The last visible stretch of Milan's old canal network, originally laid out from the 12th century onward and partly engineered by Leonardo da Vinci. Most of the city's canals were paved over in the 1930s, but the Naviglio Grande and Naviglio Pavese survived, and the embankments along them have become the centre of Milanese nightlife. By day the area is quiet and slightly faded; from early evening it fills with people doing the aperitivo.
The two canals meet at the Darsena, a restored dock basin that is the social heart of the district. The alzaia — the towpaths on either bank — are lined almost continuously with bars, trattorie, and aperitivo spots, and the narrow side courtyards (the case di ringhiera, balcony tenement houses) hide galleries and craft workshops. On the last Sunday of each month the Mercatone dell'Antiquariato, a long antiques and flea market, runs the full length of the Naviglio Grande.
This is the place to do the Milanese aperitivo properly: between roughly 18:00 and 21:00 you pay for a drink and graze from a buffet that often amounts to a light dinner. It is busiest and best in warm months when the outdoor tables spill onto the towpaths; in winter the crowds thin but the canalside bars stay open.