After Nolo in Milan, NAPA arrives. Naviglio Pavese chefs and restaurateurs focus on the self-determination of the neighborhood
The Naviglio Pavese is the “return” canal, it flows towards Ticino, while the Naviglio Grande is the one that feeds the dock. The sense of the waters, however, also tells about the attraction of the two most well-known canals in Milan and their adverse destinies.
The Naviglio Grande is today the most crowded with clubs, restaurants and shops. The other ship, the one in via Ascanio Sforza which today appears sadder, with abandoned boats and deserted premises, if compared with those of the twin, was, however, until the 1990s IL Naviglio, that of the night, of live music, of the creation of the myth of this area of Milan. Here there was Le Scimmie and the movida the real one, from the nineties, but now the glories of the past seem distant. But only if you look at the city center, because beyond, beyond the ring road, where the sixties barracks begin and the bohemian charm is breathed very little, is it quite another thing: new clubs, restaurants and a group of restaurateurs and traders who have decided that it's time for Make Naviglio Pavese great again.
freight it was an invention of three architects looking for a neighborhood brand, on the false line of SoHo or Tribeca (hence the English definition "NOrth of Loreto") that could re-evaluate the area, until 2016 rather popular and peripheral. It worked and so also on the other side of Milan those who work here decided to believe in the right to self-determination of peoples and create a new neighborhood. Na.Pa.
Na.Pa is a committee of merchants, associations and citizens born with the aim of enhancing the neighborhood that, beyond the ring road, runs alongside the Naviglio Pavese. A territory that deserves to be known and experienced for its history, for its identity and for all the opportunities it can offer.
Claudio Sadler, chef and Milanese doc, he arrived on the Naviglio Pavese in 1996. "These were the years of the antiques, students and painters' naviglio. It was the most bohemian Naviglio and I wanted to tie myself to this story. Then this canal to the ring road of viale Tibaldi became commercial, the nightlife area. The Milanese nightlife was born there. " In 2007, looking for more space brings starred restaurant and modern trattoria into today's spaces. "Here there was practically nothing", but today the position can be defined as in front of Distreat and between the Osteria GrandHotel and Cantina Urbana. Fifty meters and two banks in which to count five addresses that are worth a visit. "Together with Distreat and the Altavia agency, we decided to team up and give voice to our neighborhood, an association", he told me in March 2020, as soon as the lockdown began. In July Na.Pa., the urban redevelopment project wanted to give life to an area that for years has been revived only by the few daredevils.
«It is useless to act alone, we must give voice to a neighborhood that otherwise lives only thanks to the single light of a restaurant. We have a mind in mind calendar of initiatives which will tell the centuries-old history of the canal, the link with the Oltrepò Pavese, the Leonardo locks. Not to do business, but to make culture. There will be a road redevelopment, a road modernization project with a cycle path that will arrive from Milan to the Ticino Park ", he told me well before the boom of bikes and scooters," and initiatives that will feature wine, rice and countryside products Milanese". The plan was to start with the Salone del Mobile, postponed to 2021, but Na.Pa. he does not want to wait and in October we will start with an initiative together with the Historic Buttafuoco Consortium. Because the Naviglio to be rediscovered is also the Oltrepò wines and the excellence of the surroundings of Milan.
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