Linea 5 lilla - metropolitana di Milano - Stazione Garibaldi

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 ...

has an extensive internal transport network and is also an important transportation node in

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 ...

, being one of the country's biggest hubs for air, rail and road networks. Internal public transport network includes the

Metro Metro may refer to: Geography * Metro City (Indonesia), a city in Indonesia * A metropolitan area, the populated region including and surrounding an urban center Public transport * Rapid transit, a passenger railway in an urban area with high ...

, the

Suburban Railway Commuter rail or suburban rail is a passenger rail service that primarily operates within a metropolitan area, connecting commuters to a central city from adjacent suburbs or commuter towns. Commuter rail systems can use locomotive-hauled tr ...

, the tram and bus network, as well as taxi, car and bike sharing services.

History

Early public transport service in Milan dates back to 1801, operated with horse-drawn

carriage A carriage is a two- or four-wheeled horse-drawn vehicle for passengers. In Europe they were a common mode of transport for the wealthy during the Roman Empire, and then again from around 1600 until they were replaced by the motor car around 1 ...

s.Storia dei Trasporti Lombardi, p. 11-16 After the relocation of the capital of the Italian Kingdom to Milan in 1805, national and international transport services were inaugurated, all operated with carriages, to

Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

Marseille Marseille (; ; see #Name, below) is a city in southern France, the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Departments of France, department of Bouches-du-Rhône and of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur Regions of France, region. Situated in the ...

and several Italian cities. Transport via the

Navigli The navigli (; ) are a system of interconnected canals in and around Milan, in the Italian region of Lombardy, dating back as far as the Middle Ages. The system consists of five canals: Naviglio Grande, Naviglio Pavese, Naviglio Martesana, Navi ...

canals was also an important transport mode in that period. The first bus line was opened in 1827, connecting Milan to Lodi. The first railway, to

Monza Monza (, ; ; , locally ; ) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) on the Lambro, River Lambro, a tributary of the Po (river), River Po, in the Lombardy region of Italy, about north-northeast of Milan. It is the capital of the province of Mo ...

, was inaugurated in 1840. It is currently part of the Milan-Chiasso international railway.

Public transportation

Metro

The Milan Metro is a

rapid transit Rapid transit or mass rapid transit (MRT) or heavy rail, commonly referred to as metro, is a type of high-capacity public transport that is generally built in urban areas. A grade separation, grade separated rapid transit line below ground su ...

system, running mainly underground, serving Milan and other surrounding cities. The network consists of 5 lines, identified by different colors and numbers: Milan Metro has a total length of , serving 135 stations, making it the longest metro network in Italy. The system carries about 1.15 million passengers per day.

Suburban rail

The suburban railway service consists of 12 lines connecting Milan to the greater metropolitan area: The system was brought together from existing lines and the construction of the new ''Passante'', an underground railway line passing through the city. The service began operation in 2004 and now comprises 124 stations. Several extensions are planned.

Trams

The Tram network comprises 17 urban lines. The system is more than 170 km long and is the biggest network in Italy. The Milan tram network dates back to 1876, when the first horse driven tram line began operation. In 1878 the first steam powered tram was launched and by 1901 all the lines were electric powered. In 1910 line numbers were first introduced. At that time the network was already consisting of 30 lines. Until 1917 the tram system was operated by several different companies, however, since that year the municipality took control over the whole network. In the 1920s the famous Class 1500 streetcars were introduced. Many of them, restored, are still in use today. Beginning from the late 1950s and until the end of the 1970s the tram network was reduced, being replaced in some areas by the new Metro lines or by bus lines.

Buses

There are 64

bus A bus (contracted from omnibus, with variants multibus, motorbus, autobus, etc.) is a motor vehicle that carries significantly more passengers than an average car or van, but fewer than the average rail transport. It is most commonly used ...

and 4

trolleybus A trolleybus (also known as trolley bus, trolley coach, trackless trolley, trackless tramin the 1910s and 1920sJoyce, J.; King, J. S.; and Newman, A. G. (1986). ''British Trolleybus Systems'', pp. 9, 12. London: Ian Allan Publishing. .or troll ...

lines in Milan. Most of the routes do not run during the night, however, bus services on demand are available in the weekend at night. Night bus lines during weekends were introduced on 24 September 2011, running from 2 am to 6 am on Fridays and Saturdays. The new network was considered a success, with more than 8,000 people using the lines every weekend.

Public transport statistics

The average amount of time people spend commuting with public transit in Milan on a weekday is 64 min. 14% of public transit riders ride for more than 2 hours every day. The average amount of time people wait at a stop or station for public transit is 11 min, while 12% of riders wait for over 20 minutes on average every day. The average distance people usually ride in a single trip with public transit is 7.7 km, while 14% travel for over 12 km in a single direction.

National and international rail

Milan is one of the most important hubs for the national and international rail network in Italy.

Milan Central station Milano Centrale () is the main railway station of the city of Milan, Italy, and is the second busiest railway station in Italy for passenger flow (after Roma Termini) and the largest railway station in Europe by volume. The station is a terminus ...

is the second station in Italy both for size and passengers after

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

. It is also the main node for

high-speed rail High-speed rail (HSR) is a type of rail transport network utilising trains that run significantly faster than those of traditional rail, using an integrated system of specialised rolling stock and dedicated railway track, tracks. While there is ...

lines in northern Italy.

Milano Cadorna Milano Cadorna is a commuter railway station located near the Castello Sforzesco in Milan, Italy. History The original station, built in wood in the style of a chalet, was opened in 1879. This was enlarged in 1920, but the station was destroyed ...

and Milano Porta Garibaldi stations are respectively the seventh and the eleventh busiest stations in Italy. Because of its position, Milan is also the main gateway for international passenger traffic to Europe. Daily international destinations include

Bern Bern (), or Berne (), ; ; ; . is the ''de facto'' Capital city, capital of Switzerland, referred to as the "federal city".; ; ; . According to the Swiss constitution, the Swiss Confederation intentionally has no "capital", but Bern has gov ...

Lugano Lugano ( , , ; ) is a city and municipality within the Lugano District in the canton of Ticino, Switzerland. It is the largest city in both Ticino and the Italian-speaking region of southern Switzerland. Lugano has a population () of , and an u ...

Geneva Geneva ( , ; ) ; ; . is the List of cities in Switzerland, second-most populous city in Switzerland and the most populous in French-speaking Romandy. Situated in the southwest of the country, where the Rhône exits Lake Geneva, it is the ca ...

Zürich Zurich (; ) is the list of cities in Switzerland, largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is in north-central Switzerland, at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich. , the municipality had 448,664 inhabitants. The ...

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

Nice Nice ( ; ) is a city in and the prefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes department in France. The Nice agglomeration extends far beyond the administrative city limits, with a population of nearly one million Marseille Marseille (; ; see #Name, below) is a city in southern France, the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Departments of France, department of Bouches-du-Rhône and of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur Regions of France, region. Situated in the ...

Barcelona Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second-most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...

and

Munich Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...

. Milan is also the core of

Lombardy The Lombardy Region (; ) is an administrative regions of Italy, region of Italy that covers ; it is located in northern Italy and has a population of about 10 million people, constituting more than one-sixth of Italy's population. Lombardy is ...

's regional train network. Regional trains were operated on two different systems by

LeNord (prior to 15 May 2006, Ferrovie Nord Milano Trasporti S.r.l.) was a subsidiary of the FNM Group responsible for operating passenger train services in northern Italy. The company was wound down upon its merger with the Lombardy Regional Division ...

(departing from Milano Cadorna) and

Trenitalia Trenitalia Società per azioni, SpA is the primary train operator of Italy. A subsidiary of Ferrovie dello Stato Italiane, itself owned by the Italian government. It was established in 2000 following a European Union directive on the deregulati ...

(departing from Milan Centrale and Milano Porta Garibaldi). Beginning in 2011, a new company,

Trenord Trenord is a railway company which is responsible for the operation of regional and suburban passenger trains mainly in Lombardy. The company was established by the two main railway companies in Lombardy, Trenitalia and Ferrovie Nord Milano (FNM ...

, operates both Trenitalia and LeNord regional trains in Lombardy.

Roads

Milan is a key node for the

Italian road network Roads in Italy are an important mode of transport in Italy. The classification of the roads of Italy is regulated by the Italian traffic code, both from a technical and administrative point of view. The street nomenclature largely reflects the ...

, being the junction between the east-west A4

highway A highway is any public or private road or other public way on land. It includes not just major roads, but also other public roads and rights of way. In the United States, it is also used as an equivalent term to controlled-access highway, or ...

Turin Turin ( , ; ; , then ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital from 1861 to 1865. The city is main ...

and

Venice Venice ( ; ; , formerly ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 islands that are separated by expanses of open water and by canals; portions of the city are li ...

and the north-south A1 highway to

and

Naples Naples ( ; ; ) is the Regions of Italy, regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 908,082 within the city's administrative limits as of 2025, while its Metropolitan City of N ...

. Other important highways, such as the A7 to

Genova Genoa ( ; ; ) is a city in and the capital of the Italian region of Liguria, and the sixth-largest city in Italy. As of 2025, 563,947 people live within the city's administrative limits. While its metropolitan city has 818,651 inhabitants ...

and the A8- A9 to

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

, also serve the city. Highways reaching Milan are linked together by a

ring road A ring road (also known as circular road, beltline, beltway, circumferential (high)way, loop or orbital) is a road or a series of connected roads encircling a town, city or country. The most common purpose of a ring road is to assist in reducin ...

formed by the 3 '' tangenziali'' (the A50, A51 and A52) and part of the A4 highway, with a total length of over 100 km around the city. Milan road system is characterized by a high rate of

traffic congestion Traffic congestion is a condition in transport that is characterized by slower speeds, longer trip times, and increased vehicular queueing. Traffic congestion on urban road networks has increased substantially since the 1950s, resulting in m ...

, due to a high level of cars per capita and a high number of

commuter Commuting is periodically recurring travel between a place of residence and place of work or study, where the traveler, referred to as a commuter, leaves the boundary of their home community. By extension, it can sometimes be any regular o ...

s in the metropolitan area. Congested traffic is also responsible for the high pollution rate in the Milan area. Counter measures included the partial ban of private cars inside the Milan urban area for some period, usually during Sundays. In 2008, a traffic pollution charge for vehicles entering the city,

Ecopass The Ecopass program was a traffic pollution charge implemented in Milan, Italy, as an urban toll for some motorists traveling within a designated traffic restricted zone or ZTL (), corresponding to the central ''Cerchia dei Bastioni'' area and en ...

, was introduced. The program resulted in a lower proportion of highly polluting vehicles on the roads in the city. However, the program progressively lost effectiveness as the city's vehicle fleet got greener. Since 16 January 2012 a new program,

Area C Area C (; ) is the fully Israeli-controlled territory in the West Bank, defined as the whole area outside the Palestinian enclaves (Areas A and B). Area C constitutes about 61 percent of the West Bank territory, containing most Israeli settle ...

, was introduced as a congestion charge (as opposed to the previous pollution charge), thus targeting any private vehicle entering Milan city center. Although high by European standards, Milan is one of the big cities with the lowest number of motor vehicles per capita in Italy, with 543 per 1000 people in 2011, reduced to around 495 per 1000 as of 2021.

Car sharing

Several

car-sharing Carsharing or car sharing (AU, NZ, CA, TH, & US) or car clubs (UK) is a model of car rental where people rent cars for short periods of time, often by the hour. It differs from traditional car rental in that the owners of the cars are often pri ...

systems are active in the city. ''GuidaMi'', the first scheme, is managed by ATM and comprises 132 vehicles and about 5,500 registered users.

Car2go Share Now GmbH was a German carsharing company, formed from the merger of Car2Go and DriveNow. Since 2022, it was an subsidiary of the Free2Move division of multinational automaker Stellantis providing carsharing services in urban areas in Europ ...

was activated in August 2013 and has a fleet of 700 cars and more than 50,000 registered users. Other services include ''E-vai'' from

, DriveNow from

BMW Bayerische Motoren Werke AG, trading as BMW Group (commonly abbreviated to BMW (), sometimes anglicised as Bavarian Motor Works), is a German multinational manufacturer of vehicles and motorcycles headquartered in Munich, Bavaria, Germany. Th ...

, Twist and Enjoy from

Eni Eni is an Italian oil and gas corporation. Eni or ENI may refer to: Businesses and organisations * Escuela Nacional de Inteligencia, the Argentine intelligence academy * Groupe des écoles nationales d’ingénieurs (Groupe ENI), a French engi ...

. In 2015 the Chinese automaker ZD introduced its Sharen'go

electric car An electric car or electric vehicle (EV) is a passenger car, passenger automobile that is propelled by an electric motor, electric traction motor, using electrical energy as the primary source of propulsion. The term normally refers to a p ...

-sharing service to Milan, making it the first city outside the company's native China where the service was available. Car sharing in Milan serves about 0.5% of the total mobility of the city, and with 323,000 users, as of June 2016 it is the Italian city with the largest number of car sharing customers.

Cycling

The city's mostly flat topography favors cycling. The cycle routes network is still limited, but is being constantly expanded. Milan was also one of the first Italian cities to activate a bike sharing system.

Airports

Aerial photograph of Milan Malpensa airport

Milan's airport system is the second busiest in Italy, after that of

. The city is served by three major airports:

Malpensa Airport Milan Malpensa Airport "Silvio Berlusconi" is an international airport in Ferno, in the Province of Varese, Lombardy, Italy. It is the largest airport in northern Italy, serving Lombardy, Piedmont, and Liguria, as well as the Swiss canton of Ti ...

, the biggest in northern Italy;

Linate Airport Milan Linate Airport is a city airport located in Milan, the second-largest city and largest urban area of Italy. It served 10.6 million passengers and recorded 118,060 aircraft movements in 2024, making it one of the busiest airports in Ital ...

, located near the city centre and mainly used for domestic traffic; and

Orio al Serio Airport Orio may refer to: People Notable people with this name include: Surname * Baltasar de Echave Orio (late 16th century – mid-17th century), Basque Spanish painter * Shane Orio (born 1980), Belizean football player Given name * Orio Caldiron (193 ...

, located in the neighbouring city of

Bergamo Bergamo ( , ; ) is a city in the Alps, alpine Lombardy region of northern Italy, approximately northeast of Milan, and about from the alpine lakes Lake Como, Como and Lake Iseo, Iseo and 70 km (43 mi) from Lake Garda, Garda and Lake ...

, used mainly by

low-cost airlines A low-cost carrier (LCC) or low-cost airline, also called a budget, or discount carrier or airline, is an airline that is operated with an emphasis on minimizing operating costs. It sacrifices certain traditional airline luxuries for cheaper fa ...

. Combined, these three airports transported a total of 43 million passengers in 2017. Milano Bresso, operated by Aero Club Milano, is a minor

general aviation General aviation (GA) is defined by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) as all civil aviation aircraft operations except for commercial air transport or aerial work, which is defined as specialized aviation services for other ...

airport. The three major airports are connected by bus to the city center. In addition, Malpensa has a direct rail connection to central railway stations in Milan (notably Centrale,

Garibaldi Giuseppe Maria Garibaldi ( , ;In his native Ligurian language, he is known as (). In his particular Niçard dialect of Ligurian, he was known as () or (). 4 July 1807 – 2 June 1882) was an Italian general, revolutionary and republican. H ...

and

Cadorna Cadorna may refer to *Cadorna (surname), Italian surname *Cadorna (Milan Metro), a subway station *Milano Cadorna railway station, a railway station *Piazzale Cadorna, a Milan, Italy, square *Cadorna, a subclass of the Italian Navy Condottieri clas ...

) via the

Malpensa Express The Malpensa Express is an airport rail service linking the city of Milan with Malpensa Airport, in the region of Lombardy, Northern Italy. Trenord operates Malpensa Express services between Malpensa Airport and both Milano Cadorna and Milano Ce ...

service. Thanks to Metro line 4, Linate airport also gained a fixed rail connection to Milan city center and will reach the city's south-western districts once the line is finished. Orio al Serio airport will instead be connected to the nearby city of

via a railway line that is projected to be finished by 2026; from Bergamo main station, trains will be able to reach the stations of

Milano Centrale Milano Centrale () is the main railway station of the city of Milan, Italy, and is the second busiest railway station in Italy for passenger flow (after Roma Termini) and the largest railway station in Europe by volume. The station is a terminu ...

in less than an hour and Milano Porta Garibaldi.

References

Bibliography

*Francesco Ogliari, ''Storia dei Trasporti Lombardi, vol.1 - Dall'Omnibus alla Metropolitana'', Milano, Cavallotti Editori, 1976.

External links

ATM - Milan's Transportation CompanyMilan Public Transport - English websiteCity of Milan - official websiteMSR Milano - Unofficial website with the extension projectsMetro5 Milano - official website of the Line M5CityRailways - list of maps of italian transport systems, including Milan
{{Urban public transport in Italy Metropolitan City of Milan id:Sistem Transportasi Milan