The antique festival has revived nostalgia for the Naviglio Grande and created tourism. The restaurants feature a variety of cuisine. The cafes provide meeting spots. A student bookstore offers discount prices. The streets echo with the sounds of trolleys moving along the canal and car tires rolling across heavy paving stones.
A short distance from here can be found the site where canal water was channeled to a "washing area" covered with open-air, tent-like roofs. Here the women clothes-washers practiced their trade.