Hospitals in Milan: Emergency Care Guide for Expats (2026)

Getting to grips with the hospitals in Milan before you need one is the kind of admin that pays for itself at three in the morning. The city’s emergency network is one of the densest in Italy, almost all public and open every day of the year. This guide covers the 112 line, which hospitals run a 24 hour pronto soccorso, what the triage colours mean, how the health service pays, and the free number for urgent problems that are not emergencies.

Dial 112 first, always

If someone is unconscious, has chest pain, is bleeding heavily or is in any life threatening state, do not drive between hospitals in Milan looking for the right one. Call 112. It is the single European emergency number, free from any phone, and in Lombardy it is answered by AREU, the regional emergency agency, which dispatches ambulance, police and fire from one centre.

The operator decides whether you need an ambulance and which emergency department you go to. That call is theirs, not yours. Install the official Where ARE U app: it sends your GPS position to the 112 centre and lets deaf callers make contact by chat.

Public hospitals in Milan with a 24 hour pronto soccorso

Emergency care here is called pronto soccorso. The hospitals in Milan that run one staff it around the clock, holidays included, and larger sites keep a separate paediatric emergency room. Every address and number below comes from each hospital’s own official site.

Not all hospitals in Milan are public. Large private and accredited institutions exist too, IRCCS Ospedale San Raffaele being the best known. Their details change more often than public ASST ones, so read them off the provider’s own website, not a directory.

Triage codes and the 25 euro white code fee

You are seen in order of clinical severity, never in order of arrival. Lombardy uses a five level triage scale, and a nurse assigns your code before any doctor sees you.

Here is the catch. A white code at discharge carries a fixed 25 euro fee, subject to national and regional exemptions, and you are charged the same way if you leave before your discharge report is closed, whatever colour triage gave you. Under 14s are exempt. That fee is why the hospitals in Milan are not the first stop for a sore throat. The free regional app Salutile Pronto Soccorso shows how many people are queueing at each Lombardy emergency department.

How the SSN pays for hospitals in Milan

Italy’s national health service, the Servizio Sanitario Nazionale, is what makes the public hospitals in Milan affordable. Emergency stabilisation happens regardless of paperwork, but everything after it is easier once you hold a tessera sanitaria and a medico di base, the family doctor who is your route to specialists and prescriptions.

1. Get your codice fiscale from the Agenzia delle Entrate, and register your address with the Comune di Milano if your status requires it.
2. Take your codice fiscale, photo ID, proof of why you live in Italy and a self certification of residence to an ASST scelta e revoca desk.
3. Pick your medico di base, or a paediatrician for children, from the list covering your address.
4. Many Lombardy pharmacies do this free, no appointment, if you bring your health card.
5. Ask ATS Milano (Corso Italia 52, 20122 Milano, +39 02 85781) which desk covers you.

EU citizens not yet resident should travel with the European Health Insurance Card from home. Until registration is live, private cover fills the gap, and policies such as ektatraveling.com are worth comparing on excess, network and repatriation. Non EU nationals outside compulsory registration can enrol voluntarily against an annual contribution set by national law; confirm the current figure at an ATS or ASST desk, since it has been revised more than once.

Urgent but not an emergency, and staying reachable

Most out of hours problems are not emergency department problems. Lombardy runs the European harmonised number 116117 for that gap: free, region wide, answered by a doctor or trained operator, and open to visitors as well as residents through the guardia medica turistica. It runs Monday to Friday from 20:00 to 08:00, and 24 hours on holidays and the days before them. If your case is genuinely urgent the operator passes you to 112 rather than leave you hunting for hospitals in Milan yourself.

• Pharmacies absorb much of what elsewhere clogs A and E. Federfarma Milano (Viale Piceno 18, 20129 Milano, +39 02 7481121) covers Milan, Monza e Brianza and Lodi, and its free FarmaciaAperta app finds tonight’s pharmacy on duty.
• In working hours call your medico di base first, and bring photo ID, your tessera sanitaria and your codice fiscale to any emergency department.

None of this helps if your phone is dead the day you land. A travel eSIM set up before you fly means you can dial 112 from the airport: airalo.com and saily.com sell Italy plans, though data only eSIMs carry no voice number, so keep a voice SIM too. A multi currency account such as revolut.com softens paying a white code ticket, and since triage happens in Italian, a few weeks on italki.com repay themselves the first time you describe a symptom.

Frequently Asked Questions

What number do I call for an ambulance in Milan?

Dial 112 from any phone. It is the single European emergency number, free from mobiles and landlines, and in Lombardy it is answered by AREU, which dispatches ambulance, police and fire from one regional centre.

Which hospitals in Milan have a 24 hour emergency department?

Niguarda, the Ospedale Maggiore Policlinico, Fatebenefratelli e Oftalmico, San Paolo and San Carlo Borromeo all run a pronto soccorso every day of the year. Niguarda, San Paolo and San Carlo staff paediatric emergency rooms around the clock, and Fatebenefratelli adds an eye emergency.

Do I have to pay to use the hospitals in Milan?

Emergency treatment at public hospitals in Milan is covered by the national health service, but a white code at discharge, meaning the problem was not urgent, carries a fixed 25 euro fee subject to exemptions. Leaving before discharge is closed is charged the same way. Under 14s are exempt.

What is 116117 and when should I use it instead of 112?

116117 is Lombardy’s free non urgent medical line, open Monday to Friday from 20:00 to 08:00 and 24 hours on holidays and the days before them. Use it for out of hours care that is not life threatening. Keep 112 for breathing, consciousness, chest pain, heavy bleeding or injury.

How do I get a tessera sanitaria and a family doctor?

Go to an ASST scelta e revoca desk with your codice fiscale, photo ID, proof of why you live in Italy and a self certification of residence, and pick your medico di base there. Many Lombardy pharmacies do it free. ATS Milano on +39 02 85781 says which desk covers you.

Expat Essentials for Milan

A few quick wins make settling into Milan easier while you work through this guide. An Airalo eSIM keeps you online from the moment you land, a pre-booked Welcome Pickups transfer takes the stress out of arrival day, and NordVPN protects your logins on public wifi. See our full list of trusted services below.

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Written by FinePassport team