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Living in Milan as a student: 7 Tips

What to know if you move to Milan

Have you decided to move to Milan? The Milanese metropolis offers students and professionals an international, modern atmosphere and a wide cultural offer. If Rome offers a very rich historical heritage, Milan acts as an innovative Italian cultural trendsetter.

Living in Milan as a student means settling down in the second-largest city in Italy. Milan is located in the north of Italy, the climate is moderately continental, with hot and sunny summers- temperatures can exceed 30 ° and be muggy, while the winters are cold and humid.

Moving to Milan as a student: what you need to know! 

Learning Italian is much easier once you are here

Knowing the local language makes your experience, even a short one, much more enjoyable and intense.

You will find that learning the language is easier when you live in the same country. Thanks to an intensive Italian language course, you will be able to put your acquired knowledge into practice immediately. You constantly listen and speak Italian in shops, on the bus, on the street and when you are with friends, which trains your ear with almost no effort on your part.

Where to live in Milan as a student: the best neighbourhoods 

Milan is home to many universities mentioned in international rankings, such as the Polytechnic, for engineering, Bocconi, for economic addresses, the Brera Academy, for fine arts and many other options to choose from. 

If you are enrolled in one of these universities, it can be nice to live nearby. 

Navigli and Porta Genova are popular districts among residents that enjoy the profusion of exciting nightlife options.
Porta Romana is a safe, mostly residential area close to the City Center, with clubs and nice restaurants.

Città Studi and Lambrate are known as affordable student havens. They are close to universities, but you can also find dining, nightlife and even affordable shopping.

Get ready for the red tape

Before moving to Milan, you will need to familiarize yourself with Italy’s immigration requirements. First, you need to find out if you need to get a visa to enter the country. To see which visa category you belong to, you can contact the nearest Italian Embassy or Consulate or check the “Visa for Italy” tool provided by the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. It helps you determine if you need a visa, where to apply for it and what documents to present.

The Italian bureaucracy has got a bad rap., but it is nothing that cannot be defeated if you are prepared and ask for help.

Make sure you take all documents with you.

Once the visa has been acquired and you are in Milan, all non-EU citizens must contact the immigration office to obtain a residence permit.

To do this, it is easier to fill out an application kit available at various post offices. Universities and ELLCI can help you with this.

Milan is an international city

Milan is an important international hub. It has a strategic position in Italy and Europe and this will allow you to travel around the continent on a limited budget.

Every year it welcomes thousands of foreigners, and there are so many events, organized by university ones to international events, there will be plenty of opportunities to expand your network of contacts.

Getting around

Forget traffic and queues. Milan offers an excellent public transport service with metro, bus and tram, which connects every point of the city very well.

The only drawback, the subway stops at night during the week, but there are night replacement lines that will allow you to reach your destination without too much effort.

The public transport of Milan, ATM, also offers advantageous discounts for young people and students.

In Milan, you can also find many alternative and economic options such as car sharing, bike sharing and electric scooter sharing. On the contrary, parking can be challenging!

 Visiting Italy will be easier than you think

From Milan, you can easily reach the most beautiful cities in Italy and the most popular tourist destinations.

In two hours by train, you can be in the mountains in the Orobic Alps or on the beach in Liguria. In less than an hour by train, you can reach several cities with magnificent churches and cathedrals, such as Pavia and Vigevano, but also the famous Lake Como.

The high-speed trains take you in less than three hours to Venice, Florence, and with a little more you can reach Rome and Naples. A weekend will be enough to visit the most beautiful Italian cities.

You won’t be bored. Social life and night entertainment in Milan 

Milan is a lively and dynamic city, which never stops and always offers activities, both for citizens and tourists, 24/7, throughout the year.

It is more chaotic than the average Italian city. The rhythms are faster than the “Italian style” that one can imagine living in a smaller city.

The city is full of museums, exhibitions, cultural activities, entertainment and gastronomy from all over the world. There is always something new to do, see and experience in a city with a huge cultural heritage and which today is an important centre for finance, fashion, technology and design.

There are theatres, exhibitions, and many opportunities for leisure and culture.

The Navigli, Moscova and Porta Venezia districts host many bars and discos that enliven the Milanese nights.