Car hire Contact any of the following: Europcar (8000 14410), Avis (02 863 494 02 8901 0645) or Hertz (02 6698 5151 www.hertz.it).

Office rental and secretarial services Various hotels, such as the Principe di Savoia and Westin Palace can provide equipment and rooms for office use. Flexycom (Tel: 8000 90200) provides office rental, multi-lingual receptionist services, call transfer and forwarding, and work stations. Call Easycopy (Tel: 02 6071745; www.easycopying.it) for photocopying needs. Motopost (Tel: 02 6224) and Pony Express (Tel: 02 8441) are the city’s main couriers for quick deliveries in town. For international or national post service and deliveries contact DHL (Tel: 199.199.345).

LOCAL PRESS

The national papers include Sole 24 Ore, Corriere della Sera and Repubblica. Urban is a monthly free paper offering entertainment listings and restaurant and bar reviews. Also helpful is Hello Milano, distributed at Tourist info points and hotels, which contains useful tips and daily reports of what’s on in town. For more information turn to the web www. hellomilano.it; www.milanoinfotourist. com is the web site of IAT (Info & tourist assistance); www.ciaomilano.it is a comprehensive site best for its concert and theatre listings, and www.whatsonwhen.com/pages/milan provides month by month event listings, looking up to a year in advance. Alternatively, www.milanostyle.com is an online guide to living and visiting Milan with information on shopping, events and business news.

INTERNET

These are the most convenient internet cafes (called “Punti Internet” in Italian). Gr@zienet (Piazza Duca d’Aosta 14, Tel: 026700543) Duomo. 55 computers, and is open daily from 8am to midnight. Internet Point (Corso Colombo 9, Tel: 0245496401) Navigli. 55 computers, open daily from 8am to midnight.

Internet Point (Corso Buenos Aires, downstairs in Metro station Lima, Tel: 0245475106). 40 computers, open daily from 8am to 9pm.

Internet Enjoy (via Medici 6, Tel: 0272094544) Duomo. 15 computers, open daily from 9am to 8pm

MONEY

Banks are open from 8.30am to 1.30pm and then again for an hour in the afternoon usually from 3pm to 4pm. This may vary from bank to bank. Currency exchange is done at shops marked “Cambio”: be sure to see what the commission is, as it is possible to find some exchanges that don’t charge any commission at all.

Currency exchange in banks is unbelievably time-consuming – at the shortest a quarter of an hour. Travellers’ cheques are inadvisable but if you must get them, buy them in your own currency so you may use them when home. Holding cheques in euros is no guarantee of not having to pay commission. By far the easiest way of getting hold of cash is to use an ATM.

TIPPING ETIQUETTE

Tipping is not a prerequisite, but offering 10% on taxi fares and at restaurants will be greatly appreciated.

VISA/VACCINATION

There are no visa or vaccination requirements for EU nationals. British passport holders, irrespective of endorsement regarding national status, do not need a visa to visit Italy for up to 90 days. US, Canadian, Australian and New Zealand nationals need a passport valid longer than the intended staying period, no visa required for stays up to 90 days. South Africans need a valid passport and a Schengen visa to travel in Italy.

PUBLIC HOLIDAYS

January 1st – New Year’s Day
January 6th – Epiphany
April 17th – Easter Monday
April 25th – Liberation Day
May 1st – Labour Day
June 2nd – Anniversary of the Republic
August 15th – Assumption
November 1st – All Saints’ Day
November 7th – World War I Victory Anniversary Day
December 7th – Feast of St Ambrose
December 8th – Immaculate Conception
December 25th – Christmas Day
December 26th – St Stephen’s Day

WEATHER AND CLIMATE

Winter can be very cold and very damp with long periods of greyness. At times a tramontana wind blows, pushing the temperature down and making for extremely crisp dry weather and blue skies. As you leave Milan going north you literally emerge from the fog as you approach Malpensa airport or Como. The low altitude of Milan combined with its remoteness from the sea and situation surrounded by mountains means that it is damp in the winter and intensely humid in the summer with temperatures reaching the high 30s.

SUGGESTED READING

The Charterhouse of Parma by Stendhal
A Farewell to Arms by Earnest Hemingway
The Betrothed by Alessandro Manzoni