Legnano

haha okay so we all kinda know that castellanza is a pretty boring place :p it's a super small town where you can probably walk from one end to the other in half an hour or so? and there is literally no shopping at all here! so for some entertainment we decided to head to our neighboring towns to explore, and i found a gem in legnano! :)) it's also quite small, and everything is concentrated at this main street and square where there is a little bit of shopping, plus lots of cafes and gelato shops! perfect for chilling and alfresco dining/studying in this lovely spring weather ^^

the moment you hit the main square, you will see Bar Pasticceria Gobbi. it's one of the first few cafes there (: a really nice place to sit down for a meal and relax. the staff are pretty friendly, although they don't speak much english, but they let us sit there doing our work for hours without bothering us (:

the lunch menu is pretty limited. mostly salads and paninis. but sam had the gnocchi al ragu (€8), which is a kind of dumplings made of flour/potatoes. anything with ragu can't go wrong, but note that it's really just pasta and sauce and nothing else! haha.

i liked my insalata di avocado (€9) much more! ^^ it was a huge portion and chock-full of ingredients like smoked salmon, avocado, oranges, pineapple, shrimps, lettuce and raisins :)

Bar Pasticceria Gobbi 

Corso Garibaldi 33, Legnano, Lombardy, Italy

we were totally spoilt for choice when it came to eating gelato in legnano!! there were so many stand-alone gelato stores, plus all the cafes practically had some sort of geletaria within it. so yumms! ^^ this seemed to be the most popular one though ;) packed to the brim, you have to pay first, then squeeze with the crowd till you get to the front of the counter where you can order. they have so many flavours!!! just the hazelnut flavour itself had so many different versions haha. and they have this gelato-shake kind of thing which was pretty interesting (:

Geletaria Soleluna

Corso Magenta, 27, Legnano, Lombardy, Italy

i spotted Morello Cafe from afar, because of it's alfresco seating right in the sun (: really nice for chilling if you have the time for it, but if you want to study, probably indoors would be a more conducive option, although there's music playing. i conclude that italy's pastries are really nothing to shout about, although they might look nice (from a distance) :p i had an apple tart (€2). it was decent, but well....not great haha.

this cafe is really nice though! (: i really enjoyed studying there. and the staff pretty much left me alone (i was quite worried about getting chased away initially). their lunch is all laid out from around 12-3pm and you can just order whatever you like. i got this chicken salad thingy for €6, and they gave me a whole basket of bread just for me alone! :D nice of them ^^ they also had samples of their foccaccia, which are available for lunch as well (: and gelato!!! looked good :D

Morello Cafe

Corso Magneta 36, 20025 Legnano