The review of Madama Hostel Milano, a clean and welcoming hostel where you can spend one or more nights during a trip to Lombardy. Many services to be discovered: such as bicycle or longboard skate rental.
I've always had a prejudice about hostels, I admit. Despite the 11 years of scouting in which I slept in a tent in the woods with practically nothing, sharing the spaces with other 7/8 explorers, I wanted to be comfortable when traveling.
3 * / 4 * hotels or b & b in the center were my minimum demands, obviously they also had to be beautiful and well-kept. A lifetime of organizing a weekend, with hours and hours spent online. For about a year I have changed my way of traveling, I don't just want to visit the places I arrive, I also want to meet people, whether they are locals or passing travelers like me.
One 40 liter backpack has taken the place of the suitcase, inside the essential. The experience of working in the village last summer, in which I shared a room with 3 other colleagues, inspired me to try the hostel experience.
After all, spending a couple of nights in a hostel is like the first nights in the village. 4 strangers who share spaces and fit their habits. At the same time getting to know each other. After my hostel experience in Rome, the two nights at The Yellow, I decided to try the same experience a Milan.
Madama Hostel Milan, what to expect
Still on Hostelworld my choice fell on Madama Hostel & Bistrot, not really in the city center but a stone's throw from the Lodi TIBB metro station. Liberty building which is born as Police barracks, hence the name "Madama".
Inside is a mixture of tradition and color, recovering many original details of the building. At the reception, after the paperwork they invited me to the bar for a welcome cocktail and they invited me to the aperitif that you are taking place every day from 19pm in the bar and in the space in front, where tables and benches are available.
Rooms
When I went upstairs, where the rooms are located, I noticed something very nice. In addition to the numbers, each room had a nameplate that recalled a location in the barracks. For example, I slept in the "radio room".
The very large room, with 8 beds, with three guests I had different hours and I never met them, an Argentine boy with a project to tour Europe and North Africa in 9 months and a girl from Perugia who had lived there for 10 days. He lived in the true sense of the word, as working in Milan, he was waiting for the apartment he had rented to be vacated.
I bunk beds were made of iron, very special, with fixed ladder, power sockets and courtesy light easily accessible. However not the classic bunk beds we use for beach houses. Comfortable mattresses, clean white sheets ready to put in their place. In the evening the bar was very busy and it was not difficult to make new friends.
At night, unable to sleep, I did not stay in the common area of the Madama to check my emails thanks to the wifi network, present with a good signal in all the areas where I tried. Venturing into the corridors, I ended up in the leisure room, where there was a bar, a billiards, a foosball and a console.
One is also available on the first floor self-service laundry. Check out is at 11, but if you are a few minutes late, no one comes to pressure you. Only one day I managed to do buffet breakfast with American coffee included. Very good and stocked with sweet and savory.
Very kind staff, who kept my backpack in a locked warehouse until the moment of departure, allowing me to go around Milan for a while without weights. Among the various Madama services, you can rent bicycles or longboard skate.
I can't say how it is there bistro kitchen not having tried it. Although the reviews on Hostelworld speak highly of it. Surely the next time I return to Milan at Madama Hostel and Bistrot I will have a point of reference.
