I was wondering why Milan was waiting to offer young travelers a nice and comfortable place to stay at an affordable price and here we’ve found the Madama hostel.
Last week we took some friends from Rome to visit the Prada Foundation (check out the article in the section “Art with us”) and some other friends working there suggested us to have a little snack at the end of our tour at a new place, 500 meters away from the exhibition site.
We ordered a pleasant simple meal but reading the menu we couldn’t reckon why every dish was titled with something related to prisons and punishments. The word “Madama” is a French derivation that means “Lady”, often used in regional dialects in those areas were the French have ruled for a while. For a long time though the underworld has used this noun to indicate “the police” and still can be used in such a sense as a slangy expression.
This strange habit dates back to the second half of 1700 when inside Palazzo Madama, a magnificent building today headquarter of the Italian Senate, were placed the offices of the Court and the Vatican police headquarters. Behind the lounge while we were enjoying our lunch, I could see a counter and soon I came to know that the place has rooms too.
A woman working there was very pleased to guide me through the recently opened hostel and tell me the story. The three floors building was a police station and they kept the structure, windows and floors, the large rooms and the corridors in the original state, they furnished both the common areas and the bedrooms with recycled materials and design a special logo for each room to recognize them instead of numbers.
They have both comfortable double rooms with private bathrooms and common rooms up to six people (with a big bathroom inside), a common kitchen where it’s possible to cook a meal and a practical laundry for the guests. You can check prices and availability on their site:
Madama – Hostel + Bistrot
Via Benaco 1, 20139 Milano (MI)
Tel: +39 02.36.72.73.70 – +39 366.31.074.856
[email protected]
http://www.madamahostel.com/en/
Five minute walking from the nearest subway station that takes you directly to the heart of Milano, Piazza del Duomo, I think it’s a perfect location for those who are traveling with a budget but don’t want to give up comfort and taste. Trust Casachiesi…… Try it !!!
Photo credit: Madame Hostel – first cover photo on the slide show.
[socialWarfare]