Strolling around Milan means slowly discovering a unique, buzzing and vibrant city. Palaces, historic buildings and churches are interspersed with fashion and design stores, interesting cafés, art galleries, restaurants, luxury shops, pizzerias and old locandas (inns) serving home-made food.
If you’re visiting the centre of Milan, famous pedestrian street Corso Como and its surroundings, in the heart of the city’s financial district, is just half an hour’s walk from Piazza del Duomo, with a strategic stop to discover picturesque Brera neighbourhood, along the way. By day it’s the perfect place for shopping, visiting restaurants serving Italian food, and stopping at cafés. When night falls it becomes one of the most popular neighbourhoods for partying in Milan and the place to see and be seen at the end of the night.
If you visit Milan, don’t forget to visit Corso Como – it has lots for you to discover!
What to do in Corso Como in Milan
Daytime and night-time in Corso Como share one thing in common: the street is always thronging with people. The network of streets that connect to the main thoroughfare have all kinds of fashion, design and accessory shops, and plenty of restaurants for eating out, as well as traditional cafés.
Where is good to eat in Corso Como?
You could start your itinerary at Porta Garibaldi in Piazza XXV Aprile where restaurants and cafés with terraces in both summer and winter are the perfect place to take a break and charge your batteries at any time of day.
All’Isola and Rocking Horse, at no.10 and no.12, serve the most famous dishes of Milan’s cuisine. If you go to All’Isola for lunch, you can enjoy a set menu that is great value for money.
Alla Cucina delle Langhe at number 6 is a great option for food lovers and has typical dishes from the Piedmont and Lombardy regions. Its star dish is the fiorentina, a thick beef steak that owes its name to a T-bone-shaped cut typically found in Tuscany.
If you’d like a lighter option, Macha Café in Piazza Gae Aulenti has healthier alternatives – make sure to try the poke and bowls. This area is also home to one of the zone’s most exclusive restaurants, The Stage Dining, haute cuisine in a cosmopolitan space with tasteful decoration and nods to the film world.
What should I buy in Corso Como?
Corso Como and its surroundings has some of the best Italian and international fashion and design stores: Louboutin, Just Cavalli, Dsquared2, Moschino, Maison Margiela and Chiara Ferragni Store. And don’t miss the 10 Corso Como concept store – more details about this space follow below.
What do to in Corso Como at night
When the sun goes down, find a seat around Piazza Gae Aulenti (link to Piazza Gae Aulenti) to enjoy a café or aperitif in the shadow of the tallest skyscraper in Italy, the Unicredit Tower. Night begins in one of the city’s liveliest areas as the last rays of sunshine are reflected in the glass façade of this towering building. Are you ready to go out partying? (internal link)
In Milan, every promising night starts with an aperitif: a cocktail served with a snack. Pixel, Caffé Novecento and 10 Corso Como Café are great places to start the evening and are all found in the same street.
Corso Como is particularly renowned for its buzzing nightlife and nightclubs that are packed out while the rest of the city sleeps. Hollywood Rythmoteque, 11Clubroom and LoolaPaloosa are three places where you can go and dance (almost) until sunrise.
10 Corso Como, a concept store in Milan
Special mention should be made of this space, which grabs the attention of everyone who visits the neighbourhood: 10 Corso Como is a multi-use space for fashion, culture, music and food.
In 1991, former fashion director Carla Sozzani opened Galleria Sozzani in an old garage at no.10 of this famous street in Milan.
The gallery specialised in photography, art and design and featured a small garden, café and bookshop. This space is particularly significant because it coined the term ‘concept store’, a unique type of store with a particular blend of culture and fashion that would set trends around the world. It also introduced a new way for the coolest clientele to go shopping: a space that culturally enriches you at the same time as you shop for the latest and most exclusive fashions while also enjoying an innovative gastronomic experience. It has everything in one.
10 Corso Como: café, bar and restaurant
The café, bar, restaurant and store are on the ground floor of the building and can be reached directly from the street. The café (link to Café Italia) opened in 1998 and is similar to what is known in Italian as a “cortile”, a courtyard or private garden inside a building that provides access to the homes. A fresh, green, haven of peace that is hidden away in busy Milan.
Store, gallery and bookshop
If you’re looking for the latest fashion and accessory trends, the store at 10 Corso Como has both and features all the top brands, from the famous Hangisi by Manolo Blahnik (remember Sex in the City?) to the City bag by Balenciaga. Luxury goods from all the leading brands await you: Prada, Etro, Comme des Garçons, Galliano, Paul Smith and many more.
The first floor of the building also has an art gallery and bookshop. It’s put on more than 250 exhibitions since it opened and is a great way to discover new artists and take home a book as a souvenir.
10 Corso Como 3 Rooms Hotel
Is there really such a thing as a hotel with only three rooms? Since 2003, this tiny hotel with three elegant suites has formed part of the 10 Corso Como complex. You’ll need plenty of patience and planning to stay here though because demand is extremely high.
