Time flies
Ooops its been a long time. But I've got a good excuse promise. A wonderfully pleasant surprise from the man in my life who flew in from France kept me wonderfully busy over the past week. In the run up to the summer exodus from Milan I was beginning to get into a panic. All my friends were leaving and so were the editors and directors of the numerous companies and publications who I had worked for who still owed me money. What's a girl to do in the city of fashion with no friends or funds.
Well before I had time to ponder the question too deeply mon amour was winging his way to my apartment to keep me entertained. It was just what the doctor ordered. Lots of chilling out in my newly re-designed bedroom interspersed with sight-seeing, window-shopping, aperitivo-doing and general strolling around the city which, all in all is a damn good thing for this blog as I have lots of new material to add.
The Girovago meets Giuseppe Ungaretti
Why the title? I guess I should have clarified at the start but explainations, mission statements etc always seem to bode misfortune for me. As if by stating what I wish to do brings bad luck.
Well,
girovago roughly equates to a wonderer or a vagabond. I did think of choosing a more Milan specific title but it just wouldn't have fit. I'm a British girl, born to parents of Caribbean origin, living in Italy and dating a Frenchman. Being a traveller and a vagabond is in my spirit. And while I can be absolutley taken with a place for years I always know a time will come when I won't be able to fight the desire to move on. Kind of like the woman in
Chocolat.While doing a bit of googling on the word girovago, I also realised that it is also the title of a beautiful poem by Giuseppe Ungaretti, one of the most famous Italian poets of the 20th century who was born in Alexandria and died in Milan.
I've included the poem below. It's in Italian but maybe one day I'll be able to translate it for you...
In nessuna
parte
di terra
mi posso
accasare
A ogni
nuovo
clima
che incontro
mi trovo
languente
che
una volta
già gli ero stato
assuefatto
E me ne stacco sempre
straniero
Nascendo
tornato da epoche troppo
vissute
Godere un solo
minuto di vita
iniziale
Cerco un paese
innocente
Campo di Mailly, maggio 1918
Soundtrack to my blog
So I guess you're wondering what the music that a fashionista in milan is in tune to as she types (of course you don't but hey, it's close to midnight and my brain couldn't think of a decent intro).
Well DJ's of choice have to be
Gilles Peterson on BBC Radio 1 and
Benji B on BBC 1xtra. They're two legends of music whose style defies definition who prove why British public service broadcasting is the best in the world.
More messages on these two will definitley follow even though they have nought to do with Milan.
lazy days in the hazy heat
Things sure are hotting up in this town. It's like
35 degrees by day and the nights are just as sticky and sultry. Should be ideal after the cold weather we experience in winter but there really is no spring time. It jumps from hot to cold and before you know it your carefully chosen winter is dying out to be replaced!
Worst of all are the swarms of mosquitos. I went to check out the city beach in
Parco Sempione a couple of nights ago and there was actually a dude at the entrance who was paid to spray people with insect spray. In that sense summer is a great leveller in Milan. No matter if you wear Chanel no.5 or Charlie, everyone in the city now reeks of
Autan.
Surviving Ryanair
Here are a few hints if you’re flying from London to Milan (Bergamo) with Ryanair. Firstly if you can avoid it, please do. Orio al Serio, Ryanair’s new Italian hub is around a 50 minute bus ride away from Milan on a good day. Busses leave and depart from behind Milan’s Central Station and having to get to the station to catch a coach to catch your flight is a real pain in the arse.
Easyjet and BMI both fly to Milan Linate which is a definitely the stress-free option as you can catch a taxi from the airport to pretty much anywhere in the city for around 20 euro. But if like me money is an issue and you’re stuck with Ryanair then try and leave from Stanstead if it makes sense for you geographically speaking. Flights from Luton are generally around 10 – 20% cheaper those from Stanstead but Luton airport is a nightmare. It takes between ages (circa 15 mins) to walk to the departure gates and despite recent improvements their shopping facilities aren’t great.
Finally I know it is really tempting to plug in to your iPod to drown out the seemingly endless in-flight announcements that boom across the speakers during your journey but try and listen out for the announcement for the sale of coach tickets to Milan. The price on board is the same as in the airport and you’ll avoid having to join the huge queue for tickets once you land at Bergamo.
Dior does it again
Just when does he find time to sleep? It seems like
Hedi Slimane, the legendary designer at Dior Homme is on a constant roll of mindblowingly cool projects. From his photography to editing Liberation to designing furniture it looks like Hedi is unstopable.
I'm totally loving his B13 Vulcanized Leather new menswear sneakers. They're slim like my favourite shoes Converse but the gold calf skin lining and anatomic calfskin underskin denotes the difference. Get your name down on that waiting list now!
Flat Hunting Milano
Looking for somewhere to stay in Milan is one of the worst things about the city. If you're moving to the city and haven't had the good fortune to have your company provide you with a nice relocation package then you're in for some hard work.
When I moved to Milan the company I worked for put me up in a 'residence' on Via Vigevano, near Porta Genova. The location was pretty good but the place itself was barely above adequate - residences are small studio flats-cum-hotel rooms. Ok for a few days but not for more than a week, although many foreigners end up being trapped in the residence for years as they're too daunted by the prosopect of having to rent in Milan.
My oh so kind employers convinced me I could find somewhere to live at around 400 euro p/m within two weeks so after a fortnight I had to pay for the residence myself. Becoming increasingly fed-up with living in a box I started to look around and soon found that what my employers told me was total bull-crap. For 400 euro you're quite likely to be sharing a room (a worringly common Italian practice) or living in the outskirts of the city.
After being manipulated into sharing with a girl from work who turned out to be one of the untidiest people I ever met, I moved into a 100 square meter 1950's apartment block near Bocconi for 550 euro p/m.
Avoid going through an agency. Technocasa, who let out my apartment charged us 18% of our annual rent as a service charge, despite being of absolutley no service at all ie. getting the price of the rent wrong and telling lies about the price of the flat.
The best solution is to look on the internet at places like
EasyRoommate where you can see detailed lisitings online. Prices here are marginally higher as they are targeting foreigners as well as Italians but it's a good place to start.
If your budget is slightly higher try these mid-term let options at
Milan ApartmentsIf possible give yourself one full week of searching. September is a good time to search as that's when most properties come onto the market. Bear in mind that most Milanese find apartments through word of mouth so you're already facing a distinct disadvantage. Try asking in bars and restaurants in the areas where you want to live if they know of any places for rent. If you cover the area on foot you're quite likely to spot the bright green 'Affitarsi' signs which indicates a property to rent.
Best operative Milan
One of the tricks that you soon learn in Milan, usually after you realize that you've spent half you wages on eating out, is that there is really no need to do dinner in this city. That's not to say that, girls, you should turn down dinner dates or that, guys, you shouldn't ask. But if you find yourself making you way home on the metro and the odors emanating from the clothes of the mama next to you remind you that you haven't had time to restock you fridge (don't worry empty fridges are sooo Milan) head for an aperitivo.
Aperitvo is often referered to as the Italian happy hour but instead of just drinks it includes a buffet of food which operates pretty much on an 'eat as much as your shame permits' basis. If you choose your venue wisely you can easily avoid the need to dine in restaurants.
Shu, in Via Molino delle Armi 30, is supposed to be one of the fashionable bars in Milan and it's always full of worryingly young Eastern European models usually accompanied by slick-haired men old enough to be their (grand)daddys. But be warned the decor is nasty. Its all black with too many mirrors, dated lighting and the ubiquitous Philippe Starck for
Kartell perspex chairs.
Once you get over the 'Home Front' decor, and trust me it will take a while, allow your eyes to feast on the spectacularly abundant aperitivo. From six til nine'ish there's mountains of food that spreads across two black tableclothed tables. Caprese salads, rice salads, gently steamed broccoli, mini pizzas pasta, seafood... the list is to die for and for the price of a cocktail (6 euro during happy hour) its all yours!
Another cool place to check out is
Bento Bar, in Corso Garibaldi 104, is another cool place to pick up a good aperitivo. Tuna and salmon sushi, sashimi, sugar snaps, salads and focaccias are there waiting for you to pile them into the cute red boxes that double as plates. The cocktails aren't the best in Milan and I'd recommend that you stay clear of them during Happy Hour, even if they are only 6 euro as they tend to taste a little bit watered down.
Rita, in Via Angelo Fumagalli 1, is a gorgous little bar of
Naviglio Grande and round the corner from the hell hole where I worked during my first six months in Milan. Despite still suffering post traumatic stress disorder as a result of my time at ??? Rita remains one of my favourite bars for aperitivo. Although its tiny in the warmer months it opens up onto the pavement facing the Hotel Nikken and has a very continental vibe. The cocktails are to die for and are mixed and recommended with great care and affection. Aperitivo is far from abundant but the little morsels of
haute cuisine which are brought to your table by the chef are sublime.
Breakfast at Alistair's
It may sound entirely illogical to anyone who's not a Brit but after months in Milan there's nothing that I miss more than a good fry-up. Each sunday morning I awake and sigh with nostalgia for the weekends spent at my French boy's pad in delightful Dalston from where we would depart for the most delightful fry-ups at this amazing Turkish place in Stoke Newington. For a fiver you could start you Sunday and end your hangover with the best fry-up in North London and when finished with a fag in one hand and the Sunday Times in the other we would gaze lazily at each other with the knowledge that we had stuffed our little bellies so much that there was no choice but to sit there chilling for an hour or so to give our stomachs a chance to start digesting. It was pure bliss!
So you can understand my delight, after eons of being facing the daily cappuccino + brioche routine, when I stumbled across this
feature in
The American, of all places, all about this British dude who does Fry Ups in Milan. Hallelujah! I'll be checking it out this weekend and will keep you posted on how it rates.
Alistair's vini e cucina
Via Panfilo Castaldi, 38
20124 Milano (MI)
Tel: +39 0229519840
Metro: Porta Venezia (red line)
cool clubs in Milan
So, after you've done
10 Corso Como, partied at the
Old Fashion Cafe, danced on the tables at Armani's
Privé and thrown up at
Just Cavalli, if you come from any half-decent cosmopolitan city or if you're just a person who likes a bit of depth and variety to their nightlife, it won't be long before you realize that Milan is incredibly samey.
Pretty much everywhere you go you find the same wannabe model looking chicks who spend their days working in Miss Sixty only to save up enough money to buy a Gucci bag their can wear in the evening out with their friends who, guaranteed will all be dressed in identical manner.
At the start of spring/summer 2005 the uniform pretty much looked like this - poker-straightaggressivelyy ironed hair, smokey heroin-chic eye shadow counterbalanced by lashings of unctuous lipgloss, a boob revealing glam vest-top paired with a dangerously short mini-skirt andpainfullyy pointy stilettos. "Any man's dream", male readers are probably thinking but trust me it is the most freaky experience walking into a club where pretty much everyone is wearing minute variations on the same outfit. If that happened in London, any self-respecting chick would go home and change.
The men don't get off any better though. Blazers, ridiculously high collared shirt and a wee bit too tight jeans with, yes you've guessed it pointy shoes, are the order of the day. Worst of all this trend for (oil) slicked back hair that looks as if its coated in whales spunk has taken over the city. I blame Totti but still, grown men really should know better.
As a former Lifestyle editor on Glasgow Uni's student rag I lived, ate and breathed clubbing but now at the ripe old age of 24 it takes a lot to get me to go out. Especially in Milan.
My tips for a top evening on Milan's alternative scene are
Rocket (round the corner from my gaff) and
Gogagna. The music is far from legendary (although Rocket appears to be one of the few places where you can hear broken beat in Milan) but the atmosphere is totally rocking. People actually stand by the bar instead of sitting at tables with groups of friends they've known since nursery, which seems to be the typical Milanese style and best of all complete strangers talk to each other which, to you might not be that miraculous, but in Milan is a mind-blowingly avant garde behaviour.
The Beginning (part two)
Oh how the mighty have fallen. Plans to start my life as a blogger extrodinaire began in spectacular fashion in April '05. Yet after just one measley blog and plenty of grand philosophising and the importance and greatness of my page it has, well... come to nothing. It was rather self indulgent I'll admit (for those of you who give a damn you can check it out on
http://hipsquare.blogspot.com/2005/04/oooh-how-exciting.html).
Loads of excuses and valid reasons why it didn't take off which are far too tedious to delve into on my first post but I will share with you some of my favourite images from the Salone del Mobile (
http://www.cosmit.it/webapp/cosmit/command/site/ShowSite?siname=Cosmit&lgrfnbr=1) it was a truley amazing experience. So many fit guys, so much free alcohol. Oh yeah, and the furniture wasn't bad either. Honestly if you're planning a trip to Milan forget the over hyped fashion weeks (
http://www.cameramoda.it/) and check out the city in April instead when the whole place rocks to the furniture designer's beats.
Tips on places to stay and
locali to drink in will follow. Promise!
