A journey through the 5 canals
that made Milan great
Long before becoming a global capital of fashion and finance, Milan was one of Europe’s greatest water-bound cities.
An ingenious network of artificial canals spent centuries carrying goods, ideas, and even the marble used to build the Duomo.
Naviglio Grande
The oldest and grandest of Milan’s canals, the Naviglio Grande was excavated starting in the 12th century to connect the Ticino River to the city.
For centuries, it served as the commercial backbone of Lombardy, used to transport heavy cargo, most notably the Candoglia marble blocks for the Duomo. Today, it stands as the undisputed heart of Milan’s nightlife, vintage markets, and hidden art courtyards.
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Naviglio Pavese
The waterway to the Po River born from Napoleon’s Italian dream
Envisioned during the reign of the Visconti family but only completed in the 19th century under Napoleonic rule, the Naviglio Pavese connects Milan’s Darsena basin with the city of Pavia and the Po River.
Characterized by a remarkably preserved system of locks and dams, it now offers a scenic cycling and walking route through nature that cuts through the southern reach of the metropolis.
Naviglio della Martesana
Designed in the 15th century under the Duchy of Francesco Sforza—with fundamental engineering contributions by Leonardo da Vinci for lock management, this canal flows from the Adda River into the city's northeast.
Also known as the Naviglio Piccolo (Little Canal), it winds along lush bike paths, historic watermills, and the majestic ville di delizia (country retreats) of the historic Milanese nobility.
Naviglio di Bereguardo
Created in the 15th century as a branch of the Naviglio Grande to connect Abbiategrasso to the Ticino River near Bereguardo, this is the most intimate and untamed of the canals.
Though no longer navigable, it retains a timeless charm thanks to its tree-lined banks, the famous Bridge of Boats (Ponte di Barche), and ancient stone locks nestled in the green Lombard plain
Naviglio di Paderno
Carved out to bypass an impassable, rocky stretch of the Adda River, this canal is an absolute masterpiece of hydraulic engineering.
Set within the protected Adda Nord Park, it features dramatic rock canyons and landscapes that inspired Leonardo da Vinci’s backgrounds for masterpieces like The Virgin of the Rocks.
Curiosities
The "Tombone di San Marco"
Today, for many locals and night-owls, the Tombone di San Marco is synonymous with the historic bistro-pub opened in 1957 between Via Montebello and Via San Marco. Yet the story of this location reaches much deeper into the past, blending brilliant engineering with a distinctly dark aura.
For centuries, the Tumbun de San Marc (or Tombon) was a critical piece of city infrastructure: the lock and basin where the Naviglio della Martesana completed its journey from Trezzo sull'Adda to merge into Milan’s inner ring of canals (Cerchia dei Navigli).
While this vital hub carried goods straight into the heart of the city and to the Duomo construction site, it harbored a treacherous secret.
Directly past the locks, intense water pressure combined with the basin’s depth to create violent whirlpools and dangerous underwater currents. Consequently, the Tumbun became infamous in 19th and early 20th-century Milan for tragedies, suicides, and accidental drownings of passersby and washerwomen. Local folklore even claimed that the Tombone's waters "never returned what they swallowed" for days, spawning dark urban legends around the site.
When the inner canal ring was covered over in the 1930s, the old lock basin was buried beneath modern streets. Yet its name endured in the city's collective memory, reinventing a once-tragic spot into a lively gathering point in the heart of the Brera district.
