Key Takeaways
- Via Razza 8 housed the family’s cookware warehouse, with roots dating back to 1860.
- The building’s unexpected link to luxury goods and Hermès.
- Four family members designed four apartments, each with its own style.
- The design story behind Andreas, Sara, Nina, and Simone’s apartments.
- Via Razza 8 is located close to Repubblica Metro and Milano Centrale.
- Mid-term stays range from 1–18 months, with rates from €1,050.
- Townhomes Milano’s Via Ponte Seveso apartments are joining the mid-term collection from January
Milan is famous for two things above all: its artigianato, the quiet, stubborn craftsmanship behind everything from an espresso machine to a pair of shoes, and its fashion. Our building on Via Razza 8 has had a hand in both. Not in the way you’d expect. This is the story of that building, and of how it became home to four Milan apartments, two minutes’ walk from Repubblica metro. Each one carries a little of our family in it, and, we like to believe, a little unearned glamour too.
A family business built on pots and pans
Before it was anything else, this was a family business: Alberghiera Medagliani, going all the way back to 1860. For years, chefs and cooking enthusiasts made something close to a pilgrimage here from all over the world, not for a restaurant, but for professional-grade cookware. Handmade copper pots. Rare tools you couldn’t find anywhere else: the stampo per
garganelli for hand-rolled pasta, the carved wooden stamps used to press corzetti. The kind of equipment that doesn’t get made much anymore, and the kind of customers who knew exactly
what they were looking for.
That’s the part of our history we’ve always been happy to tell. The next part, we couldn’t tell until now.
The warehouse that had to keep a secret
When the business outgrew this space, we moved to a larger warehouse just outside Milan, and our old warehouse in Via Razza 8 became, almost overnight, very chic. And for twelve years, we couldn’t say why. Honestly, it was a little thrilling, keeping a secret that good makes you feel very important at dinner parties, even when you can’t actually tell anyone anything.
The tenant who took over our 235 square meters of storage space dealt in silk scarves, leather handbags, and trunks of a kind you don’t see outside a handful of shopfronts in the world. Given what they were storing, discretion wasn’t a courtesy; it was a condition. So for over a decade, we simply didn’t talk about it.
Their lease ended last summer, and they’ve since moved on to an even larger space, also just
outside Milan. A year on, I think it’s finally fair to tell you: our warehouse quietly furnished Hermès’s shop, in the Quadrilatero della Moda, Milan’s fashion district.
What stayed with me wasn’t the scarves or the handbags. It was the packaging. The wooden crates, branded and beautifully made, built to protect the large leather trunks during transport. I actually asked, only half-joking, if I could keep one when they moved out. They said no. I still think about that crate sometimes.
Call it feng shui, call it a very Italian belief that good taste leaves a residue behind, but twelve years of quiet, extremely well-dressed luxury has to leave something in a building. Nothing we can prove, nothing scientific, no crystals were harmed in the making of this theory. But if walls remember anything, ours have excellent taste banked up, and we like to think it rubs off a little on whoever moves in next. Consider it a complimentary blessing.
Four apartments, four members of our family
That same address is now home to something different: we’ve transformed the old warehouse into four new beautiful apartments, each one designed by a different member of our family, each one reflecting something true about the person behind it. If the warehouse years taught us anything, it’s that the care you put into a space, even the parts no one else sees, is the whole point. That’s what we tried to carry forward here.
Andreas, our son, has always loved clean lines and honest materials, and it shows. His
apartment is industrial-chic: exposed textures, a calm, grounded palette, a one-bedroom layout built for couples or small families settling into Milan life. Sit in it for five minutes and you’ll feel his steady, unfussy personality in every choice.
Sara, our daughter and the one who designed our whole visual identity, brought her art director’s eye to a Mediterranean-inspired space, sunny, warm, a little indulgent. We’ll admit her choices ran a bit more luxurious than we’d budgeted for. We caved anyway, because her taste was simply better than our objections. (Some things you inherit; good taste, apparently, you just lose the argument to.)
Nina, that’s me, leaned into my Nordic roots: a compact, perfectly efficient studio, clean
lines, natural materials, nothing that doesn’t earn its place. I love how Scandinavian minimalism calms the mind, and I hope our guests feel that too.
Simone, born and raised in Milan, designed our largest apartment with a native’s instinct for the city, natural materials meeting real urban living, a two-bedroom layout suited to families or students/colleagues relocating together. His easygoing, happy nature runs through the whole space, with a refined Milanese edge underneath it.
Four people, four very different instincts, and one building that somehow holds all of them at once. We’d like to think that’s not so different from what the warehouse years were about:
getting the details right, even the ones only you notice, and maybe absorbing a bit of good energy along the way.
If you’re considering staying near the station, our guide to accommodation near Milano Centrale can help you understand what the area offers.
The practical part
Via Razza 8 sits on a quiet, no-through road, two minutes from Repubblica metro (M3) and about ten-minute walk from Milano Centrale. Every apartment is fully furnished with fiber-optic WiFi, air conditioning, a washing machine, everything you need down to the cutlery, with all utilities included except electricity, billed transparently at actual consumption. Stays run from 1 to 18 months, and rates start from €1,050 a month, with contracts and deposits handled by our partners at Cusani10 Luxury Real Estate.
And if four apartments aren’t quite enough Milan for you: our original three apartments at Via Ponte Seveso, currently short stays, are joining the mid-term family too, starting January 2027. Same city, same care, twice the front doors.
We can’t offer you Hermès trunks but we can promise a building and a family that’s been sweating the small details since 1860, and, if you’re the type to believe in these things, apartments that come with a little inherited good luck built in.
Curious which apartment feels like yours? Take a look at Andreas, Sara, Nina, and Simone, or get in touch at hello@townhomesmilano.com.
Planning a longer stay in Milan? Explore our Mid-Term Living apartments and find a home that suits your stay.
Milan rewards you for picking the right base. Wherever you land, you’re never more than a short metro ride from anywhere else on this list, so don’t overthink it, but do pick on purpose.
And if you want my honest, biased opinion: my husband’s family, after all those other addresses, ended up on Via Ponte Seveso, right by Centrale. It’s where our own apartments are today, which either means we’re extremely consistent people or we just really like that end of town. Possibly both. If Milan turns out to be more than just a quick stop, our Mid-Term Living apartments are made for settling in rather than simply passing through. Choose from Apartment Nina, Apartment Sara, Apartment Andreas, or Apartment Simone, each with its own distinctive style and character. Whether you’re here for sightseeing, business, or simply to experience everyday Milan, we’d love to welcome you.
If you’re still deciding where to stay in Milan, our neighborhood guide explores the different areas and what each is best suited for.
