The subway metro system is very efficient with 5 metro lines: red M1, green M2, yellow M3, blue M4, lilac M5. A metro ticket costs €2.20 (7.60 for 24-hour ticket, €13 for a 3-day ticket) and lets you use also trams, buses and suburban trains (S lines) within the city limits. You can also pay with credit or debit card at turnstiles or on board (or not pay at all if you squeeze yourself after somebody who flashes a card in or out the metro – NB M3 Centrale is always free exit).

Milano has three main railway stations: Centrale FS (M2/M3), Garibaldi FS (M2/M5) and Cadorna FN (M1/M2). International trains arrive at either Centrale or Garibaldi. For those who must travel by air, there’s connections from Malpensa Airport (MXP) to Cadorna FN and Centrale FS (and Garibaldi) with the Malpensa Express. From Linate Airport there’s the M4 subway to San Babila, and from Bergamo Orio al Serio there’s buses continually going to Centrale railway station.

Since the 1950s industrial miracle, Milano has been Italy’s economic engine and financial marketplace. Today it promotes itself as the city of art, fashion, design, shopping, research. It is a university city with over 200,000 students from all over Italy, about 10% from abroad (half from Asia). It has a center-left municipal government in a hard-right country, and tends to be less racist and homophobic than the rest of the Peninsula. But Italy is a country where women are not safe and femicide a daily occurrence, and although Milano is more feminist than most of Italy, sexual harassment and sexual aggressions are all too frequent, so it’s advisable to avoid empty streets after midnight. As for public transportation, the metro is safe for women at night and so are trams, but trains less so. A moral stain on the city is the night of December 31, 2021, when a number of young women were sexually attacked and one was raped in Piazza Duomo.

Milano is composed by a very wealthy city center (Zona 1) and a considerably poor and multiethnic periphery, where the majority of the city population lives (the ‘hoods beyond the 90/91 circular trolley bus line). Cool neighborhoods to hang out are: Isola, Nolo, Navigli, Porta Venezia, Porta Romana. Banlieues: Corvetto, Gratosoglio, Barona, Quarto Oggiaro, Affori-Comasina. Tourist sights: Duomo, Galleria, Scala, Last Supper, Brera, Castello, Colonne San Lorenzo, Parco Sempione, Fondazione Prada. Milanese kids today are likely to have parents who are from Egypt, China, Philippines, Tunisia, Morocco, Eritrea, Peru, Ecuador, Romania, Albania and several other parts of the world. Via Sarpi (Chinatown), Via Imbonati (mostly arab) and Via Padova (mostly latino) are some of the ethnic areas of the city. Milano is also the Italian capital of trap, from Ghali to Baby Gang and many more (check out Piazza Selinunte in the San Siro 7Zone ‘hood).

Supermarkets usually close at 8pm. A pizza costs around 5 euros. Panetterie are a cheap’n’quick source of carbohydrates. A Campari spritz above 5 euros is expensive. For beer (2 euros a 66 Moretti is a decent price) as well as food, there’s small family stores open till midnight or later. Cigarettes can only be bought at tobacconists with the white-on-black T (and their vending machines). Bars close at 2am and open at 7am. 

Milano has many social centers, squatted autonomous zones that have existed for years, some for decades, including Leoncavallo, ZAM, Cantiere, Torchiera, Lambretta, Conchetta, Piano Terra, Fornace (Rho) and Boccaccio (Monza). The major struggles traversing the city today are climate mobilizations (Fridays and Congress), the Tende in Piazza student mobilization for housing, feminist protest and mobilizations by Non Una di Meno, and Critical Mass and other cyclists’ organizations fighting for Milano as a 30-km zone (they recently blockaded the city). The Milanese are addicted to soccer and AC Milan and FC Inter play each week at San Siro Stadium. Lamentably, the city will host the Winter Olympics in 2026 (jointly with Cortina on the Dolomites).

There’s 3 kinds of cops you might encounter: Polizia Locale (city police, mostly harmless, they handle traffic), Polizia di Stato (blue meanies – they can be dangerous especially if they have their riot helmets on), Carabinieri (soldier cops – they are usually the most dangerous). Marijuana and hashish are not legal (only CBD is), but their consumption is very widespread and usually not frowned upon – still, don’t spliff in the face of the police. Remember you have rights and that you’re a delegate and we’re behind you every step of the way with legal aid and what not. Cops are usually not very threatening in Milan, anyway. The city has somewhat of an anti-state streak, as the central government is seen as an impediment to business and freedom.