Milan neighbourhoods
Maggiolina and Maciachini
A quiet island of small villas, gardens and igloo-shaped houses.
- Market
- Fri · Sat · 2 markets see below ↓
- Transport
- M5 Marche, M5 Istria, M3 Zara / Sondrio; trams 5, 7; buses 42, 51, 82
- District
- 9
What it's like
Maggiolina lies north of piazzale Lagosta and Centrale station, between viale Zara and viale Fulvio Testi.
It is the heart of the Villaggio dei Giornalisti, a garden suburb founded in the 1920s as a building cooperative for the editors of Milan's newspapers, with small villas and tree-lined streets unusual for Milan.
Here the architect Mario Cavallè built, in 1946, the famous igloo houses of via Lepanto and the mushroom house: small experimental domed buildings, now protected and much photographed. It is a quiet, well-off, unshowy residential quarter.
To the west, the Maciachini area is more urban, marked by the viale Jenner junction and the former Carlo Erba works converted into offices. To the north you quickly reach Parco Nord.
The market
Green space and the outdoors
Dog areas
- vie Stelvio - Bassi · 802 m²
- piazzale Maciachini - Marche - Valassina · 993 m²
- piazzale Farina · 560 m²
- piazza Carbonari · 1797 m²
- vie Populonia - Murat - Valassina · 1356 m²
- vie Cusio - Toce - Boltraffio · 571 m²
Playgrounds
- via Fortis n. 10 · 2261 m²
- viale Zara n. 100 · 264 m²
- largo Vulci - Montalbino · 537 m²
- via Ragusa n. 5 · 732 m²
- piazza Massari · 338 m²
- vie Stelvio - Bassi · 1139 m²
Where to eat and drink
Maggiolina is residential and has few businesses: neighbourhood trattorias, bakeries and the bars around piazza Carbonari. For more, it is worth heading down towards Isola or Zara.
The via Stresa market on Friday and the via Asmara one on Saturday handle the shopping.
Getting there
The lilac M5 serves the area with Marche and Istria; the yellow M3 passes just to the west with Zara and Sondrio. On the surface there are trams 5 and 7. The quarter is quiet and residential, easy by bike towards Isola and Parco Nord.
M5 Marche, M5 Istria, M3 Zara / Sondrio; trams 5, 7; buses 42, 51, 82
Frequently asked questions
Where are the igloo houses in Milan?
The igloo houses are on via Lepanto, in the Villaggio dei Giornalisti, Maggiolina quarter, District 9. They are eight small domed dwellings designed by Mario Cavallè in 1946; you can see them from outside but they are private.
What is the Maggiolina quarter in Milan like?
It is a quiet, well-off residential quarter north of Centrale station, with small villas and tree-lined streets of the Villaggio dei Giornalisti. Well served by the M5, close to Isola and Parco Nord.
Nearby neighbourhoods
Data: City of Milan — weekly open-air markets (DS291), CC-BY. Reviewed .