A Brief Guide to Summer Sales in Milan

The Sale Season Offers Great Discounts for Bargain Hunters

Jul 16, 2009 Alessandro Mastrorocco

A brief guide for the tourist willing to reach the capitol of shopping and fashion: Milan. A way to save money and enjoy the summer.

Everyone knows that Milan is the capitol of shopping as well as the city of fashion. It is the home of the flagship stores of designers like Giorgio Armani, Byblos, Bulgari, Dolce e Gabbana, Fendi, Ferragamo, Gianfranco Ferre', Gucci, Krizia, Prada, Mila Schön, Trussardi, Versace, Ermenegildo Zegna and many more.

This year the summer sales started on July 7th and in the first few days more than 200,000 people visited Milan’s main shops. Despite the economical crisis it is estimated that each person spends around 400 to 500 dollars during the sales and will generally wait in long lines for their turn before purchasing the objects of their fashion dreams, but it could be a good deal because it is possible to take home awesome stock at up to 30 to 60 percent off the regular prices.

The sale seasons in Milan offers great discounts for bargain hunters. So if the fashion dreams are bigger than the credit line, the sale season is the best time to satisfy desires.

The Quadrangle of Fashion

A few brief suggestions could be useful for first time visitors. Generally on Sunday the shops are closed, even during the sales season, but on particular days it is possible to find shops open until late at night. Saturday is the most crowded day of the week for shopping, in particular during the afternoon while on the weekdays people are generally working so it’s easier to enter without waiting in long lines under the hot sun.

For mid-price fashion it is suggested to take a look on Corso Buenos Aires, one of the longest streets of Milan, or via Torino and Corso di Porta Ticinese, that aside from fashion can offer really interesting views of ancient Milan, in particular close to the Navigli, the old water street of the city.

Of course it is possible to find fashion stores also in the USA, London, Paris and other cities but in the 650 square miles of the high fashion district of Milan, the Quadrangle of Fashion, are concentrated the most important fashion houses of the world.

This is a very small area in Milan’s downtown formed by via Montenapoleone, via della Spiga, via SantAndrea and via Manzoni. It is easily reached by the underground, and the metro. The closest stops are San Babila on the red line, and Montenapoleone on the yellow line. Downtown Milan is 20 minutes away from the city airport of Linate, which is just a short flight from London, Paris or Berlin and a little further from the USA.

Lakes and Museums Around the Corner

While shopping, or after, it is possible to visit important cultural sites close to the shopping district. Churches, museums, historical restaurants, lounges or coffee shops and much more are just a stone's throw from the Quadrangle. From the Brera museum to the Cathedral of Duomo, from the bistro of the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele to the Museum Bagatti Valsecchi on Via Gesù, from the art expositions housed in the Palazzo Reale to the Risorgimento Museum in via Borgonuovo, the most important things to visit are just around the corner.

Milan in July is general really hot and humid, Milanesi call this unbearable weather “afa” and the downtown of the city during some hours of the day is like an enormous oven. This year the “afa” did not yet show its effects but as the fresh winds stop blowing it will be back to annoy the days and nights of Milan. Some tourists like this kind of weather others don’t. In this case a good idea to follow is to find a hotel close to the lakes and reach downtown directly by train.

Milan hotels are generally expensive like restaurants, in particular those situated in downtown, so an alternative is to find a cheaper hotel near Lake Como, maybe close to George Clooney’s house, Lake Maggiore or even Lake Garda, although it is little bit further away. It takes half an hour to reach Milan from the first two and one hour from Lake Garda but the great vantage there is to enjoy wonderful sightseeing and fresher weather.

The copyright of the article A Brief Guide to Summer Sales in Milan in S Europe Travel is owned by Alessandro Mastrorocco. Permission to republish A Brief Guide to Summer Sales in Milan in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.