No doubt about it, we did enjoy our stay in Milano, thanks in big part to Filipo/Vicky/Roberto's apartment. Via Savona (Savona street) is a very nice street, safe and very close to the subway, trams and buses, some main streets with shops and food. (If you can walk, we recommend the Pam supermaket in front of the Leonardo DaVinci Museum instead of the Carrefour Express which is too expensive). The flat is really at walking distance from mostly everything, including Duomo Cathedral. The flat was confortable and very clean and modern like inside with furnitures from Made. And for French people, the building did feel like Italian or Milano's with its courtyard and flat door partly outside. Every experience is subjective so for us Parisians,, without air conditioned, having only one fan for 2 rooms in the middle of one of the summer heat wave was hard (over 32°).
- Via Savona is quite a busy street and since the flat in on the second floor and the living room window is right on top of it, the noise is almost constant. Especially in the evening with several tiny food/bar with little group of people talking outside (but no terraces) and smoking. But we didn't notice any drunkness. On the other side of the street every evening there is also a fine black gentleman in suit that open the door to nicely dressed couples or parties to a fancy restaurant. Many Taxis stop in front but most Milano taxis are Prius, so very quiet. Fortunately, the living room window has 2 wood shutters, one outside and one inside the room. Cute and very convenient the two shutters help to protect from the noise at night, and from the heat during the day. The bedroom is on the other side and mostly quiet enough (but on 5am Saturday morning is the time when some genitor takes out the building garbage, and that's a noise show by itself). We did like this vibe as we did feel like we were in the city and people walking via Savona seemed mostly happy and enjoying their time.
- Mosquitos. Yes, we did fight with mosquitos during the nights (in June). Come prepared with your favorite mosquitos repellent.
- Also, be aware, if you are big, like American big (sorry), the toilet/bathroom is very small, even in French standard. So small that there is no way to hang clothes or even towels! We did manage to put a foldable chair inside but then, the bathroom is even smaller :) But again, this bathroom is very clean, modern, with a shower with unlimited water, including unlimited hot water.
British people, don't look for the tea pot, there is none at this time. But as we let it know to the owner, we're pretty sure there will be one soon, as some regular mugs.
There aren't many electrical plugs (one per room) but you can easily find some sockets (the one under the TV is great to charge you mobile devices).
- The small screen TV itself has some English language channels (Paramount...) and it was a nice touch to find the TV already set on those English channels on our arrival :)
At our arrival, Filipo nicely came to get us on the sidewalk to show us the way. He was also very patient to explain everything and answers our question. He is fluent in English to that was great for us. And Vicky was a constant help and presence on mobile phone app if needed. A great feeling to know you have some kind of back up in the city you don't know. But Milano was mostly great. People and services are nicer than in Paris (which is not a good exemple, Paris is mostly very rude with tourists and customers). We made a one morning train trip to Lac Como, which is easy, but be aware that there are a lot, a lot of visitors and tourists on week-ends especially, Italians one even.
All in all, even all sweaty, we were very happy with our stay. François & Dany. (from Paris)