You booked your trip to Milano for August imagining you could enjoy the best pizza, pasta and gelato around. Apparently someone didn’t tell you than 90% of bars and restaurants are closed with the vast majority of Milanese taking the entire month off to enjoy hippie hikes in the Dolomites or to build up their Instagram catalog on their rich uncle’s boat in Santa.

August in Milano feels a bit like being in the movie Andromeda Strain, with no humans around. However, this is not such a bad thing. That means there is no traffic, easy parking, and most importantly, no “Milanese Imbruttiti”.

Here are the brave restaurants and bars that are still open this month. It’s very likely we could cross paths at one of these Milanese institutions this month, given that nothing else is open.