After the near riots in the Paolo Sarpi area of Milan dominated by Chinese wholesalers, several things have been being talked about, some new, some not so new.
There is talk, again, about moving the Chinese traders out of Milan. Three locations have been proposed. First, there was an area near the site of the new exhibition complex out on the north west side of Milan, then there was some talk about sending the Chinese traders to San Donato on the south eastern side of the city and now, the latest proposal seems to be to send the Chinese traders out to the old Alfa Romeo plant in Arese – to the north of Milan. The only trouble with the Arese alternative seems to be the little matter of space – there is nowhere near enough of it.
In order to convince people to move out to wherever, a recent report in the Corriere Della Sera stated that 500 odd policemen were to be made available to the Sarpi area to maintain law and order. Looks as though we could be in for a long, hot summer, in every sense. I just hope the area remains reasonably safe.
Stop reading, start speaking
Stop translating in your head and start speaking Italian for real with the only audio course that prompt you to speak.
As to how this part of Milan ended up with this little problem, the word on the street is that money changed hands. I don’t know who got what, or even if this is true, but having seen how fast the area has been transformed recently, I have to say that it is probable something somewhere has been done by somebody.
Apparently, the old ‘turn the area into a pedestrianised zone’ idea has been resurrected and will most probably be used as the excuse with which to push people out.
Me? I’m just going to wait and see, and hope that we manage to come through unscathed.
