Deep-dive

Living in Bicocca

1990s–2000s residential complexes with garages and courtyards, partly subsidised, the historic Borgo Pirelli, student residences and ALER housing in Municipio 9. Strong student demand from September; prices below the city average. Outside Area C, inside Area B.

Sections: Neighbourhoods · Rooms · Short & long rentals · Buying · Contracts · Deposits

What housing there is

The housing is almost all recent: 1990s and 2000s blocks built under the Bicocca project, with lifts, underground garages, courtyards and arcades, partly subsidised and cooperative, partly open-market. The Borgo Pirelli survives, the early-20th-century housing for employees between viale Sarca and via Chiese. Municipio 9 has many ALER and municipal buildings (Niguarda, Ca' Granda, Bruzzano), and ALER offers temporary housing for out-of-town students subject to income and distance requirements. The university and private operators run student residences in the quarter and nearby.

The rental market

Demand is driven by the university: rooms and two-room flats go between July and September, on transitional student contracts; families and workers look for the three-room flats with garage in the new complexes, which cost less than equivalent areas on M3 or in Isola. Long-term supply is wider than in the central quarters and agreed-rent contracts are common. Anyone working in the centre must count on M5 to Garibaldi or Zara and a change.

Cars, Area B and parking

Bicocca is outside Area C and inside Area B (the Area B boundary follows the urban perimeter: viale Fulvio Testi is inside it). Parking is largely free or in blue bays with resident permits, and garages in the new blocks are the norm; on lecture days the streets around the university fill with commuting students' cars. The ATM park-and-ride at Bignami (M5 terminus) serves people arriving from Sesto and Brianza.

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