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

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

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

Image by Chiara Anselmo

Gattullo is one of the most famous place in Milan for sandwiches and for pastries.

The place is just the same as it was in  the late 70′s: furnitures, lamps and cutlery look so stylish in my opinion, and the “panini” are just a must.

I recommend you to go for the “Gattullino”, wich takes the name from the owner of the bar) or Manhattan (with shrimps, artichokes, rucola, smoked cheese and cocktail sauce). The original recipe includes also ham but I ask to have it without it and I think is excellent.

If I come here for lunch I will also have a small slice of homemade pizza (with aubergine or onions) and at the end, together with coffee a small pastry with fresh raspberry and chocolate.

When I lived in the area I often had breakfast with cappuccino and brioches and my favourite was the kipferl with blueberry jam, but also croissants with crème are wonderful.

The prices are not so friendly but for the quality of ingriedients this is a place where I like to take my friends to experience a wonderful “Italian panino”.

Details about this spot (Show on map)
Bar Gattullo | Bars, Snacks, Restaurants (Italian) | Sandwich& Coffee € 8
P.le di Porta Lodovica 2 | Ticinese/Genova | +390258310497
Tue – Sat: 07:00 – 22:00

Image by Arianna Malacrida

A few days ago it was a rainy and cold afternoon in Milano. I was having a walk with a friend and we had this longing for a cup of tea and a slice of cake. I thought about this cute place on the Naviglio Grande called Nero Fondente. Their window is always full of beautiful fresh cakes that seem to tell you “come in and taste me!”.

The place is small and cosy, there is a little mezzanine and from the big window you can see the canal. The apple pie I had was delicious and still warm cause they had just got it from the oven. Everything there is home made and fresh. I can’t say which is the best period to go to Nero Fondente, since when it’s cold outside you can find a warm atmosphere, but in summer you can also stay just outside and have a fresh drink. I would say the style is country-chic and the service very accurate.

They are open daily, from early in the morning until late at night so you can walk in any time.

Details about this spot (Show on map)
Nero Fondente | Coffee & tea, Snacks | Slice of cake € 5.00
Alzaia Naviglio Grande 48 | Ticinese/Genova | +390289059084
08:00 – 02:00 daily