If you’re like me, you know getting work done at home can be quite challenging. Personally, I find I need to have designated “work” areas, and a separate area to relax. If I start trying to write an essay in my bed, I’ll either want to go to sleep while I’m writing, or else I’ll feel the stress from the essay again later while I’m trying to sleep. To combat this, I tend to do a lot of my work at coffee shops, where I can focus on my work and be in a setting that has less distractions than my room at home. Since I’ve been studying here in Milan, I’ve tried out my fair share of cafes and coffee shops, and I think I’ve discovered some of the city’s best.

The interior of Mag Cafe

1) Mag Cafe

Mag Cafe is directly on Naviglio Grande, so in the warm months, this is the perfect place to sit outside on the canal and enjoy a coffee while you get your work done. In the fall and winter, though, patrons migrate inside to a sitting room that has so much character you are automatically charmed by it. You feel like you’re sitting in somebody’s home among their personal possessions. There is so much to take in, you have no choice but to feel fascinated yet at home while you’re there.

Mag Cafe’s chandelier 

2) L’Anglo Cafe
L’Anglo Cafe is the first place I visited on this list, because it’s smack-dab in the middle of my apartment and my school. The tables there are large and make it easy to spread out notebooks and textbooks, and the coffee beans are fresh-ground for every order. The owners are so kind and attentive- they always greet me warmly, and they memorized my order after just three visits to their cafe. Plus, they are always willing to make me an iced coffee in the winter, even though they think it’s weird.

American-style drinks available at Arnold’s coffee

3) Arnold Coffee
I visit Arnold Cafe when I feel homesick, because everything from the logo’s font to the interior seems to be inspired by the Starbucks chain. They have American-style drinks and snacks, such as iced coffees, iced lattes, donuts, and Arizona iced tea that satisfies the American in me. Be warned, though- as much as the interiors mimic Starbucks, the prices do as well!

Arnold Coffee’s Starbucks-inspired font

4) Orso Nero
Orso Nero is one of my favorite coffee shops I’ve ever been to. Though it’s a bit too far from my flat to be my local, I am always looking for an excuse to go there. They make incredible drinks, like their delicious moccacino or their cappuccino made with oat milk, plus they’re always playing the perfect laid-back coffee shop tunes. The owners are so kind, as well as easy and interesting to talk to. Don’t leave Milan without stopping by!

                  OrsoNero’s cozy space

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Jocelyn was a Fall 2017 SAI Milan student from Lasell College.