Navigli

This is the charming area built around the city’s once vital system of canals. It is now a trendy place to live and the rents are less expensive than along Corso di Porta Ticinese, which is slightly closer to the centre and better connected by public transport. There are low-rise apartment buildings set around quiet courtyards that inter-connect in a maze of little alleyways and streets. This is still an unspoilt residential area with plenty of small local shops and street markets, but there is extensive redevelopment along some of the excavated canals, especially around the Darsena, which was once the centre of the network. Navigli has a strong sense of its own identity and there are numerous projects afoot to restore the network of canals, which were once used to tranport goods into Milan. There are now trips along the waterways for tourists but the serious restoration of this very attractive part of the city has been slow to get off the ground.