Image by Alessandra Gesuelli

Fish is important in the Italian cuisine. During summer it is really popular to go out for dinner and have spaghetti alle vongole or allo scoglio, with different seashells. But I love to cook fish at home, to be accompanied by a good glass of cold white wine. In Milan I love to go Pescheria Da Claudio (fish shop) just 15 minutes walk from the Duomo. It’s famous in the city and after 50 years of activity is also the oldest in town.

The fish here is not cheap but the freshest I’ve ever had. Here you can find also mussels, lobsters, cooked fish snacks and raw fish tasteful aperitivi. You can stop here for a lunch at the bistro inside the shop.

Pescheria Da Claudio also provide catering services for parties, and they deliver to your home. Sometimes I ask for suggestions about my recipes, because cooking fish is a delicate business! They also suggest which is the best white wine to drink with your fish.

Details about this spot (Show on map)
Pescheria Da Claudio | Shopping, Restaurants (Seafood) | Little fish dishes € 3.50
Via Cusani 1 | Centro | +39028056857
Mon 11:00 – 20:00, Tue – Sat 09:00 – 21:30

Copyrights Spotted by Locals Milan

Image by Alessandra Gesuelli

This English-language bookshop is located near the Castle, in piazza Cairoli. It’s very popular among expats and Italians, like me, who want to read English books. This friendly shop is great for modern fiction and children’s books. If you ask they suggest you a good one, just tell them what do you prefer. They have also Art books and history publications as well. There are shelves dedicated to poetry and classics.

It’s not easy for a specialized little bookshop to survive in the market but they succeeded with a high quality service. The interiors are so charming! You feel like in a traditional English bookshop. The windows always change depending on the season: during festivities are full of Christmas related publications, calendars and greetings cards, during spring or summer there is a good selection of book to read while on vacation.

I have some English friends, so I like going there to buy some gifts.

Details about this spot (Show on map)
American Bookstore | Art & culture, Shopping | Book € 10.00
via Camperio 16 | Centro | +3902878920
Mon 13:30 – 19:00, Tue – Sat 10:30 – 19:00

Copyrights Spotted by Locals Milan

Image by Alesssandra Gesuelli

Macelleria Ercole Villa is considered one of the best butchers in Milan. From 1959 Ercole Villa and his family have run this jewelery of meat in Viale Brianza, near piazzale Loreto. Actually not the right place for a vegetarian!

When I moved to this area I started to buy my meat here. They have high quality from Piedmont region, which is considered more tasteful and here you can also find particular cuts of meat, good for some traditional recipes.

If you invite your friends for a dinner home it’s a great idea to come here in the afternoon. I always explain to the butcher what I want to cook and he suggests me a good one. If I’m preparing lesson or bollito misto, he chooses the best pieces.

Mr. Villa is very proud of his meat. All the meat sold here comes from outdoor and organic farms. No intensive farming! Mr. Villa personally knows all the local farmers, chooses the animals and he’s sure about their feeding. This place has been recommended in many cookbooks. The meat here is considered to be part of a food and agricultural culture to keep alive.

Details about this spot (Show on map)
Macelleria Ercole Villa | Shopping | Pork 1 kg € 12.00
viale Brianza 11 | Centrale/Greco | +39026693118
Tue – Sat 08:30 – 13:00 & 15:00 – 19:00, Mon 08:30 – 13:00

Copyrights Spotted by Locals Milan

Image by Alessandra Gesuelli

Libreria Azalai is a unique bookshop. It opened in Ticinese area in 1994 in via San Gottardo. Then, 5 years ago it moved to the peaceful via Gian Giacomo Mora, just behind the busy corso di Porta Ticinese. The street is lovely, with a couple of good restaurants. For those who wants to read some good Italian travel writers here you can find the best ones together with a wonderful selection of international authors.

I have known this bookshop since I moved to Milan. As a traveller I tried to find a bookshop related to my passion but Azalai is also specialized in different topics about Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Pacific area. They have authors that you can’t find in big bookstores. They also promote independent publishers, and host events and art exhibitions.

Believe me, even if you don’t speak or read Italian, this place is really worth a visit. Moreover, in a corner they have crafts designed in developing countries and produced by no-profit organizations to support local communities. In their new website you can also order the books you are looking for, buy them online or go there to take them.

Details about this spot (Show on map)
Libreria Azalai | Art & culture, Shopping | Book € 10.00
via Giacomo Mora 5 | Ticinese/Genova | +390258101310
Mon – Sat 10:00 – 13:00 & 15:00 – 19:30

Copyrights Spotted by Locals Milan

Image by Alessandra Gesuelli

On piazza delle Cinque Giornate inside the Coin department store there is an Eataly shop. This is the Milan branch of the famous Turin shop, managed thanks to the collaboration with the Slow Food Movement. This association started many years ago to promote good food, zero miles products and local producers.

Eataly is a marketplace, an opportunity to taste and take home the products of artisans that produce high quality food at fair price. When I go there I like to take a basket and fill it with the best Italian cheese, salumi, fresh meat, good artisan pasta, so many sauces and mustards.

Eataly is a real heaven for Italian food lovers. There are some tables where you can have a snack or a brunch. I love to go there to buy bottles of craft beers from Italian microbreweries and the best Northern Italy red wine.

It’s also a great place to find a gift: if you don’t know what to chose there is a new service online or at the shop to buy a voucher from 50 euros as a gift to a friend. So you can bring home your wonderful experience!

Details about this spot (Show on map)
Eataly | Coffee & tea, Shopping, Snacks | Pesto 120 gr € 4.00
piazza Cinque Giornate, 1 | Porta Vittoria | +390292870066
Mon – Fri 10:00 – 20:00, Sat 10:00 – 20:30, Sun 10:00 – 20:00

Copyrights Spotted by Locals Milan

Image by Alessandra Gesuelli

In the center of Milan there is a special place. It’s called Antica Focacceria San Francesco and takes its name from a similar deli and bistrot in Palermo. I knew the Sicilian branch so when it opened in Milan I immediately went there.

The reason why it is so special is not just for the obvious good quality of their Sicilian food but because that deli in Palermo, run for five generations by the Conticello Family, was one of the first to say no to pizzo, the protection money that hundreds of businesses throughout Sicily have had to pay to the mafia clans.

Antica Focacceria San Francesco soon became a symbol of this fight against the mafia and was an example for others to do the same, together with organizations like Libera and Addio Pizzo.

If you don’t have the chance to go to Palermo, this shop in Milan offers all the best from Sicilian food tradition. It’s open from breakfast to dinner. Here you can find pasta con le sarde, sfincione, panelle and crocchè, cannoli and cassate.

I love cannoli, and here I found the right place to taste them. The secret is that they fill the cannoli with the ricotta cheese cream when they serve it, so the tube-shaped fried pastry remains crunchy! Inside there is also the corner Spirit of Sicily where it’s possible to buy products from Pizzo Free and Libera, grown on land liberated from the mafia. They host regularly some art exhibitions.

Details about this spot (Show on map)
Antica focacceria San Francesco | Coffee & tea, Shopping, Snacks, Restaurants (Sicilian) | Cassata € 5.00
via San Paolo 15 | Centro | +390245071057
07:00 – 00:00 daily

Copyrights Spotted by Locals Milan

Image by Alessandra Gesuelli

All the seasons are good for a mushroom risotto. This recipe is more related to winter and autumn, but you can enjoy it in spring too. In a city it’s not always easy to find the right place where you can buy fresh mushrooms and good dried ones. This place for me is La Fungheria, a little gourmet shop just near Piazzale Loreto in viale Abruzzi 93.

It’s a real heaven for food and mushrooms lovers. Inside, you can find shelves of different kind of dried mushrooms together with truffles, sauces and preserves. In a corner you can find little boxes of fresh mushroom.

You can also buy bottles of wine. If I need a good recipe I can ask to the shop owner or the assistant. They are friendly and give a lots of useful tips. Trust me! You can also buy rice and pasta from local and independent producers. Zero miles cuisine.

Details about this spot (Show on map)
La Fungheria | Shopping | 100 gr of dried porcini € 6.90
Viale Abruzzi, 93 | Centrale/Greco | +39229526034
Mon – Sat 09:00 – 13:00 & 15:00 – 19:30

Copyrights Spotted by Locals Milan

Image by Audrey Smith

When I’m looking for some shoes which are a little different and I want to pay a good price for good quality, Mon Amour Les Chaussures is a shop for me.

I’ve bought a few pairs and never had complaints about the quality. The clothes and accessories are also great and follow the latest trends without being too over the top.

In addition to the Corso Porta Ticinese location which focuses on shoes, clothes and accessories you can also find them near other shopping strips. (Via Cherubini 3 (C.so Vercelli) and Via Nino Bixio 1 (Viale Piave/Porta Venezia). Definitely worth a pass by if you feel like buying some new shoes!

Details about this spot (Show on map)
Mon Amour Les Chaussures | Shopping | Shoes from € 50.00
Corso di porta Ticinese 103 | Ticinese/Genova | +390283241620
Mon – Sat 10:00 – 19:00

Copyrights Spotted by Locals Milan

Image by Audrey Smith

If you’re planning a weekend trip to Milan, why not plan a little stroll on your Sunday afternoon? But make sure you plan your trip for the last Sunday of the month, except for July and August.

On these Sunday’s you can find the Naviglio Grande (the larger canal in Milan) Antique Markets opening up the area to second-hand vintage clothes, antiques, old books and local shops are open too.

A lot of the shops on the canal are local artists and if you wander into some of the courtyards you can see more art on display as well as see the traditional public style housing of the past.

On a nice day it really is pleasurable to stroll down the canal and see what interesting or strange things are on sale. On a colder day, maybe a nice lunch or coffee and some people watching?!

If you want to stop for lunch, many of the restaurants are open. I am often tempted by a takeaway chocolate and pear crepe or a coffee at Bar Stazione. You can then stare out the window and watch the world go by before joining the crowd.

Details about this spot (Show on map)
Antique markets – Naviglio Grande | Relaxing, Shopping, Festivals & events | Free
Alzaia Naviglio Grande | Ticinese/Genova
Last Sunday of every month 09:00 – 17:00

Copyrights Spotted by Locals Milan

Image by Audrey Smith

Before I moved to Italy, one of the first things that came to mind was FOOD! Salami, cheese, pizza, pasta oh and all coupled nicely with some wine of course! And of course, Italy didn’t disappoint me.

When it comes to cheese and salami I would recommend a visit to a fabulous jam-packed delicatessen just off the Corso Buenos Aires shopping strip.

Being Australian, my knowledge of Italian cheese was limited to Parmesan (Parmigiano) and Mozzarella and sadly, the only mozzarella I really knew was the copied version we put on our pizzas.

Now I can safely say that I have managed to try a reasonable percentage of the many cheese and cured meats Italy has to offer, but there is always something new to discover. Grab a few servings when you’ve worked up a hunger after shopping or maybe grab a few things for a picnic and relax in the nearby Giardini Publici (Public Gardens) near Porta Venezia. Don’t worry if they don’t speak English, just point at a few things…you’ll be right! They are really friendly and like to joke around with the customers. Avoid Saturday mornings as it’s really chaotic!

MM Metro Lima is the closest stop.

Details about this spot (Show on map)
Salami & Cheese | Shopping, Snacks
Via Tadino / Via Vitruvio | Centrale/Greco
Mon 08:00 – 13:00, Tue – Sat 08:00 – 13:00 & 15:30 -19:30

Copyrights Spotted by Locals Milan