Just after Christmas we headed to the Big Apple for a four day break and my first ever trip to the USA. On paper, Milan, where I live, is comparable to New York. Both are finance industry capitals and both are major centers of commerce in their respective nations. How does Milan compare to New York? Let’s take a look.
Well, first of all, Milan is absolutely tiny compared to New York. After being in New York, Milan feels like a rural village in comparison though it’s Italy’s second largest city. This really is no surprise when you take a look at the population numbers and areas of the two cities. Milan’s population is a mere 1.2 million whereas New York is home to 8.3 million souls. Milan has a smattering of skyscrapers while New York, well, Manhattan which is where I stayed, has an ocean of tall buildings reaching for the sky. Milan’s footprint is also minuscule at 70.18 sq mi, 181.76 km2 compared to New York’s 302.643 sq mi, 783.842 km2. Ah, but the USA is much larger than Italy, I here you utter. True, so let’s look at London which is the capital of the United Kingdom – a nation with a similar population to that of Italy. London has a population of 8.2 million and an area of 607 sq mi, 1,572 km2 which means London is far bigger than both Milan and New York.
In GDP terms, Milan does not do too well compared to monstrous New York. In 2012, Milan’s GDP according to the Brookings Institution was 289.3 billion, whereas New York’s was a whopping 1,210.
Why has Milan remained so tiny? Who knows. Perhaps it’s a measure of Italy’s lack of confidence in itself and its provincial mentality.
You don’t need to look at the numbers to feel the difference though – a brief visit to New York for anyone is enough to help you understand that it is in a different league compared to Milan. The difference is noticeable, instantly. New York is a serious city in every way and simply dwarfs Milan. When I came back to Milan the streets around the central area of the city in which I live were full of piles of trash because the city administration had not organised garbarge collection over the Christmas vacation period. It was necessary to walk into the road to get past these mini-trash mountains. They’ve gone now, but one cannot imagine New York letting trash build up in such a way. In theory, being smaller, Milan should be a much easier city to manage, in practice, it’s too big for Italians to handle, or so it would seem.
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Stop translating in your head and start speaking Italian for real with the only audio course that prompt you to speak.
After experiencing New York’s wide boulevards, Milan’s streets feel like tiny alleyways. New York’s broad streets and sidewalks were brimming with people in the period after the Christmas shopping rush. Milan, on the other hand, feels deserted in comparison. I guess in New York terms, I live in Milan’s midtown area. Our hotel in New York was just off the legendary 5th Avenue, a broad street with famous name stores everywhere – including big Italian names such as Versace, Prada, and Bulgari – even if Bulgari is now no longer strictly Italian seeing as it’s now owned by the French. The New York Stores were big and sumptuous, Milan’s equivalents feel like corner shops!
I can imagine that New Yorkers who visit Milan find it hard to believe Milan is Italy’s New York and many must wonder how Milan has managed to remain so tiny.
New York oozes money, whereas Milan seeps a little cash in a few corners.
Which city is prettier? Hard to judge. New York is much more modern than Milan, though, arguably, Milan has more character. As a place for a vacation, Milan is much more relaxing than hectic New York, but that does not stop over 50 million people visiting the city. To put that figure in perspective, the whole of Italy attracts only 46.1 million tourists! And New York is by no means cheap. A single shot of espresso coffee in Little Italy in New York cost me three dollars – €2.2. A comparable caffe lungo here in Milan costs a mere €1 or $1.37, yet taxes in Italy are far higher than they are in the USA. Italians would refuse to pay New York prices for coffee in Milan, indeed, some are finding a whole Euro for a coffee a bit of a stretch! Starbucks probably has not entered the Italian market simply because it is not worth their while.
