20. Porta Vittoria, Lodi

Thanks to the Porta Romana railway junction and the Porta Vittoria railway station, this area is considered as an important industrial centre.
Consequently, many council houses have been built, like the Calvairate, Molise and Ettore Ponti Districts. Thanks to the ease in the goods transport, food supply structures have originated: The Macello Pubblico, the Mercato Floricolo, the Mercato del Pesce and the Mercato Ortofrutticolo.

Calvairate is a multi-ethnic district, where activities and services have been rooted, which are starting a real revival thanks to the residents engagement, with hipster features.

The area provides also an exceptional cultural offer with the presence of cultural centres of the calibre of Macao, Opendot and FM, which organize exhibitions and residences for artists in the Frigoriferi Milanesi.

This area is meant for those who appreciate the serenity and don’t search for the nightlife clamour, although meeting points with an alternative and joyful spirit are common.

Here, the neighbourhood trading is really active and it is appreciated by residents who consider it a valid alternative to the “cold” mall. If you want to be surrounded by a life experience where the community dimension is still authentic and genuine, this area will convince you.

In this area you will not find elegant stores, tree-lined avenues, residences guarded by custodians and modern offices with an international style.

However, you will be amazed by looking at the beautiful Palazzina of the early XX century in Sanfelice 3 street, one of the few memories of the rural past of the area, which is nowadays the headquarter of the cultural centre Casa di Vetro.

Moreover, take a look at the big letters on the house’s facades in the Ettore Ponti working-class District in Turchino street. They are readable just from a certain distance, i.e. “changing prospective”; they were realized by the artists Said Dokins and SpY during the urban redevelopment project Bloop Experience.

In the end, behind the Trattoria Macello, behind a little gate, the Cascina Mancatutto will surprise you, a place where time seems to be stopped.

The urban structure is mainly residential, with buildings which are often gathered in homogeneous areas according to the type, the height and the adornment. There are also frequent council houses, built between the ‘20s and the post-war period, and trading spaces.

Close to the Bastioni, buildings are more modern and the avenues are large and regular, but rarely tree-lined. In the Ettore Ponti District, some residences have been involved in a project supported by Dar=Casa, a Social Cooperative which has offered residences with controlled prices rents to young people with a low income, in return of spending a number of hours as volunteers for social activities.

In this area you will love the CielosottoMilano, the first theatre in the world organized by the Dual Band in an underground at the Passante Ferroviario of Porta Vittoria railway.

Do not miss a visit at the spaces of the ex-Angelo Gavazzi and Sons factory, which was inaugurated in 1907 in Boncompagni street. The owners lived inside the factory, according to the all Milanese model “cà e butega”, which was common at that time among many entrepreneurs.

Nowadays, the soap factory no long exists; under its smokestack and under the gaze of a statue which reminds of the owner’s supervision, creative studios keep originating, which recycle, design, try and exhibit their works.

Close to this area there’s the Parco Formentano with the Liberty Palazzina, the Cascina Cuccagna, and the Museo del Fumetto WOW.