Chinatown in Milan is an

ethnic enclave In sociology, an ethnic enclave is a geographic area with high ethnic concentration, characteristic cultural identity, and economic activity. The term is usually used to refer to either a residential area or a workspace with a high concentration ...

situated in the 8th quarter of

Milan Milan ( , , ; ) is a city in northern Italy, regional capital of Lombardy, the largest city in Italy by urban area and the List of cities in Italy, second-most-populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of nea ...

(

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

), and it is an important commercial district. It is the oldest and largest Chinese community in Italy, with about 21,000 people in 2011. The Milanese

Chinatown Chinatown ( zh, t=唐人街) is the catch-all name for an ethnic enclave of Chinese people located outside Greater China, most often in an urban setting. Areas known as "Chinatown" exist throughout the world, including Europe, Asia, Africa, O ...

was originally established in via Canonica in the 1920s by immigrants from

Wencheng County Wencheng () is one of the five counties in the prefecture-level city of Wenzhou, in southern Zhejiang province, with a population of 250,000 . The county is located in the southwest of Wenzhou city proper, and borders Ruian city, Taishun Coun ...

, in the

Zhejiang ) , translit_lang1_type2 = , translit_lang1_info2 = ( Hangzhounese) ( Ningbonese) (Wenzhounese) , image_skyline = 玉甑峰全貌 - panoramio.jpg , image_caption = View of the Yandang Mountains , image_map = Zhejiang i ...

province, and used to operate small textile and leather workshops. Today the district is filled with hairdressing salons, fashion

boutique A () is a retail shop that deals in high end fashionable clothing or accessories. The word is French for "shop", which derives ultimately from the Ancient Greek Ancient Greek (, ; ) includes the forms of the Greek language used in anc ...

s, silk and leather stores, libraries, traveling agencies, medicine centres and massage parlours. The Chinese takeaways and restaurants in the area are mostly specialised in

Zhejiang cuisine Zhejiang cuisine, alternatively known as Zhe cuisine, is one of the Eight Culinary Traditions of Chinese cuisine. Zhejiang cuisine contains four different styles, Hangzhou, Shaoxing, Ningbo, and Wenzhou (also known as Ou cuisine). It derives fro ...

. Several Italian-Chinese companies are also headquartered in the neighborhood, including the editorial desk of the newspaper ''Europe China Daily''.

Via Paolo Sarpi Via Paolo Sarpi is a street in Milan, Italy, known to be the center of the city's Chinese community ( Chinatown). It is situated in the 8th district and it is an important commercial avenue. The street is named after Paolo Sarpi, a 16th century ...

is the main street and is largely a pedestrian area. Other important locations are Via Bramante, Via Giovanni Battista NiccoliniVia Giovanni Battista Niccolini
in Milan, OpenStreetMap, retrieved 23 November 2014 and Via Aleardo Aleardi.

References

Districts of Milan {{Lombardy-geo-stub