Navigli District

The Navigli is Milan's canal district — a neighbourhood of two surviving canals (Naviglio Grande and Naviglio Pavese) lined with bars, restaurants, vintage shops, and artist studios that becomes the city's aperitivo headquarters every evening. The canals, originally built in the 12th century for irrigation and expanded by Leonardo da Vinci in the 15th century for transport, once formed a network of waterways that connected Milan to Lake Maggiore, Lake Como, and the Po River. Most were filled in during the 1930s, and the two that survive give a glimpse of a Milan that looked more like Amsterdam than the concrete metropolis it is today.

The aperitivo tradition reaches its peak in the Navigli — the bars along the canal banks offer drinks accompanied by elaborate buffets of pasta, focaccia, salumi, and olives from about 6pm, and the custom of eating dinner-quantities of free food with a €10 cocktail is one of Milan's most civilised economies. The canal-side terraces fill up fast, and the evening light on the water — with the old workshop buildings and their wrought-iron balconies reflected in the surface — creates an atmosphere that makes the Navigli feel like a different city from the business district a few kilometres north.

The last Sunday of each month, the Naviglio Grande hosts a large antiques market (Mercatone dell'Antiquariato) that draws dealers and browsers from across Lombardy. The surrounding streets contain some of Milan's best independent galleries, design studios, and the kind of neighbourhood restaurants that serve risotto alla milanese with the quiet confidence of people who have been making the same dish for generations.