Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
NIGHTLIFE
On Wednesdays and Thursdays, Milan's newspapers tend to devote a lot of ink to
club schedules and cultural events. If you don't trust your command of Italian to
plan your nightlife, check out the tourist office on Piazza del Duomo—there are
usually piles of flyers announcing upcoming events. The tourist office also keeps
visitors up-to-date with the
Hello Milano
(www.hellomilano.it) free newspaper and
Milano Mese,
the official events, exhibitions, markets, and trade fairs monthly.
The Performing Arts
For the lowdown on Milan's premier opera house,
Teatro alla Scala
555
, see
p. 399.
Milan's
“Giuseppe Verdi” Symphony Orchestra
plays at the
Auditorium di
Milano,
a renovated 1930s movie house at Via S. Gottardo, 42/Largo Gustav
Mahler
(
%
02-83389222; www.auditoriumdimilano.org; Metro: Duomo, then tram
no. 3 or 15).
Concerts run from late September to May, usually on Thursdays at
8:30pm, Fridays at 7:30pm, and Sundays at 4pm.
Pubs
A publike atmosphere, induced in part by Guinness on tap, prevails at Liberty-
style
Bar Magenta
(Via Carducci, 13, at Corso Magenta;
%
02-8053808; closed
Mon; Metro: Cadorna),
in the neighborhood for which it takes its name. One of
the more popular La Brera hangouts, with a young following, is
El Tombon de San
Marc
(Via San Marco, 20, at Via Montebello;
%
02-6599507; closed Sun; Metro:
Moscova),
which despite its name is an English pub-style bar and restaurant.
Among the Navigli nightspots (growing in number all the time) is
El Brellin
(Vicolo della Lavandaia, off Alzaia Naviglio Grande, 14;
%
02-58101351; closed
Sun; Metro: Genova F.S.),
an intimate, canal-side piano bar with its own mini-
canal.
Birreria La Fontanella
(Alzaia Naviglio Pavese, 6;
%
02-8372391; closed
Mon; Metro: Genova F.S.)
has canal-side tables outside in summer and the oddest-
shaped beer glasses around—that half-a-barbell kind everyone seems to order is
called the “Cavalliere.”
A Jazz Club
Since Capolinea got ousted (warning: the club's name is still there at Via Ludovico
il Moro, 119, but it is
not
the old jazz club where the greats came to play; rather, it's
some pathetic mimic of it slapped together by the next-door neighbors who forced
the original owners out of this space), the best venue on the jazz-club scene is the
Navigli's
Le Scimmie
(Via Ascanio Sforza, 49;
%
02-89402874; www.scimmie.it;
closed Tues; Metro: Porta Genova),
where shows start at 10:30pm and the cover
ranges from free to
€
8—plus it has its own bar-boat moored in the canal.
Nightlife Tip
The Navigli/Ticinese neighborhood is currently on the rise as Milan's prime night
turf, though the Brera retains its pull with night owls as well.
