Eat Milan — Milan consumes everything and everyone. The city attracts talent, ambition, and money from all over Italy and the world and absorbs them into itself, growing ever larger while the periphery empties.
This pithy two-word Milanese phrase (sometimes expanded) captures Milan's gravitational pull on the rest of Italy. The city has always drawn the best and the most ambitious: from the Sforza artists and architects of the Renaissance, to the southern workers of the postwar miracle, to the Sicilian finance professionals and the Calabrian doctors who staff its hospitals today, to the international fashion designers and tech entrepreneurs of the twenty-first century. Milan magneta — it eats. The metaphor is not gentle: the verb mangiare applied to a city suggests something voracious, even predatory. But the Milanese use it with pride as much as irony: a city that can eat the world is a powerful city. The empty villages of Calabria and Sicily are the meal; Milan is the stomach.
Milanese phrase expressing the city's voracious absorption of talent, capital, and people from across Italy. Milan's gravitational pull on the rest of the country has been a constant feature of Italian geography.
A Calabrian family watching their children move north
Tutti e tre i figli a Milano. Magneta Milan — non riusciamo a tenerli qui.
Los tres hijos en Milán. Milán se lo traga todo — no podemos retenerlos aquí.
A Milanese real estate agent on the city's growth
Ogni anno più gente, più prezzi alti, più costruzioni. Magneta Milan — e ogni anno diventa più cara e più viva.
Cada año más gente, precios más altos, más construcción. Milán se lo traga todo — y cada año se vuelve más cara y más viva.
A Turin professor on brain drain to Milan
I migliori studenti partono per Milano dopo la laurea. Magneta Milan — Torino forma e Milano assume.
Los mejores estudiantes se van a Milán después de licenciarse. Milán se lo traga todo — Turín forma y Milán contrata.
A Milanese entrepreneur on the city's energy
Sono arrivato da Napoli vent'anni fa con una valigia. Magneta Milan — e mi ha dato tutto. Ma ha preso anche molto.
Llegué de Nápoles hace veinte años con una maleta. Milán se lo traga todo — y me dio todo. Pero también tomó mucho.