We loved our stay at Barbara’s apartment. It is a modern apartment and very spacious, has great kitchen appliances, very comfortable beds, a large dining room table, and comfortable couches. There’s one room upstairs with a queen bed, and two large rooms downstairs (one has two double beds, the other has two single beds). It’s hard to find an apartment this large to accommodate a group of 5, but we stayed comfortably for 4 months, and there was plenty of room to host dinners with our friends, etc. The bathrooms are nice with good showers. There’s a huge closet upstairs which gives extra storage space. Whenever our friends came over they always complimented how big our apartment was (most in Italy are not this big). Our only complaint is the very small TV in the living room.
The apartment also has a gym and pool in the basement. The gym has limited equipment but we still enjoyed the convenience of it being just downstairs.
There is no washer/dryer in the unit, so to do laundry, you will go to the laundry room in the basement. The washers were fine (we are from the US so they were about half the size of our washers), but it costs 1.50 euros to wash one load of laundry. Don’t bother paying for the dryer since it rarely fully dried our clothes. Barbara provides a drying rack so you can air dry your clothes, which is typical for Italy and most apartments don’t even have a dryer.
It seemed like most other units in the apartment had their own washers given that the washers in the laundry room were almost always available (despite there being only two), and it looked like there was a place for a washer in the closet. Maybe Barbara will install a washer in the future.
Location:
My four friends and I stayed at Barbara’s apartment from January-June since we were on exchange at Bocconi University for a semester. It’s about a ten minute walk to Bocconi and fifteen minutes to the surrounding restaurants, bars, etc.
It’s nestled in a residential area. We always felt safe there and never had any of the issues you might if you live in Navigli or another downtown area. On the other hand, if you want to be steps away from bars, shopping, and restaurants… this apartment is a bit of a trek to get to Navigli, Brera, Duomo, etc (the closest social hub is Bocconi).
Proximity to transportation is also important to consider. This apartment is a little far from most tram stops, so plan to walk 10 minutes before you reach the tram.
It’s closer to bus stops. There is no metro stop close to the apartment so you will take either the tram or bus before you reach the metro.
We didn’t consider public transportation at all when looking at apartments back in December. Don’t make this mistake. Milan is a big city and getting around can be a pain if you don’t know how to use public transit or cannot easily access it.
Barbara is extremely friendly, resourceful, accessible, and responsive as a host. Whenever we had an issue, she would respond within the hour and address the issue within the day. We really appreciated her help, especially in the beginning when we had questions.
In summary, we loved…
- the apartment itself (appliances, furniture, layout, spaciousness)
- Barbara as a host
What we think could be better…
- location to restaurants and bars, pharmacy, cafes, etc.
- proximity to public transportation
- laundry