigious Marconi Studio on Via Tadino, exhibiting good contemporary art, Galeria Tega on Via Senato and Galeria Artcentro on Via Brera, with abstract paintings and works by the Aeropittura school from the 1930s and 1940s (favored by Mussolini and Goebbels). Slightly less repulsive and more pleasant to perceive (though expensive) there is a flea market, which takes place in Brera every third Sunday of the month. However, it is better to buy at a miscellaneous market, which is laid out on the shores of the Naviglio Grande on the last Sunday of the month.