Milan neighbourhoods
Via Sarpi and Chinatown
Italy's oldest Chinatown, on a pedestrian street full of food.
- Market
- Mon · Tue · Thu · Sat · 2 markets see below ↓
- Transport
- M2 Moscova, M5 Monumentale, M5 Cenisio; trams 2, 4, 12, 14
- District
- 1
What it's like
The area around via Paolo Sarpi, between corso Sempione and the Monumental Cemetery, has been home to Milan's Chinese community for a century: the first arrived in the 1920s from Zhejiang, opening tie and leather workshops. For decades via Sarpi was mostly a street of wholesalers.
In 2011 the street was pedestrianised, and its nature has changed since: less wholesale, more restaurants, pastry shops, street-food stalls and bubble-tea shops. On Saturdays and Sundays it is one of the busiest streets in Milan.
Around it remains an ordinary residential quarter, with the late-19th-century blocks of via Bramante and Paolo Sarpi and a local street market. The Chinese New Year parade, in late January or February, fills the street with dragons and crowds.
The market
Cesariano
District 1 · Sarpi
Fauchè
District 8 · Sarpi
See the area's markets in detail →
Farmers markets
Green space and the outdoors
Dog areas
- piazza Coriolano · 734 m²
- via De Castillia · 704 m²
- parco biblioteca degli alberi · 1304 m²
- vie Messina - Calvino · 433 m²
- giardino Bruno Munari · 1037 m²
- viale Elvezia · 715 m²
Playgrounds
- via Quadrio n. 10 · 130 m²
- vie Sturzo - Ferrari · 510 m²
- via Pastrengo n. 30 · 294 m²
- via della Santissima Trinità n. 5 · 373 m²
- vie Medardo Rosso - Boltraffio - Farini · 67 m²
- via Cesariano - Santissima Trinità · 208 m²
Where to eat and drink
Via Sarpi is food to eat walking: the Ravioleria Sarpi, a stall of hand-made dumplings with meat from the butcher next door, set the standard; then jianbing, skewers, bao, and pastry shops with red-bean sweets.
For a sit-down dinner, the side streets are full of Zhejiang and Sichuan restaurants. The via Cesariano market, Monday and Thursday, handles neighbourhood shopping.
Getting there
The area sits between three metro stations: Moscova (M2) to the south, Monumentale and Cenisio (M5) to the north and west. Trams 2, 4, 12 and 14 run along the edges. Via Sarpi is pedestrian: you arrive and get around on foot only.
M2 Moscova, M5 Monumentale, M5 Cenisio; trams 2, 4, 12, 14
Frequently asked questions
Where is Milan's Chinatown?
Milan's Chinatown is the area around via Paolo Sarpi and via Bramante, in District 1, between corso Sempione and the Monumental Cemetery. Via Sarpi is pedestrian.
What to eat on via Sarpi in Milan?
Steamed and pan-fried dumplings, jianbing (a kind of Chinese crêpe), bao, skewers, bubble tea and the sweets from the Chinese pastry shops. Many places do street food to eat standing along the street.
Nearby neighbourhoods
Data: City of Milan — weekly open-air markets (DS291), CC-BY. Reviewed .