Radiobus: a taxi which costs like a public bus

Radiobus it's a service offered by Milan's transportation company, ATM, which is something between a taxi service and a public bus.

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Radiobus works only from 08.00 p.m. to 02.00 a.m., and it was created to fulfill two main tasks: allow a cheaper way of flexible moving, contrasting Milan's taxis crazy prices; offer a secure trasportation, almost "door to door", during late hours, especially for youngers after a night out.

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A tight net of radiobus stops covers almost all the city, so, wherever You are, You'll need only a short walk to reach one. The service is "on demand": you must make a reservation, by phone, mail or sms message. Ticket prices are a bit higher that those for normal buses, but ridicolously affordable if compared to Milan's cabmans mad tariffs. And with its 16 seats Radiobus it's the perfect solution for a big friends company!

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Reservations: call 02 48034803; sms to 335 7872571 (writing date, hour, route, passengers number); fill in online reservation form.

Costs: 1,5 €uros supplement to urban ticket, or 3,00 €uros single fare

Atmosphere: a nice tuesday night in Milan!

Atmosphere is a small comfortable pub in a central area of Milan. Mainly attended by students, this pub is known for its delirious tuesday nights.

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Every tuesday shot drinks for 1 €uro each!

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Usually you can drink the classical "chupito" (1 rum shot + 1 pear juice shot), but after some of that you can try to persuade the owner for trying to have something custom.

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But Atmosphere pub is good all week long, not just tuesday:

MONDAY: 3 € beer + DJ SET

TUESDAY: chupito 1 € + DJ SET

WEDNESDAY: cocktails 5 € + DJ SET JEZZA

THURSDAY: cuba libre 3 € + DJ SET TAMBOR

FRIDAY: 3 X 2 on every cocktail + DJ SET JEZZA

SATURDAY: students night, cocktails 6 € + DJ SET FRANGIPANE

SUNDAY: bottle of italian wine, cheese and cold cuts 15 € + DJ SET + live events

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Free entry every evening. Every day "Happy Hour" from 6pm to 9,30pm.

Bring your friends with you, FUN GUARANTEED!

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How to get there: underground line 2, Piola stop.

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Atmosphere Pub

Via Sidoli 24 - Milan

Website: http://www.atmospherelive.com/

E-mail: info@atmospherelive.com

Bus sightseeing in Milan

One of Milan’s big advantages, it’s the compactness of its downtown: you can visit all the main attractions just in a half-day walking tour. Beside this, taking example from the famous London double decker sighstening trips, a couple of companies are now providing bus tours in Milan city centre.

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Duomo square, La Scala theatre, Sforzesco Castle, old Sant’Amborgio Basilica and Leonardo’s Last Supper fresco – are the usual stops of this 2 hours long tour. Well, the same distances could be easily covered by foot in the same time, and taking in account traffic conditions in Milan’s center, you’ll probably spend most of your time in the bus waiting at traffic lights.

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Considering that adults tickets for this “experience” start from 20€ / person, we suggest you to enjoy a walking tour, and invest the saved cash in a couple of refreshing granite (melted ice with cyrup – priceless in summer days) while resting yourself in a bar, between one attraction and another.

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Milan Bus Sightseeing
Piazza Castello, 1 - Milan
Tickets sold on board or in hotels.
Tel: +39 02 867131

Bed and Breakfast "Il Girasole": relax in Milan

Milan is a busy, traffic congestioned city, but also here you can find a place where you can rest and take your time among your affairs. This place is called "Il Girasole" (the sunflower) B&B.

Located in via Doberdò, 19 in Milan, near Sesto San Giovanni, along the important Viale Monza, this welcoming bed and breakfast offers to its guests all the comforts of a "Grand Hotel" at really low rates.

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The structure is studied to emphasize social-cultural exchanges among guests and travellers, with beautiful common spaces and a familiar management.

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How to get there: underground line 1, Villa San Giovanni stop.

Rates: different rates depending on the Residence or B&B formula, to get more details send an e-mail to info@bbilgirasole.it.

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B&B “il Girasole” - via Doberdò 19, Milan
Tel. Reception: +39 02 27080738
Website: http://www.bbilgirasole.it
E-Mail: info@bbilgirasole.it

Italian homemade food in Milan

The place we're gonna describe in this post is one of those you'll never find in any travel guide. It's almost a secret, approachable only by some selected adepts!

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The "Trattoria Albero Fiorito" (bloomed tree) is a very small family-managed eating house, a hybrid between a country snack-bar and a restaurant, where you can eat genuine italian food for the lowest price in Milan.

Lasagne alla bolognese, spaghetti al pomodoro, italian cheese, and many other delicious courses, drinking a beautiful italian wine from Friuli (a famous italian wine district). And while you are drinking your italian coffee (espresso, obviously...) you'll be smiling at the bill: a complete supper costs about 11 €uros wine included!

But don't think to be in a restaurant! To order your meal you have to find paper and pen (not so easy!) and write your choises among the courses of the day, then ask for someone who can catch your paper... ah, you'll share your table with other people and we're sure you'll find interesting new friends!

"The earlier you get there, the most chance you have to sit down and eat". You can't miss it!

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How to get there: underground line 2, Piola stop.

Trattoria Albero Fiorito
Via Pellizzone, 14 - Milan
Tel: +39 02 70123425

Pizza Big - The thinnest pizza in Milan

Pizza Big is a coloured pizzeria right near the Milan Central Rail Station (Stazione Centrale). The room is quite small, but the service is very fast.

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In this nice pizzeria, full of Brasil memories and pictures of Ayrton Senna, you can taste the thinnest pizza in town. All the pizzas served here are really big and extremely thin, palatable and very light.

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From the classical Margherita (tomatoes, cheese and basil) to the most elaborated pizzas, you can choose from a huge list of ingredients and toppings.

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Rates: pizza + beer + espresso... about 12 €uros.

How to get there: underground line 1, Loreto stop or Centrale stop.

Closed: Sunday

Pizza Big - Viale brianza, 30 - Milan

Tel: +39 02 2846548

Pinacoteca di Brera - The most famous art gallery in Milan

The Pinacoteca di Brera ("Brera Art Gallery") is the most important art collection in Milan and one of the most interesting in Italy. It contains one of the foremost collections of Italian paintings, an outgrowth of the cultural program of the Brera Academy, which shares the site in the Palazzo Brera.

Inaugurated in 1810, the Pinacoteca di Brera houses paintings of artists like: Bramante, Caravaggio, Francesco Hayez, Andrea Mantegna, Modigliani, Piero della Francesca, Raffaello, Rembrandt, Pieter Paul Rubens, Tintoretto, Tiziano, Giovanni Battista Tiepolo and many others..

Pinacoteca di Brera
Via Brera, 28 Milan
Tel: (+39) 02722631

Fax: (+39) 0272001140

E-mail: brera.artimi@arti.beniculturali.it

Website: http://www.brera.beniculturali.it

Opening hours: Tuesday - Sunday 8:30am - 7:30pm (ticket office opens from 8:30am until 6:45pm).

Closed: Mondays, 1 January, 1 May, 25 December.

Admissions: full € 5,00 - reduced € 2,50.

Disabled visitors: the gallery is accessible by lift from the Soprintendenza entrance. Electric wheelchairs available.

Getting here by public tranport: underground line 2, Lanza stop; underground line 3, Montenapoleone stop; tram 1-4-8-12-14-27; bus 61-97.

Probably the cheapest hotel in Milan

We're pretty sure the Hotel Gambara, situated in Via Fra' Galgario 4, is the cheapest hotel in Milan, excluding some places of ill repute in the suburbs...:)!

Warm and clean, despite the very low fares, the Hotel Gambara offers double and triple rooms starting from 50 €uros per room per night (for the double room)..

This real low cost accomodation is located in a peaceful area of Milan, well connected to the city centre by public transportation. Family-run, this hotel was restored at the end of 2004..

How to get there: underground line 1, Gambara stop or Bande Nere stop.

Hotel Gambara - Via Fra' Galgario, 4 - Milan
Tel: +39 02 48704117

Italian press - Chapter 1

Corriere della Sera: founded in 1876, is the most istitutional newspaper of Italy. During all these years the Corriere della Sera has pubblished some of the most prestigious signatures of italian journalism like Indro Montanelli, Enzo Biagi, Sergio Romano and many others. Actually you can read on it about politics, current events, sport and culture.

La Repubblica: historic italian newspaper, La Repubblica is the main competitor of the Corriere della Sera, with a moderate centre-left political stance. Born exactly 100 years after the Corriere della Sera, its main topic is politics, but you will find current events, sport and culture too.

La Gazzetta dello Sport: the most read of italian newspapers, it should tell about different sports, but hey...we’re italians....so...football, soccer and 22 people running behind a ball!
Unmistakable with its pink sheets it’s also one of the most exported newspaper abroad. Someone said: “An italian man far from home will miss pasta, but you can be sure he’ll find the Gazzetta!”.

Leggo: the most read free-press newspaper in Italy, it has almost the same readers of the Corriere della Sera and La Repubblica. Its main competitors are Metro and City and you can find it at every underground stop.

Rent a bike and feel free on Milan's narrow streets

With its narrow streets and quite compact historical centre, Milan can be a nice place to explore by bike. Although far from being a cyclist paradise like Amsterdam, Munich and other Northern Europe cities, you can still enjoy a ride here, as many milaneses do. Just keep an eye on car drivers: they are always in a hurry and not very friendly here.
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Especially in summer monthes, when there are not so many cars, Milan's parks, the pedestrian downtown and the Navigli route can become a very pleasant, even unforgettable experience. And if you are a bit trained, you can explore Milan's environs, following Naviglio Pavese, or attacking some ripid mountain-bike tracks reachable by train direction Como or Varese.

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Although it's much easier find a car rental than a bike one, during last years some big bicycle retailers stated offering this service. In our opinion, one of the best it's AWS Bici, thanks to its prices and position.

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Located just 5 minutes walk from Milan Central Rail Station, it offers mountain bikes from 11 €uros / day (or 80 €uros month), or electrical bikes just from 16 €uros / day. A 100 or 200 €uros deposit by credit card is requested.

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What: AWS bike rental, via Ponte Severo 23, Milan

Where: 5 minutes walk from Centrale FS, Caiazzo or Sondrio underground stations

When: monday-saturday 09.00am-01.00pm / 03.00pm-07.00pm

B&B "Bed & Bed": small, young, easy-going

"Bed & Bed", it's a small, newly refurbished guest house located in the Southern Milan, on via Ripamonti (which, thanks to its 6.7 km it's the longest street in Milan).

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Although not properly in the city center, this B&B it's easily reachable by N. 24 tram, which brings you directly to Duomo Sq. in 15 minutes or less. And in the late hours you'll need just a 5 minutes taxi ride to start exploring Navigli Area, the pulsing heart of Milan's nightlife.

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The place it's perfect for young budget travellers, with double room with bathroom to share starting at just 50.00 €uros night.

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What: Guest House "Bed & Bed"

Where: via Giuseppe Ripamonti 126, Milan: undergorund red line Duomo station / yellow line Crocetta Station, then 24 Tram

How much: single room from 30 € / night; double room from 50 € / night

Contact: Tel. +39 02/5394216 / +39 02/56813828 Fax. +39 02/92879592 / info@bedinmilano.com

WWW: http://www.bedinmilano.com/

Bonelli: the Italian excellence in comics!

A quick and easy way to learn Italian? Comics, of course! And in Italy, when you say comics, you say Bonelli.

Sergio Bonelli Editore is the main Italian comics publisher since the ‘50s, with more than 25 million copies distributed every year. About 30 different headings, with different characters and different stories, a unique mark in drawing and a huge attention to the stories are the peculiarities of this great italian publisher.

The main headings of Bonelli’s choice are:

Dylan Dog – The nightmare investigator. Created by Tiziano Sclavi, Dylan Dog is a gentle, vegetarian detective who investigates, together with his assistant Groucho (...so similar to Groucho Marx...) about strange events in a contemporary London.

Tex – Created by Gian Luigi Bonelli and Aurelio Galleppini in far 1948, it’s still one of the most read comics in Bonelli’s list. Set in the far west, the comic tells about the adventures of Tex Willer, Kit Carson, Kit Willer and Tiger Jack.

Martin Mystère – Martin Mystère was created by writer Alfredo Castelli and drawn by Giancarlo Alessandrini. Martin Mystère is an art historian, archaeologist, anthropologist, adventurer, writer, TV producer and collector of unusual objects. After the unexplained death of his parents in a plane crash, he starts to devote his studies to the most enigmatic events and places of human history.

You can find Bonelli comics in every newsstand in town! Have fun!

Saturday in the park

"Saturday in the park
I think it was the fourth of july
Saturday in the park
I think it was the fourth of july
People dancing, people laughing
A man selling ice cream
Singing italian songs
Can you dig it (yes, I can)
And Ive been waiting such a long time
For Saturday..."
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Chicago
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Saturday in the park, but not only saturday! Every day is a good day to take a walk in the Sempione park. Historical shooting ground of the Sforza family, the area, situated between the Castello Sforzesco and the Arco della Pace became a park in 1888.
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Nowadays Sempione park is a beatiful place to take a walk or to spend a lazy afternoon relaxing under a tree. And if you get hungry you can always have an italian ice-cream in one of the several kiosks situated inside the park.
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Nearby the park you can find interesting examples of different italian architecture styles, like the Palazzo dell'Arte, the Milan Aquarius and the Torre Littoria, designed by Giò Ponti in 1932. And if you are an extreme-worker or a work-addicted, bring your laptop: the whole park is Wi-Fi connected!
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How to get there: the Sempione park is situated in the very central area of the city, you can get there in many different ways:
- underground line 1, Cairoli or Cadorna stop
- underground line 2, Lanza or Cadorna stop