North of Piazzale Loreto, the area designers nicknamed NoLo ('North of Loreto') in 2012. Walk from the square of 1944-45 to the d'essai cinema of the 1920s, the tram-1 piazza that is the neighbourhood's living room, the 1933 covered market, the big railway murals of Via Pontano and the park built on a former trotting track, ending on multi-ethnic Via Padova.
Best time: Late afternoon into aperitivo time, when Piazza Morbegno's outdoor tables fill; or a weekday morning for the covered market
The route, stop by stop
- 1Piazzale Loreto
Where fascist militia shot 15 partisans on 10 August 1944, and where the bodies of Mussolini, Clara Petacci and others were hung upside down in April 1945; the memorial stele now stands in Viale Andrea Doria. NoLo begins north of here. 10 min.
- 2Cinema Beltrade
Via Nino Oxilia 10: a neighbourhood cinema active since 1920, the local reference for art-house films, often in original language. 5 min (or come back for a screening).
- 3Piazza Morbegno
The heart of NoLo, crossed by tram 1: outdoor bar tables and early-1900s buildings, including the rationalist Casa Lavezzari (1935) by Pietro Lingeri and Giuseppe Terragni. Nearby, Piazza Arcobalena between Via Spoleto and Via Venini is a 2019 'Piazze Aperte' pedestrian square with painted paving. 20 min.
- 4Mercato Comunale di Viale Monza
Viale Monza 54, at Via Crespi: one of the city's first covered markets, opened in 1933 and revived in recent years; stalls do the daily shop and some stay open for aperitivo, dinner and events. 20 min.
- 5Via Pontano railway murals
For large-scale murals, YesMilano says follow the railway from Via Pontano and Via Mosso towards Via Zuretti and Via Lesa; crews from TDK to Urban Solid have painted here. 20 min.
- 6Parco Trotter
Entrance at Via Giacosa 46. Built on the trotting track that ran here from 1906 to 1924 (the oval is still the main path); later the open-air 'Casa del Sole' school with chalet-style pavilions. Old red oaks, plane trees and cedars of Lebanon, courts and play areas. Mosso, a bar, pizzeria and cultural space in the former boarding school on Via Padova, opens onto the park. 30 min.
- 7Via Padova
Finish on the street that Lonely Planet Italia calls the multi-ethnic soul of NoLo; walk its lower stretch back towards Piazzale Loreto. 15 min.
More walks in Milan
- Duomo to Brera: the classic centre
- Castello, Parco Sempione and the Arco della Pace
- Leonardo and old Milan: Magenta and Sant'Ambrogio
- Ticinese and Navigli food-grazing walk
- New Milan and Chinatown: Porta Nuova, Isola and Via Sarpi
- Porta Venezia Liberty and the Quadrilatero del Silenzio
- Isola to the Martesana canal: Sacro Volto to Gorla
- Porta Romana to Chiaravalle Abbey: Fondazione Prada and the Vettabbia valley
- Lambrate to the Ortica: the OR.ME murals of 20th-century Milan