Casa Italia Malpensa, Alitalia lounge review

NB This review is from the pre-pandemic period, currently Alitalia has no intercontinental flights from Malpensa and the lounge is therefore closed

In the daily routine, pre covid, AZ operated only 2 intercontinental routes: one to New York JFK, which departed in the late morning, and one to Tokyo Narita, which departed around 3:30 pm. Of course, the lounge was also available to all Skyteam passengers (Delta, Korean, and the others who operated to MXP).

This resulted in an immaculate lounge, equipped with all AZ standards, such as a pizzeria and pasta station and a small vip room with Frau leather chairs.

If we really want to find a fault with the lounge it is its location, at the bottom of Pier B in the Gate 50 area, about 8 to 10 minutes away from passport control.

My visit was on a flight to Tokyo in Magnifica class, an opportunity to take advantage of honeymooners on Alitalia's 777/200 with my daughter.

The style and design is similar to other AZ lounges: spacious, full of natural light with a beautiful view of the runway. As usual, the rules of entry are ticket in business and/or Winged Arrow or Winged Plus status and of course Skyteam elite plus statuses, as long as you are traveling with an alliance airline.

For lunch, the offerings were rich, including options for vegetarians and people with food intolerances.

The strength certainly lies in being able to order a pizza, which will be freshly prepared and baked in the oven, as well as a pasta dish that will be broiled in the open kitchen. A proper dining area is also available for lunch.

Lounge access is also possible for a fee, and given the range of food and beverages, alcoholic and otherwise, it can be a very viable alternative, even for economy passengers, to the restaurants and bars in the terminal.

The fact that the lounge was almost never crowded made everything much more exclusive, with "table" service and staff available for any request of even the most demanding passengers.

As mentioned the only inconvenience is the positioning, as is the case with the Emirates lounge whose entrance is a few meters away. In case the departure gate is a low number, it takes about ten minutes to reach the other side of the terminal.

Impossible to know today if this lounge will ever be reopened, not knowing what Alitalia's strategies will be regarding the Varese airport. What is certain is that at the moment there are no scheduled AZ flights at this airport, when international connections resume it is possible that it will become a Skyteam lounge and thus at the service of all other airlines.

• Alitalia
• Skyteam