Article written by contributor Giulia Minguzzi
You can read this article in Italian here
Having fun in Milan doesn’t just mean nightclubs and cocktail bars. The city hides places full of social and recreational life that are often overlooked by those who don’t know the various neighborhoods well and prefer sticking to the usual nightlife areas. After six years living here, I’ve learned to explore areas a bit further out from the city center to discover what they have to offer. And, spoiler alert, I’ve started to prefer them to the usual nightlife of Moscova or Navigli. In this article, I present 3 places (+5) where you can spend a relaxed evening listening to live music with friends, without the stress of nightclubs, but with a more stimulating (and probably cheaper) level of entertainment.
Mare Culturale Urbano: Sunbeds and Live Music
If Milan had a beach, it would have everything. I’ve always thought this since I moved to this city, and since then I’ve never stopped looking for a hint of beach, a semblance of a beach club, with that carefree vacation vibe that reminds me of home.
In the San Siro area, far from the frenzy of the city center, I found an urban oasis, complete with sunbeds and gravel, that managed to soothe my mind for a few hours thanks to the various entertainment opportunities it offers. Mare Culturale Urbano was born as an artistic and cultural production center in a renovated Milanese farmhouse, now used as a community hub for the neighborhood and the entire city. Throughout the year, concerts, open-air cinema, food and wine festivals, and recreational activities for adults and children take place here.
The restaurant-pizzeria and bar within the hub are also social inclusion projects, and the menu focuses on simple ingredients to bring the genuineness of Mediterranean traditions to the table. Through the street food offer (pizza and various daily snacks) and the restaurant options, Mare recreates the vacation atmosphere, focusing on sharing and well-being.
I had the chance to try both dining options: the first time, I went to Mare with a group of friends to enjoy some live music, and we opted for pizza a portafoglio (6€) and some daily snacks to share, including frisella with blended tomato, feta, capers, oregano, and basil (6€). There’s a wide selection of craft beers, many from local breweries, and if you prefer, you can also order cocktails at the bar.
My second visit to Mare was for a festival focused on “natural” food, where I dined at the restaurant located on the first floor of the venue. The evening included a tasting experience curated by 3 different chefs who presented dishes based on natural ingredients, paired with natural wines from a well-known local producer.
A great detail I really appreciated: Mare Culturale Urbano is cashless, accepting only credit cards, debit cards, and Satispay payments.
Mare Culturale Urbano
Via Giuseppe Gabetti, 15 (M5 San Siro Stadio metro; M1 Primaticcio and M1 De Angeli)
Santeria Toscana: Concerts, DJ Sets, Clubs, and More
Who said you can’t dine while enjoying a DJ set? At Santeria Toscana, you can. And that’s just one of the many things you can do in this 500 m² space (with an outdoor courtyard and a front open-air area) that was once a disused car dealership. A bar with kitchen, theater, nightclub, shop, training room, meeting hall, and art studio: a multifunctional venue that once again fosters cultural and artistic gatherings to bring new life to a forgotten structure for the benefit of the community.
Santeria Toscana is a meeting spot for many young people looking for an alternative to the usual nightclub entertainment, where you can eat well at a reasonable price. From aperitifs to dinner, the evening is the main moment of the venue, but you can also have lunch or book a weekend brunch. DJ sets with free entry are common during regular dinner hours or late-night: the dining area is the same as the cocktail bar and a small stage for live music. For larger concerts or DJ sets from big-name personalities, you move to a larger room, and access is via ticket purchase either at the entrance or online.
The Santeria model (with the first location on Via Paladini) is ideal for spending a pleasant evening with friends without heading to the crowded Milanese nightclubs that attract nightlife lovers. The food offer also provides a valid alternative to the increasingly expensive and overcrowded restaurants in the city center. The menu is simple: you start with tasty snacks to share, like “Steccolecco” (chicken chunks breaded with cornflakes and rosemary mayo, 7.50€) or “Empanadas with beef ragù and pulled pork” (6€), then move on to main dishes, including burgers, pizzas, or high-quality salads.
The pizzas are selected by Marco Locatelli, the master pizzaiolo of the award-winning pizzeria RISE, and use stone-ground flour. A Margherita costs 8€, while the most expensive one is 10€ (the “Puglie”: Campania tomatoes, stracciatella di bufala, anchovies, and pugliese tarallo crumbs). Among the sandwiches, there’s the classic cheeseburger (8€) with bacon or without, and their secret sauce, or the vegan burger (8€) or the chicken breast breaded with cornflakes (7.50€).
At the bottom of the menu, there are Limited Editions available for a short time. For example, an original “Mac N Cheese” (10€), made with generous amounts of American cheese, or the “Cuban Roll,” with artisanal bread, slow-cooked roast pork, honey-flavored ham, Edamer cheese, pickles, mustard, and butter, served with plantain chips (13€). To finish your international dinner, I recommend the delicious churros with melted chocolate (4€).
Santeria Toscana
Viale Toscana 31 (bus 91, no metro stations nearby)
ARCA: Live Music, Art, and Food
In Romolo, the new temple of electronic music has arrived in the shape of a futuristic ark. ARCA is a cultural hub that was created as a space for aggregation focused on art, music, and food. Located on Via Rimini, near the IULM University, ARCA aims to become the new focal point of the neighborhood, which is currently mostly residential. The space is fully designed according to sustainable architecture principles, with barrier-free access inside.
Music plays a leading role here: the club area comes to life in the evening with live concerts and DJ sets, and on Sunday afternoons with the “Sunday Remedy” daytime DJ set starting from 5:00 PM. The room features a central stage developed in 360° to offer immersive experiences from any listening point, thanks to an advanced sound system.
The bistro inside the venue follows the seasonality of ingredients, offering business lunches and à la carte menus during the week with classic regional dishes or evergreen items like Caesar Salad (main dishes from 12 to 15€). The Sunday brunch (around 25€), available from 12 PM to 4 PM, includes fruit juice, water, a hot drink of your choice, a selection of jams with bread, and a main dish such as scrambled eggs with bacon or avocado toast.
In summer, you can relax in their “Kindergarten,” a completely pink garden that’s super Instagrammable, opened in May, where you can spend time during the nice weather with signature cocktails and tasty tapas to share.
ARCA is open Tuesday to Sunday. I recommend checking their website or Instagram profile to stay updated on events and news.
Arca Milano
Via Rimini, 38 (M2 Romolo metro)
Other Venues in Milan with Live Music and DJ Sets
Here’s a handy list of venues where you can enjoy live music in Milan:
- ARCA (Via Rimini, 38)
- Balera dell’Ortica (Via Giovanni Antonio Amadeo, 78)
- Arci Biko (Via Ettore Ponti, 40)
- Circolo Arci Bellezza (Via Giovanni Bellezza, 16/A)
- Mare Culturale Urbano (Via Giuseppe Gabetti, 15)
- Ostello Bello (Via Medici, 4)
- Rocknroll (Via Giuseppe Bruschetti, 11)
- Santeria Toscana (Viale Toscana, 31)
Article written by contributor Giulia Minguzzi
Have you ever been to these live music venues in Milan? What do you think? Let us know on Facebook or Instagram!
If you’re looking for something else to read, here’s the list of top cocktail bars in Navigli, the best modern pasticcerie, where to get top pizza in Milan area by area and where to get burgers.
