I adore Milano’s hidden beauties. Nothing is visibile to the human slippy eye. You just have to look a bit deeper, and very much closer. My Milan, where old neighborhood bars are all Chinese, and thanks to them the areas stay alive (and the old drunks mix with the new hipsters for camparini). Where prices rise, the coffees are still burnt, and sometimes one euro espressos take you very far.
Nolo’s new artistic hot spots
It has been years since Nolo’s role in the city became central. Yet no year has been as vibrant as this one. Anita Pankoff’s exhibition at spazio Colla this past November has brought erupting volcanos and animated the inanimatable, all set in the new hype street of the area: Via Pietro Crespi. The objects became the subjects and gave even more soul to the already sparkling via. Next door, quick and most authentic aperitivo chez Mimmo’s Varisco bar.
spazio Colla & Bar Varisco
via Pietro Crespi 13
Local mercato on Thursday in Casoretto
The only real luxurious asset one can aspire to is shopping a the market only. First of all, it requires free mornings; second, a handful of cash that never seems to be enough. Sometimes we dream progress and yet life’s ultimate luxury is to be found in local Milanese markets: where cultures meet and (almost) never crash. Where 20 euro a kg puntarelle meets 50 cents quality avocado from abusive Bengalese street sellers.
Thursday Market
via Ampere, Casoretto
One of the best cinemas and an independent bookstore, always in the neighbourhood
Cinema Beltrade has been the reason I moved to Nolo all along. It used to be some years ago, some 7/8 years. I took the metro to exotic Pasteur, daydreamed at the fried chicken stand certifying the fact that it was indeed another city-in-the city. I went to see movies with my dad to this back-then exotic and beautifully packaged alternative cinema. The soul of the neighbourhood and its hipsters: all his.mAnother favorite two steps from home: secondhand book store Potlatch. The political is free, opinions matter. Their selection? Randomly impeccable. Sometimes the two gentlemen handling the place play chess.
Cinema Beltrade
via Nino Oxilia 10
https://bandhi.it/bah/beltrade/
Potlach
via Padova 65
A life well spent in pasticcerie storiche
I often take myself out for merende to cheer myself up. Merenda is a very Italian word I use almost daily. It consists in a mid afternoon, mostly sweet, snack and coffee (in its multiple forms). Milan lives for its bakeries. From the most ancient to the (sometimes, because I’m loyal to old school) new ones I hardly skip one. I usually know areas by pasticcerie and restaurants and proudly so. A glorious Gattullo, a spot on Clivati, an endless Cucchi. Give me all of them.
Pasticceria Gattullo
piazzale di porta Lodovica 2
Pasticceria Clivati
viale Coni Zugna 57
Pasticceria Cucchi
corso Genova 1
Vino, vino and more vino (with sometimes hopefully the adequate snacks).
You cannot Milano without enoteca. Some of my favourite places to drink are La Botte, for a ‘vino volante’ that actually never ends, the almost newly opened hyper chic Bar Nico, the almost always full La Concorrenza, to an old school la Coloniale aperitivo in Corso Genova. Obviously, another place where I love to sip, my home.
Enoteca la Botte Fatale
via Giacosa 11
Bar Nico
via Cesare Saldini 2, Milan
Osteria alla Concorrenza
via Melzo 12
La Coloniale
corso Genova 19
Classical trattoria day as a forever must milanese experience
For a nostalgic communist 15 euro lunch Brutto Anatroccolo in the south, for a very southern Italian above average meal Trattoria dei Terroni. For a chic and pricey lunch Torre di Pisa or a fancy trattoria milanese dinner at La Libera, Da Abele risotto’s, da Giacomo rotisseries.
Il Brutto Anatroccolo
Via Evangelista Torricelli 3
Trattoria dei Terroni
Via Pietro Crespi 18
Torre di Pisa
Via Fiori Chiari 21
La Libera
Via Palermo 21
Trattoria Da Abele
Via Temperanza 5
Giacomo Rosticceria
via Pasquale Sottocor
Amanda Luna Ballerini is a writer, stylist, and connoisseur (+ something else sometimes) based in Milan. She mostly writes of images and pictures words to create new possible scenarios every time – http://@mamandada
Photos: © Lara Tianyun (01) and Amanda Luna Ballerini. Cinema Beltrade © Tiziano Demuro for Lessico Familiare.