This is a commercial area full of transport terminals and hotels, which developed around the railway in the second half of the 19th century, and was a prominent target of urban restructuring projects during the Fascist period. The third (yellow) line of the subway runs under its main traffic artery.

At a short distance from the Stazione, the Centro Direzionale (subway Gioia) is a complex of public and private business and administrative offices built in the 50s and 60s around Via Melchiorre Gioia. The Centro Direzionale was conceived as an alternative to the old center, but it has certainly not yet supplanted its administrative role.

Close to the Pirelli, at the corner of Via Galvani and Via Fabio Filzi, is a school building (1888-89) designed by Camillo Boito, who was both an architect and a writer. Boito's novel Senso inspired a film (bearing the same title) by Luchino Visconti.

Milan's original main station was a little closer to the center than the present Stazione Centrale; it had been built in 1864 on the site of today's Piazza Repubblica, and its tracks ran through the town along Viale Tunisia.

The neighboring areas were, for the most part, rebuilt after 1931, when the old station was demolished. In this section of town you can therefore see some buildings which testify to the avant-garde role played by some of Milan's architects in the 20s and 30s. The house at the corner of Piazza Repubblica and Viale Monte Santo was designed by Giovanni Muzio (1935-37). Casa Feltrinelli at Via Manin 37 is by Lodovico Belgiojoso (1934-35). Between Via Moscova and Via Cavalieri stands the famous "Ca' Brutta" (`Ugly House', 1919-23) by Giovanni Muzio. Also in this area (at Via Moscova 3, and in Largo Donegani) are the elegant Montecatini former office buildings (by Gio Ponti, 1938-51).