Porta Romana

This is a mainly residential area with several important thoroughfares running across it and into the historic centre of the city. It is laid out around local shops, restaurants and well-kept leafy squares but no parks. Off the main roads it is quiet and orderly and there is plenty of street parking. The streets follow a rough grid system and seem a far cry from the maze of little streets around the cathedral (Il Duomo), even though Corso Porta Romana, the main street of 19th-century Milan and once the scene of many elegant coach processions, leads straight into the heart of town. Much of the activity today centres around the Policlinico hospital and the famous Bocconi university so there is a young population by day, although there is not the same student buzz here as in other parts of the city. The area is slightly reminiscent of some parts of London.