There's a particular kind of urban optimism that gets attached to certain neighbourhoods — and it tends to mean very little. "Area in transformation." "Up-and-coming district." "One to watch." The phrases are comfortable, vague, useful for property brochures and slide decks full of renderings that look nothing like the street outside.

Certosa District is past that point.

This isn't a neighbourhood that will change. It's a neighbourhood that's already beginning to live — with new venues, families, restaurants, events, and a daily rhythm that's increasingly its own.

We saw it first-hand at the opening of Department 184, a new multi-purpose space at Via Varesina 184, in the heart of the Milano Certosa District.

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Department 184

Department 184 captures the direction the area is moving in: not a container, but a place designed for events, evenings, music, food and the kind of casual sociality that makes a neighbourhood feel inhabited rather than just occupied.

The food offering follows the contemporary food court model — Roman cuisine, smash burgers, Sicilian pizza, Puglian focaccia, cocktails, aperitivo and gelato, all gathered in one informal, convivial setting. Somewhere to eat, to drink, to spend an evening without having to cross the city to reach it.

The interesting thing is that Department 184 isn't an isolated episode. It's one signal of something broader.

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The neighbourhood addresses

Around Milano Certosa station, a cluster of addresses has been quietly building a new gastronomic identity for the area: Abba, Loste Café, Wema Pizzeria, and others.

Among them, a special mention goes to Bottega Botturi — a rare combination of serious charcuterie and carefully chosen wine. Two very Italian worlds brought together in an environment that's warm and concrete, where the food is never just a side note and the wine is never just decoration. In an era when "aperitivo" too often means sad chips and a glass poured with an air of mild superiority, it stands out.

What's coming next

New green spaces opening nearby will add another dimension to the neighbourhood's livability — not just offices, event venues and restaurants, but somewhere to walk, to pause, to experience the city without being swallowed by it.

It's this combination that makes Certosa District genuinely interesting: transport connections, working life, food, events, families, new openings, and an urban transformation that no longer needs the qualifier future.

A neighbourhood moving from convenient to interesting. And perhaps that's where its new strength begins.

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Why it matters for our guests

For those arriving in Milan for work, the area connects naturally to Certosa, Portello, MIND, Rho Fiera, La Forgiatura and the entire northwest quadrant of the city. But the shift is this: Certosa is no longer just a practical base. It's becoming somewhere worth staying.

Which is exactly why HÕMA Collection chose to open its fifth property here — HÕMA Certosa District.

Not in a postcard Milan, but in a Milan that changes while you're watching it. A less obvious city, more operational, more contemporary. A part of the city that isn't trying to imitate the centre — it's building its own identity.

For us, this is the point: a hotel never exists in isolation. It lives within its neighbourhood — the addresses it can recommend, the streets its guests walk through, the places where they can eat, have a drink, feel briefly like part of the city.

Certosa District today is a neighbourhood moving from convenient to interesting. And perhaps that's where its new strength begins.