weekend in milan

Thank you very much for such detailed replies I cant wait to go
out to milan now

The only thing that is worrying me, is reading that Central Station is
dangerous in the evening.... ;{
Our hotel is:

Starhotels Splendido
Viale Andrea Doria, 4
Milano
20124
ITALY

how dangerous is it really??? what time should we ensure we get back
to the hotel by????
IS IT REALLY THAT BAD????

Thanks again

On Thu, 5 Apr 2007 wrote:

Our hotel is:
Starhotels Splendido
Viale Andrea Doria, 4

OK, Andrea Doria is the large avenue connecting the station to piazzale
Loreto. It is on the left hand side of the station (with your back to
the station), i.e. of the side of piazzale Luigi di Savoia, i.e. on the
same side where the coaches from the airports arrive and depart.

There should be at least three major hotels on that side (Michelangelo,
Anderson and Splendido). I can't remember which is which among the last
two (Michelangelo is the tower).

how dangerous is it really??? what time should we ensure we get back
to the hotel by???? IS IT REALLY THAT BAD????

As far as I remember it was one of the latter two hotels which were
mentioned in recent newspaper articles about safety. I can't remember if
they said they'd hired a warden or built a safety door or implemented
other safety measures. They could surely advise you about safety
precautions.

It could well be that newspapers exaggerated things. After all Milan is
the city where the mayor recently led a demonstration pro-safety :-(

In the past the main annoyances in and around the station could have
been clochards (trumps ?), drunkards and illegal immigrants (Luigi di
Savoia was the place where vans and coaches towards eastern Europe used
to depart, but they've been moved to Gobba at the city border). However
it's a while I do not pass by Centrale in the evening.

I would be as wary as in the station area of most other european cities,
take normal precaution about pickpockets and alike.

You can also consider what follows. The Centrale metro station (lines
M2 and M3) is a tentacular maze of underground passages. There is a main
exit in front of the station, another badly looking one under the
station gallery (currently partially closed for refurbishment) and many
exits on the side, connected by those long passages (which have a
deserted, disturbing appearance at night). Unfortunately the main direct
connection to the centre is via M3. If you are going elsewhere (e.g.
Navigli) you might consider taking M2 until Caiazzo (the station between
Centrale and Loreto) and walk back to your hotel on Andrea Doria, really
a short walk, and possibly safer or more pleasant.

On an happier topic, I'll draw your attention to a little known monument
near your hotel. You will notice, on the corner between the station
square and Andrea Doria, possibly between Michelangelo and your hotel,
a crescent shaped building with a little garden in front, closed by a
gate. The garden contains the remains of a little portico, which was
part of a suburban villa called Cascina Pozzobonelli, which dates back
to the 1500 at least. Most of it was demolished when the station was
built.

Under the portico there are some poorly visible frescoes. One of this
depicts the main entrance tower of Milan's Castle (called Torre del
Filarete). Filarete was an architect of late 1400. He built such tower
(the castle was the palace of the duke of Milan), and the Major Hospital
(now seat of the state university, worth visiting for its cotto
windows). Unfortunately the tower was destroyed when the castle was
under spanish rule (it was made a gunpowder depot). The present tower
was rebuilt "as it were" by Luca Beltrami, the architect who cured the
restoration of the castle after 1860, and he took inspirations from the
frescoes of Cascina Pozzobonelli.

From your hotel you can reach piazzale Loreto walking along Andrea
Doria, or piazza Argentina turning right in piazzale Caiazzo. Both are
at the beginning of the shopping street corso Buenos Aires. Otherwise
walk along via Vitruvio (street with trams) and reach the corso at
piazza Lima, i.e. more or less at the middle.

Loreto, Lima and Porta Venezia (at the inner end of the corso) all have
metro stations of line M1, which can take you straight to the centre.


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