Moving to Italy (Milano?)

[Monty Burns]

So I have about 3 months left here in Sydney Befor leaving on a short vaccation back to sweden . Ive been looking at where it would be interesting to work and found Im pretty interested in Milano , or somewhere in Italy .

Whats the skate scene like in Milano or general for Italy ?  whats the best city to live in Italy for skate and party ? . How is public transportation ? and would I enjoy the time I spend in Italy ?

Best things about Milano ? best things about Italy ? things I should check out ? how are the women ?

I start looking for a job there in about 2 months , any help would be amazing ! thanks

[Matthew Moon]

Milano is one the bigger cities in Italy and modern.. There is some pretty nice spots there too. It not going be like Rome where history is all around you, but diffidently good for skateboarding. Theres a website that has italy skate spots too. I forget the name, maybe google it.. But I would think Rome or Milano would be sick for skateboarding.. I haven't been to Milano, but I went to Rome and it is pretty sick place to  be.

hope that helps.

[Hercules Rockefeller]

all i can say is that i usually have a hard time bonding with italian guys, i dont know, they are a very own kind. ive never been to milano, but a few of my friends fly there once a year for skateboarding, and they really like the city.

[Monty Burns]

all i can say is that i usually have a hard time bonding with italian guys, i dont know, they are a very own kind. ive never been to milano, but a few of my friends fly there once a year for skateboarding, and they really like the city.

Yeah I can see that , I used to work with one italian dude , and he was the best . But most italians are very ...  Italian.  I guess you take the good with the bad when you move somewhere new .  The women are atleast nice , most the time , and beutiful.

[Omamori]

That’s great you got the opportunity to move to Italy. I lived there for 3 years, a small town about an hour away from Venice by train. I’ll layout my pros and cons about living in Italy I’ll start off with the cons and finish off with positive things.

Cons:
People can be assholes if you get on their bad side and may not like foreigners.  If you are not white you may experience racism.
Getting something done, for example getting your heater fixed, can take a very long time.  It took a month for a person to come to our house and fix the heaters. Being from the states this was a big thing to get used to.
It can be expensive to live in Italy, especially in a city like Milan.
Drivers can be horrible, so watch out if you ride a bike.
Beware of moving to southern Italy, Sicily maybe an exception. It's dirty and the crime is higher than northern Italy.

Pros:
The food is absolutely amazing.  Some of the best I've had in the world.
Traveling is easy. There’s so many place to travel in Italy, it was hard for me to do it all in 3 years.  And with countries close by, that makes a good vacation.
The architecture is nice, coming back to the states made me realize how our architecture is shitty.
Cops hardly gave me trouble for skating, I’m not sure about the big cities, but you shouldn't run into problems. Be nice and you should be ok.
The lay back lifestyle is nice. I really do miss it, a 2-3 hour lunch is impossible to find here in the states.  Also enjoy a big dinner with someone; an 8 course meal that extends for 2 hours is relaxing and enjoyable.
If you become a friend with an Italian, it’s a close relationship. You’ll be like a family member.
There’s not a lack of skate spots

There are defiantly more pros than cons when living in Italy, and I don’t doubt I forgot some things but that should be a good insight.  I will say that the stereotype of Italian women being super beautiful is somewhat of a myth.  As a whole, they are not ugly by any means but I think people exaggerate their beauty. I hope you have a good time living in Milan and find a good Italian woman.

[FILIFE]

www.skatemap.it

[Monty Burns]

Thanks for the help so far , the spot guide is pretty usefull


This thread became really relevant again since I just found out I will be flying down to Milano at the start of september .

Anybody know anything about the prices of decks and shoes and so on ?

Indoor and outdoor parks ?   


Any good shops ?  like skater owned , support your local and so on .

Anyone on this forum thats from milano ?  Im up for a beer or 2 and some skating

[Omamori]

skate products are about the same as any other European countries. I've only ran into two shops living there. One was a local shop, probably closed now, and another in Rome I believe...it's been a few years so it may have been in another big city. There wasn't any parks where I lived, great spots though. Since you're living in Milano, there should at least be one park. 

[Mark Renton]

I've been lurking on this site for a long time, I thought I could help you out on this since Italy is where I live.
So, starting from your first post:
- skate scene in Italy is pretty good, expecially in a big city like Milan. The level is generally really lower compared to the states, but oh well! From my personal experiences skaters here tend to be nice and help you out, expecially if you come from another countries, just don't expect perfect english, we got some troubles with it hahah.
- Best city to skate I'd say Milan again, a lot of spots and some cool parks even though I don't really like to live there because it can be dirty and caotic sometimes. But then again, if you don't like it, you just have TONS of other cool cities at just 2 hours train ride, you'll love it, the two times I've been to the states it was all spread out and shit, here with a 8 hours trip you can virtually go anywhere you want, even abroad.
- I personally hate public transportation service here, but it's cheap and you don't need to get a car or being stuck in traffic for hours
- best thing about italy? there's much right there. Food, art, history are on top level in the world, and girls are nice here, just tell em you come from US or whatever hahah
- Decks are like 50 euros, expect skate related stuff to be more expensive than in the US
- In Milan there was a sick indoor park called Trinity. From what i heard it's gone now, and it's a total bummer. There's lots of stuff outdoor anyways, and winter here is not too bad.
- Skateshops: in Milan you got Treesse, that got a lot of stuff but it's like zumiez in the US you know, no skater owned and assistents tend to be really annoying. There's a cool skateshop skater owned in milan called Contest board shop, never been there though, but they will help you out for spot directions too im sure.
glad i could help, ask if you need more, in september im moving to milan for university so who knows! 

[Monty Burns]

Thanks mark renton

Ill be going to Milan on the 30th august , with a return flight on the 7th september . If I get the job I might just stay and not go home at all .  Im getting more and more stoked on going there , have a few days off befor the interview and trail , so will be doing a shitload of sightseeing and skating .

Ill deff check out contest board shop , I like skater owned stuff . Worst case if I really want something they dont have at contest I guess I would check Treesse , but Id rather not back a store like that ...

I saw on wiki the public transport had , Trams , Busses , Trains and a subway system , So Im stoked on that . I like to take the train and subway to places .

as I said , Ill be there in september , so if you want to hook up for skate , beer or skate and beer that would be cool . Just a heads up that I work a fuckload usualy , so If I cant catch up sometimes , dont worry about it !

[Mark Renton]

hell yeah! Im so happy when people are stoked on my country hahah
Yeah you should definetly do some sightseeing as well, Milan is not as great as Rome history-art wise but Rome can be frustrating if you are not used to the italian state of affairs hahah i don't know how to explain it better..
With Treesse people got a love-hate relationship kind of because it sucks so bad but there is where you get the best deals sometimes, expecially if you're a student, but really i appreciate you want to support Contest they deserve it
Public transport can be ok, and really, if you don't live too far from wherever you want to go you can just cruise around with your skate, i love that about cities in europe, just bring bigger wheels hahah
A meetup would be rad really! I gotta do some tests to enter the uni and ill be doing a engeniering-related uni so I'll be really busy but fuck it, since October I'll be in Milan pretty much everyday. A sesh at MC the train station would be sick, definetly one of the best spot in Europe, bust free and gnarlier than the bums that chill in that area hahah

[Monty Burns]

Is it easy to find a place to stay in Milan ? or fucking hard ? . If Im lucky the restaurant will have staff appartments for forigners like me . But if not I need to find something cheap with or without a roommate .

You got a place to stay in Milan already ?  .

and yeah Ill be skating the train station almost everyday I have a day off . I slacked off too much with my skating in Australia but working on my comeback .   Also saw there was a public miniramp somwhere in Milan so will try to skate that to learn transition

[Mark Renton]

Mmm I guess it all depends on where you want to live of course, but rents are pretty high in Milan. I wouldn't recommend you to go live in the so called hinterland, because it's fucking depressing IMO, but that could be the only way sometimes. I haven't looked for anything yet, and I'd better hurry, I will have a hard time finding something good though I think. I'm not that sure that is SO hard to find something , but I'm fairly sure it won't be worth the price, that's for sure.
Miniramps are not the only transition you can skate in Milan. Actually there's a sick bowl at Lambro Park, one at the so call Motta Area, and more stuff in the hinterland. I suggest you to check out the map on www.skatemap.it, even though that site's forum is nearly dead.
Never been to those bowl because till this spring I was all about street skating, but all the people I know tell me it's so much fun.

[Monty Burns]

sending you a PM dude !