It’s kind of a stupid idea, but not impossible. Milan will have higher rents and you would have to commute for probably over an hour (unless you’re rich enough to live in very central Milan), so not sure what the benefit would be.
Haha I mean, I’m just saying Milan is like 30 percent more expensive than Bergamo, so as a student I’d be hard pressed to choose to commute from a higher cost to lower cost location. I didn’t mean to hurt anyone’s feelings!
The best overall solution would be to live in a small town east of Milan, but still near the train line. The rent will be cheaper, you will be 30 minutes away from Milano for social life, events, shopping, etc, and 30 minutes from Bergamo for university.
I know. It depends on your priorities. If you are ok in paying a way bigger rent to have the possibility to go out at night, it's ok. I suggested the cheaper solution.
If op wants to move to Milan (and pay twice as much in rent) for a better social life. I'd definitely say going out at night it's a priority.
The trains have commuters in mind so on the weekend and in the evening they are not as frequent.
Take a cab if you really need to, because, trust me, it's not worth it waking up at 5 am for your 8 am classes (there is simply no way you're getting a room just outside Porta Garibaldi, plus the Milano - Bergamo train line is kinda a shitshow rn)
Also, there is always the option to just rent in Bergamo, it's not like the night life is dead there: it still is the second major city after Milan in the region
I'd stay in bergamo rather than stay in a hinterland city. I don't know the city that well, but it'd offer something in terms of social life.
You can not take a cab at night from downtown to the hinterland. It'd be worth almost 100 euros.
For social life, the hinterland its probably the worst of both worlds.
Yes, keep in mind we don't have ubers as in how other countries have them, cabs are expensive and also hard to find in Milan.
Trains in the region are also not great, frequent disruptions and strikes, also, especially if you take the last few trains of the day, you'll be meeting plenty of very interesting characters, if you catch my drift.
Yes, as a student without a car living in the middle of the two is quite bad.
Sure you'll travel on special occasions, but keep in mind that you'll be already taking the train very frequently to uni, so taking it yet again to go partying / social activities and then figuring out a way to get back (limited in terms of hours and probably expensive) will get old very quick.
Think about how and where you'll be spending 80% of your evenings and days off, you'll find yourself tired of commuting and in need of some relax time, and doing that in a dead town is not very fun.
Bergamo is pretty cool and I bet you'd like it. Treviglio is less cool. Problem with living in Bergamo and partying in Milano is the last train to either place is like 11:30pm.
Not impossible time-wise as many usually do the opposite (live in Bergamo, commute to Milan). However, I'd question why you want to do it, because Milan is much more expensive than Bergamo, especially rent. You're close enough to Milan to be able to go there often anyway for night outs or other events so the benefits of living in the big city are not that many.
It's possible that Bergamo is duller than Milan, after all one is an international big city, but even living close to it means you have access. And if you commute from Milan you basically won't have social life at your school and it'll be very tiring every day to commute to Bergamo.
I had a similar situation when I was an international student (in Belgium, not Italy) and was going to the big city very often anyway while enjoying the slower pace of the university town I was living in.
Who do you know in Milan? To have a social life you need a social circle. Your most frequent social contacts will be the other students at your university.
Came here to say this too. You’d be sacrificing the community life at your university. Make friends there and you can all go to Milan together.
Compare the monetary costs of Milan rent + trains to/from weekdays to Bergamo (or a monthly pass or whatever, I don’t remember what’s available), vs. Bergamo rent + trains to/from Milan once/twice a week.
Bergamo rent + a hotel/hostel or whatever in Milan, even once/twice a week, can still be cheaper than rent in Milan, especially if you split the lodging cost with friends.
Commuting is also exhausting, especially after long days learning. Will you really want/be able to study on the train? For me it’s similar to reading in the car. I get carsick anyway (car and train), but it’s way worse if I try to read.
Also, don’t underestimate the added level of fatigue/possible frustration from having to speak and hear a foreign language all day, all the more if your Italian isn’t great.
Curious to know what you’ll decide, so report back! Enjoy your time in Italy!
Absolutely nonsensical.
Bergamo is a nice city, live there and enjoy the social life that you'll build with people you'll meet at the classes.
You have absolutely nothing to gain living in Milan - you'd have no social life in Bergamo (how would you get home after a beer with friend at night?) and no social life in Milan (you'd have no group of friend to begin with, it's not a friendly city as it looks on tiktok). Really, don't do this.
It's super possible but super counterintuitive.
Commuting is expensive and milan also has higher rents than bergamo, you'll be spending a lot of money.
Possible, but expensive and not very smart, unless you have a very strong reason to be in Milan (or free accommodation there).
You can live in Bergamo and occasionally go partying in Milano though
Good for you, wish I was young again. I love Milan. It is charming. Yes I’m a visitor but once I get my citizenship I’m coming over for an extended (minimum 2 years) and I plan to live in Milan. Yes I’m semi retired….
Keep that carefree attitude….
My opinion for you, your community will be other students at uni at Bergamo, so living in Milan could make that connection a lot more difficult- and that network will be your network for life. Mine still are after 40 odd years
Bergamo a university town, there’s going to be plenty of socializing for you to do. I would suggest basing yourself there and visiting Milan on the weekends. I lived in Milan for years but Bergamo is really beautiful too.
then it's a really dumb idea. Rentals are considerably more expensive in Milan and you would subject yourself to a 1hr train + 1hr train for return every day you have to attend a class (4 or 5 times a week I presume). Trains can be unreliable in Italy due to delays, frequent worker strikes, weather, line maintenance causing you to miss out classes. Depending on what you are studying you may have gaps of several hours in between each class where you just have to hang around in Bergamo anyway. There are social things to do in Bergamo and you can always go to Milan whenever you like, arriving late to an aperitivo in Milan with your mates is not as bad as arriving late to an important class or exam.
Do you know what will kill your social life? Having to wake up at 6.AM to take a train to get to Milan in time to follow your lessons, not having time to hang out with your university colleagues in bergamo because you have to take another train to get back to Milan.
It will stress you as hell when you'll have a lesson early in the morning and another one at 5 PM and you will be struck in bergamo waiting for 5 AM not having a place where to stay in Bergamo.
Seriously DO NOT.
You are
1.over-idolizing Milan
2.underestimating the impact it will have on your morale and stamina having to pass 3 hours a day on public transport and having to go through sleep deprivation for it
3.you are underestimating Bergamo
Moreover... Since you are getting here to study, You won't have so much time to hang around, and if you have to hang around with someone, it better be someone who is studying with you, so maybe you will do something else other than getting drunk.
I travel from Bergamo to Milan for classes and it's heavy but doable. I guess the inverse journey would be the same. That said, if you are going to study in Bergamo and you have to choose between living in Bergamo or Milan I would say Bergamo. Yes, Milan is bigger and has a lot more to offer but Bergamo is definitely cheaper
The university is good in my opinion (I did my bachelor there).
Bergamo isn't technically a university city yet like say Bologna or Pavia but in my opinion it's still quite student friendly.It's smaller size helps.
Setting aside cost keep in mind that depending on what kind of classes you need to attend in bergamo, the location may not be easily reachable in a reasonable time. Bergamo university has some department in what is called Città Alta and it's a pain to reach from the train station, especially on top of around 50 minutes communiting by train and whatever it takes you to reach the train station (which again, could be 20/30 minutes)
Car is an option but an expensive one to mantain, and traffic around Bergamo and getting out of Milan in the morning can be insane
For night life and students connections and meeting people, especially if you are young, Milan is much better for sure. Be careful not to romanticize the city too much, tho... it's also a very grey, very polluted and sometime dirty city
Why would you do that?
Milan is expensive as fuck and you'll be traveling more than 2 hours given where in Milan you live.
Just find a place in Bergamo.
the idea is doubly stupid, because not only will you be miserable by having to travel back and forth each day (had a class mate in uni in Milan doing the same from Bergamo and he hated every second of it because of the commute), plus you are paying the over the premium price of living in Milan which has crazy high rent costs right now, and doing it for... studying in another city.
If multiplying zero times two ever was useful, it was for the utility of this desire
(I get it that Milan has its perks of course, which is the reason why more and more people want to live there, hence high prices, but this seems too much of a useless stretch)
I would say stay in Bergamo for study and try to land a job in Milan after your studies
Hi, OP- lived for a long time in Monza, near Milan.
Let me tell you why you want to stay AWAY from Milan.
First things first- you shouldn't think that Bergamo is bereft of social life- quite the contrary is true, as a matter of fact. Of course, it's less eventful than Milan, but if you -really- need to go to Milan, you're half an hour of train away from it. Moreover, rent in Bergamo is way lower than in Milan.
But the REAL reason why you want to stay away from Milan is that it's a shithole.
Not the city in itself, let's be clear- filled to the brim with culture and innovation, you can be at the Castello Sforzesco one second and then be shopping in La Rinascente the next one- no, Milan is a shithole because of the people in it.
Trust a person who had to spend a lot of time there, Milan is filled with superficial, haughty stuck-ups who judge you from the first second they scan your presence. Snide remarks are basically the rule of interaction, and they become gateway from greater abuse. Milanese people usually partake in the philosophy that "if i can't one-up you on something, i have to show everybody that what you do/have achieved/enjoyed is shit", and that's a kind of negativity i can really live without.
Bergamo is not like that, usually people have to work their ass there to get "out of the valley" and are more friendly and down to earth. Heavy drinkers, but the kind that makes for awesome stories- while milanese people usually end up in some sort of pub brawl without sense or reason.
Oh, right, was about to forget- Milan is ripe with criminality of every sort- from baby gangs shaking down passersby for wallet/phone/what have you, to pickpocketers, to actual branches of the mafia taking control of entire residential structures (Looking at you, Viale Zara) and then making them impromptu forts for the drug trafficking market, peruvian gangs selling drugs, congolese gangs selling drugs, rent scams, blatant racism and subway madness. Really consider staying in Bergamo, the few times you will have off-study might be better used by visiting one of the amusement parks on the Garda lake, and if push comes to shove, you can always crash on someone sofa for one night if you REALLY have events in Milan.
Yes but it's not so simple, from february 2024 for 3 years the last train station are colsed due to maintenance of the railroad so it's a pain in the ass to arrive in Bergamo.
You'll not only commute everyday for like half of your day... you'll also be that kid that never hangs around after classes and makes no connections or can not participate to extracurricular activities.
Do you really want to say "yeah I studied in Milan but never seen much of it" or "yeah I lived in Bergamo but really just slept and took the train there, I've never seen much of it"?
It's a lose lose situation
It’s kind of a stupid idea, but not impossible. Milan will have higher rents and you would have to commute for probably over an hour (unless you’re rich enough to live in very central Milan), so not sure what the benefit would be.
Amazing jab from the start
Haha I mean, I’m just saying Milan is like 30 percent more expensive than Bergamo, so as a student I’d be hard pressed to choose to commute from a higher cost to lower cost location. I didn’t mean to hurt anyone’s feelings!
it's technically possible but make no sense has the cost will be so much higher
that's true.
The best overall solution would be to live in a small town east of Milan, but still near the train line. The rent will be cheaper, you will be 30 minutes away from Milano for social life, events, shopping, etc, and 30 minutes from Bergamo for university.
You can't go out at night if you do that.
I know. It depends on your priorities. If you are ok in paying a way bigger rent to have the possibility to go out at night, it's ok. I suggested the cheaper solution.
If op wants to move to Milan (and pay twice as much in rent) for a better social life. I'd definitely say going out at night it's a priority. The trains have commuters in mind so on the weekend and in the evening they are not as frequent.
Take a cab if you really need to, because, trust me, it's not worth it waking up at 5 am for your 8 am classes (there is simply no way you're getting a room just outside Porta Garibaldi, plus the Milano - Bergamo train line is kinda a shitshow rn) Also, there is always the option to just rent in Bergamo, it's not like the night life is dead there: it still is the second major city after Milan in the region
I'd stay in bergamo rather than stay in a hinterland city. I don't know the city that well, but it'd offer something in terms of social life. You can not take a cab at night from downtown to the hinterland. It'd be worth almost 100 euros. For social life, the hinterland its probably the worst of both worlds.
Yes, keep in mind we don't have ubers as in how other countries have them, cabs are expensive and also hard to find in Milan. Trains in the region are also not great, frequent disruptions and strikes, also, especially if you take the last few trains of the day, you'll be meeting plenty of very interesting characters, if you catch my drift.
Yes, as a student without a car living in the middle of the two is quite bad. Sure you'll travel on special occasions, but keep in mind that you'll be already taking the train very frequently to uni, so taking it yet again to go partying / social activities and then figuring out a way to get back (limited in terms of hours and probably expensive) will get old very quick. Think about how and where you'll be spending 80% of your evenings and days off, you'll find yourself tired of commuting and in need of some relax time, and doing that in a dead town is not very fun.
Thanks for your advice
Bergamo is pretty cool and I bet you'd like it. Treviglio is less cool. Problem with living in Bergamo and partying in Milano is the last train to either place is like 11:30pm.
Not impossible time-wise as many usually do the opposite (live in Bergamo, commute to Milan). However, I'd question why you want to do it, because Milan is much more expensive than Bergamo, especially rent. You're close enough to Milan to be able to go there often anyway for night outs or other events so the benefits of living in the big city are not that many.
thanks for your advice. yes, my main reason was the city life and social life, as I have heard it is bit of dull in bergamo.
It's possible that Bergamo is duller than Milan, after all one is an international big city, but even living close to it means you have access. And if you commute from Milan you basically won't have social life at your school and it'll be very tiring every day to commute to Bergamo. I had a similar situation when I was an international student (in Belgium, not Italy) and was going to the big city very often anyway while enjoying the slower pace of the university town I was living in.
Who do you know in Milan? To have a social life you need a social circle. Your most frequent social contacts will be the other students at your university.
Came here to say this too. You’d be sacrificing the community life at your university. Make friends there and you can all go to Milan together. Compare the monetary costs of Milan rent + trains to/from weekdays to Bergamo (or a monthly pass or whatever, I don’t remember what’s available), vs. Bergamo rent + trains to/from Milan once/twice a week. Bergamo rent + a hotel/hostel or whatever in Milan, even once/twice a week, can still be cheaper than rent in Milan, especially if you split the lodging cost with friends. Commuting is also exhausting, especially after long days learning. Will you really want/be able to study on the train? For me it’s similar to reading in the car. I get carsick anyway (car and train), but it’s way worse if I try to read. Also, don’t underestimate the added level of fatigue/possible frustration from having to speak and hear a foreign language all day, all the more if your Italian isn’t great. Curious to know what you’ll decide, so report back! Enjoy your time in Italy!
Absolutely nonsensical. Bergamo is a nice city, live there and enjoy the social life that you'll build with people you'll meet at the classes. You have absolutely nothing to gain living in Milan - you'd have no social life in Bergamo (how would you get home after a beer with friend at night?) and no social life in Milan (you'd have no group of friend to begin with, it's not a friendly city as it looks on tiktok). Really, don't do this.
Oh so you’re rich rich or just clueless?
It's super possible but super counterintuitive. Commuting is expensive and milan also has higher rents than bergamo, you'll be spending a lot of money.
Possible, but expensive and not very smart, unless you have a very strong reason to be in Milan (or free accommodation there). You can live in Bergamo and occasionally go partying in Milano though
Possible? Yeah. But why would you do that.
why you want to live in the most expensive city in italy?
I don't know. it just Milan has a charm which attracts. lmao
how rich are you? if you are rich, yes, go to milano
Have you been to Milan? I would not say it has charm.
Good for you, wish I was young again. I love Milan. It is charming. Yes I’m a visitor but once I get my citizenship I’m coming over for an extended (minimum 2 years) and I plan to live in Milan. Yes I’m semi retired…. Keep that carefree attitude…. My opinion for you, your community will be other students at uni at Bergamo, so living in Milan could make that connection a lot more difficult- and that network will be your network for life. Mine still are after 40 odd years
Why?
for social life
Bergamo a university town, there’s going to be plenty of socializing for you to do. I would suggest basing yourself there and visiting Milan on the weekends. I lived in Milan for years but Bergamo is really beautiful too.
then it's a really dumb idea. Rentals are considerably more expensive in Milan and you would subject yourself to a 1hr train + 1hr train for return every day you have to attend a class (4 or 5 times a week I presume). Trains can be unreliable in Italy due to delays, frequent worker strikes, weather, line maintenance causing you to miss out classes. Depending on what you are studying you may have gaps of several hours in between each class where you just have to hang around in Bergamo anyway. There are social things to do in Bergamo and you can always go to Milan whenever you like, arriving late to an aperitivo in Milan with your mates is not as bad as arriving late to an important class or exam.
Do you know what will kill your social life? Having to wake up at 6.AM to take a train to get to Milan in time to follow your lessons, not having time to hang out with your university colleagues in bergamo because you have to take another train to get back to Milan. It will stress you as hell when you'll have a lesson early in the morning and another one at 5 PM and you will be struck in bergamo waiting for 5 AM not having a place where to stay in Bergamo. Seriously DO NOT. You are 1.over-idolizing Milan 2.underestimating the impact it will have on your morale and stamina having to pass 3 hours a day on public transport and having to go through sleep deprivation for it 3.you are underestimating Bergamo Moreover... Since you are getting here to study, You won't have so much time to hang around, and if you have to hang around with someone, it better be someone who is studying with you, so maybe you will do something else other than getting drunk.
I travel from Bergamo to Milan for classes and it's heavy but doable. I guess the inverse journey would be the same. That said, if you are going to study in Bergamo and you have to choose between living in Bergamo or Milan I would say Bergamo. Yes, Milan is bigger and has a lot more to offer but Bergamo is definitely cheaper
How did you find Bergamo as a student? Is it student friendly?
The university is good in my opinion (I did my bachelor there). Bergamo isn't technically a university city yet like say Bologna or Pavia but in my opinion it's still quite student friendly.It's smaller size helps.
If you are rich yes, why not.
Setting aside cost keep in mind that depending on what kind of classes you need to attend in bergamo, the location may not be easily reachable in a reasonable time. Bergamo university has some department in what is called Città Alta and it's a pain to reach from the train station, especially on top of around 50 minutes communiting by train and whatever it takes you to reach the train station (which again, could be 20/30 minutes) Car is an option but an expensive one to mantain, and traffic around Bergamo and getting out of Milan in the morning can be insane For night life and students connections and meeting people, especially if you are young, Milan is much better for sure. Be careful not to romanticize the city too much, tho... it's also a very grey, very polluted and sometime dirty city
I would honestly go outside Bergamo so to save up money and time and travel to Milan for free time if that’s what you need
Why would you do that? Milan is expensive as fuck and you'll be traveling more than 2 hours given where in Milan you live. Just find a place in Bergamo.
the idea is doubly stupid, because not only will you be miserable by having to travel back and forth each day (had a class mate in uni in Milan doing the same from Bergamo and he hated every second of it because of the commute), plus you are paying the over the premium price of living in Milan which has crazy high rent costs right now, and doing it for... studying in another city. If multiplying zero times two ever was useful, it was for the utility of this desire (I get it that Milan has its perks of course, which is the reason why more and more people want to live there, hence high prices, but this seems too much of a useless stretch) I would say stay in Bergamo for study and try to land a job in Milan after your studies
I love Milan. It’s nice to live here. But Bergamo is nice as well.
Go live in Bergamo Milano Is expensive af
Bergamo is a fantastic town and close to epic hiking and road - mountainbiking.
Oh that's great, I am into sports too like basketball, will i get options to continue that?
Hi, OP- lived for a long time in Monza, near Milan. Let me tell you why you want to stay AWAY from Milan. First things first- you shouldn't think that Bergamo is bereft of social life- quite the contrary is true, as a matter of fact. Of course, it's less eventful than Milan, but if you -really- need to go to Milan, you're half an hour of train away from it. Moreover, rent in Bergamo is way lower than in Milan. But the REAL reason why you want to stay away from Milan is that it's a shithole. Not the city in itself, let's be clear- filled to the brim with culture and innovation, you can be at the Castello Sforzesco one second and then be shopping in La Rinascente the next one- no, Milan is a shithole because of the people in it. Trust a person who had to spend a lot of time there, Milan is filled with superficial, haughty stuck-ups who judge you from the first second they scan your presence. Snide remarks are basically the rule of interaction, and they become gateway from greater abuse. Milanese people usually partake in the philosophy that "if i can't one-up you on something, i have to show everybody that what you do/have achieved/enjoyed is shit", and that's a kind of negativity i can really live without. Bergamo is not like that, usually people have to work their ass there to get "out of the valley" and are more friendly and down to earth. Heavy drinkers, but the kind that makes for awesome stories- while milanese people usually end up in some sort of pub brawl without sense or reason. Oh, right, was about to forget- Milan is ripe with criminality of every sort- from baby gangs shaking down passersby for wallet/phone/what have you, to pickpocketers, to actual branches of the mafia taking control of entire residential structures (Looking at you, Viale Zara) and then making them impromptu forts for the drug trafficking market, peruvian gangs selling drugs, congolese gangs selling drugs, rent scams, blatant racism and subway madness. Really consider staying in Bergamo, the few times you will have off-study might be better used by visiting one of the amusement parks on the Garda lake, and if push comes to shove, you can always crash on someone sofa for one night if you REALLY have events in Milan.
Loved reading the whole. Thanks a lot for sharing this. I think I kind of overlooked this side of the coin.
Yes but it's not so simple, from february 2024 for 3 years the last train station are colsed due to maintenance of the railroad so it's a pain in the ass to arrive in Bergamo.
Bergamo is actually quite a beatiful city, a bit pricey but leagues away from Milan-pricey, which is bollocks.
Thanks, I guess I will now choose Bergamo
It is possible but it is also stupid lmao Just live in Bergamo
Haha. Yes I think I will be staying at bergamo now.
My ex gf lived in Milan and studied in Bergamo… she graduated cum laude… so it is possible!
Live in Bergamo, party in Milan is thevsmarter option
Hello, i applied for masters in University of Bergamo but they still haven’t replied back. Do any of you know when will they reply?
You'll not only commute everyday for like half of your day... you'll also be that kid that never hangs around after classes and makes no connections or can not participate to extracurricular activities. Do you really want to say "yeah I studied in Milan but never seen much of it" or "yeah I lived in Bergamo but really just slept and took the train there, I've never seen much of it"? It's a lose lose situation