From Milan Airport to the Last Supper

Old Jan 29th, 2015, 11:08 AM
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From Milan Airport to the Last Supper

We're two forty-something women flying from the United States into Milan Malpensa Airport at 11:15 AM on a Tuesday morning in March. We booked tickets to view the Last Supper at 1:45 PM. We are picking up a rental car from Maggiore Rent at the airport and need to arrive at the box office (Piazza Santa Maria delle Grazie, 2) to pick up our tickets at 1:25 PM. I know this is a pretty tight schedule, especially having never before driven in Milan. I read that there was street parking available around the church. Any and all advice to help us get to our destination in time would be much appreciated!
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Old Jan 29th, 2015, 11:24 AM
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Can you pickup the car at Milano Centrale train station, after you are done seeing The Last Supper? That's what I would do: take the first train from the airport to Milano Centrale, put your bags in storage, and hop a metro train to the box office. Go back and pick up the car afterward. Then you wouldn't have to worry about parking or driving in Milan right after a long flight.
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Old Jan 29th, 2015, 11:25 AM
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After the Last Supper where are you going?

This could help with suggestions
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Old Jan 29th, 2015, 11:32 AM
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In spite of having lived in Milan several years, it looks somewhat difficult to me to find a suitable route and explain it. On the top of this, remember that Milan is laid as a series of concentric circles - and entering the two innermost circles means an access tax, to be paid within a day, or you will get a fine. All accesses checked by cameras. Search for "area C" for info on access tax (too complex to be explained here). Also, not really sure there is much parking near the church.
My best idea would be looking for a large parking on the outskirts near a metro stop -Lampugnano seems the best choice, and then the metro M1 to the Conciliazione stop.

If you had no luggage, there would be a very easy and fast solution: take the Malpensa Express to Cadorna station and walk to the museum. Not sure Cadorna has luggage lockers, maybe you could ask their phone assistance. Considering that MXP Express needs half an hour to Cadorna and this is the faster way to get there, faster than driving, it looks to me that your schedule is very very tight.
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Old Jan 29th, 2015, 11:49 AM
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I agree with asps.

The schedule is very very very tight.

Believe it or not the solution probably would be to leave your luggage immediately at Malpensa, take the Malpensa Express, walk to Santa Maria delle Grazie (roughly 10 minutes), and then return to Malpensa and pick up your car. What you pay in extra train fare you save in autostrada charges, parking, metro costs etc.
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Old Jan 29th, 2015, 11:58 AM
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After the Last Supper, we have a long drive to our hotel in Montecatini.
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Old Jan 29th, 2015, 12:03 PM
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nochblad, when you say to leave our luggage immediately at Malpensa, do you mean to not even pick up our checked bags until later? If yes, where would we go to get our luggage later upon our return?
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Old Jan 29th, 2015, 12:15 PM
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Andrew, thank you for your inputs. I do see that Maggiore has a location at Central Station, so I called the travel agency to see if it's possible to pick up the car from there. They will check and let me know.
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Old Jan 29th, 2015, 12:15 PM
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Have you even tried to change the car pick-up to Milano Centrale? It may be free to do so, if there is a rental office for the rental company nearby. I know some of the agencies will have car pick-up there.

Note that Milano Centrale and Cadorna stations are different - you can train to either station from the airport. It sounds like walking from Cadorna to The Last Supper would be faster if you could leave your bags there at the station (if they have luggage storage - but I'm pretty sure Milano Centrale does). Then if you were able to change the car pickup to Centrale, take the subway up there after retrieving your bags.
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Old Jan 29th, 2015, 12:19 PM
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No, pick up the checked bags. If you don't, you will have a hell of a time getting them later. What you need, is a place to leave your luggage. The idea of leaving it at MXP is a clever one as the airport has a luggage deposit. I am not sure about Cadorna station as the luggage lockers come and go according to perceived safety reasons.

Another sensible option is taking a Malpensa Express to Centrale, leave the bags there, then M2 to Cadorna and walk to the church. This is longer than going to Cadorna directly, about 20 minutes more without considering the time to leave the luggage. Than you go back to Centrale, take a train to Florence and either rent the car in Florence or, better, take another train to Montecatini (the Montecatini Succursale train stop is fairly central and closer to most hotels than the main station).

The drive from Milan to Florence is about four hours, the last hour being the most tiring one as from Bologna you have to climb mountains and the motorway is trafficked as hell with trucks. I am not sure I would try such a drive being jetlagged after an intercontinental flight, let alone adding a visit to a museum in Milan.
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Old Jan 29th, 2015, 12:32 PM
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This is one tight schedule to get to the Last Supper even without car rental or luggage for that matter. Luggage don't come out fast at Italian airports. I like Andrew or asps's ideas. You can also pickup a car at the Florence airport which avoids getting anywhere close to the ZTL prohibited zone in downtown Florence as well as shortening the driving time on the arrival day.
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Old Jan 29th, 2015, 12:39 PM
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According to an April 2013 post on tripadvisor, there is no luggage storage at Cadorna.
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Old Jan 29th, 2015, 12:49 PM
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Thanks, everyone, for your kind assistance. I think maybe the best option is to not check any bags, run to the car rental in MXP, drop our bags in the trunk, then take the train to Cadorna. There is a train leaving Malpensa at 12:33 that would get us to Cadorna at 13:02. The car rental is part of our package, so we'll come back for the car afterwards.
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Old Jan 29th, 2015, 12:55 PM
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Your plan to land jet-lagged in Milan, possibly drive in or out of a very difficult city you have no clue about, and then drive another 300 kms to a Tuscan hill town is -- to put it mildly -- in need of a rethink.

Book a hotel in Milan near the Last Supper. Take the train to the Cadorna station and a taxi there (or book the UNA and just walk across the street from Cadorna station.) Go see the Last Supper. Go get something to eat, walk around abit, have some cocketails, get some sleep, and get up the next morning and rent a car at either Milano Centrale or Linate airport and drive to Tuscany.

If you for some reason you can see no way out of delaying your arrival In Montecatini by one night, then book a car service to meet you at Cadorna, have them take you and your luggage to the Last Supper, have them wait for you and then drive you to Milano Centrale. Not cheap, but it would probably eliminate the chance of you missing the Last Supper because you got stuck trying to leave your luggage at Milano Centrale.
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Old Jan 29th, 2015, 01:06 PM
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Here's an old post from 2011 in reply to a similar question. I think the taxi from the train station to the church sounds like a good idea.

1) After passport check at Malpensa, look for signs to the Malpensa Shuttle (see my link above) and take this bus to the main train station. You just line up at the bus stop and buy your ticket on the bus.

2) Store your bag/s at the main train station, then take either a taxi directly to the church or the metro to Cadorna and walk to Santa Maria della Grazie. You should have a good street map if you're doing the metro/walk option. Personally, I'd taxi to save time and preclude getting lost.
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Old Jan 29th, 2015, 01:09 PM
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travelworm

You and I were posting at the same time.

Even if you do carryon, your plan to get through passport control, get to the car rental officesand get instantaneous service and keys to the car, to walk to the car rental parking lots, and then walk to the Malpensa Xpress train platform -- all accomplished in time to get you to the window of the Last Supper by 1.25 -- pm is not going to work, even if everything goes smoothly. Take a look at maps of Malpensa to see where the international terminal is located, the car rental is located and the train platforms are located.

Moreover, it is an extremely poor idea to think you can do all this jet lagged and top it off with 4 hours of driving, now that you will be leaving the Milan area around 4pm.

Think about safety. Other people's as well as yours. Either forget about the "car package" or forget about the Last Supper. It's been there for 500 years and it will still be there when you return to Italy. This penny pinching to cover up a mistake is a risk to your life.
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Old Jan 29th, 2015, 01:09 PM
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Why don't you just take the train to Montecatini and pick up your car there? I think after an overnight flight, sightseeing, fiddling with luggage and car pick up, driving from Milan to Montecatini is a bit much.

Everything would have to go just right to make that Last Supper reservation. Flights can be delayed, there can often be long lines to pick up rental cars, lines to check luggage at train station, etc. Can you see about changing the Last Supper tickets to a bit later?
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Old Jan 29th, 2015, 01:11 PM
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Cadorna train station brings you near "The Last Supper." Do not drive into Milan from MXP.
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Old Jan 29th, 2015, 01:12 PM
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sandralist, your idea for the car service sounds excellent. Our hotel in Montecatini is part of a package deal, so I'm not sure that it's possible to delay our arrival by one night. Any suggestions on a reliable car service?
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Old Jan 29th, 2015, 01:16 PM
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Just tryng to walk this through for you, giving highly optimistic time estimates:

11.45: Plane lands
( taxi to terminal, deplaning and walk to passport control)
12.15: at passport control
12.20: walk to car rental office
12.40: complete transaction with agent, get keys
12;50: Have stowed everything in car, walk to train platform
1.00: Board train
1.35 Arrive at Cadorna Station in Milan

If you think you can do it faster, up to you. I don't think you can do it.
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