Tracing Loona’s steps in Milan

<< Original article: Tracing Loona’s steps: how I visited the places where Loona has been in Europe

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In 2022 I traveled around Europe, and I took this opportunity to visit several places where the members of K-Pop group Loona have been, including some music video and photoshoot locations, and then I did the same the following year when I was in Paris. Each time, I tried to take the same pictures as the members of the group, and I showed my results with an article and an explanation on where these places are and how you can reach them. If this is your first time here (and especially if you don’t know much about Loona), I suggest reading the two previous articles for a bit of background on how I managed to do all of this, the links are above. I will also assume that you know about Loona’s history and current situation, but if you don’t, the important thing to know is that they’re currently split into the two groups ARTMS (HeeJin, HaSeul, Kim Lip, JinSoul, and Choerry) and Loossemble (HyunJin, YeoJin, ViVi, Go Won, and HyeJu), and the two soloists Yves and Chuu.

This time my destination was Milan, and I was there to see the ARTMS concert on May 8th. The previous time I visited this city was last August, when I was lucky enough to win a spot for Yves’ first international fansign, which was held in Milan on August 17th, 2024. We soon found out that Yves also had another reason to be there, as she filmed the music video for her song “Tik Tok” in Milan. So, since I was in Milan, I spent the days before and after the ARTMS concert looking for the places where Yves filmed this video.

These places are split into three groups: around the Milan Cathedral, along the Navigli, and on Viale Sabotino near Porta Romana. Starting with the first group, various scenes of the music video were filmed near the Milan Cathedral, which can be seen in the background a few times. In some scenes, Yves is standing next to the railing at the southwestern end of Piazza del Duomo, next to the stairs of the metro station at the crossroads with Via Orefici, Via Torino, and Via Mazzini (Google Maps, coordinates: 45.4639, 9.1885).

In another scene, Yves is instead at the northwestern corner of the square, next to another set of stairs of the metro station and the mailboxes, with the Cathedral in the background (Google Maps, coordinates: 45.4648, 9.1886). There are also some other moments from the video in which Yves is around the Cathedral, including next to the site where people line up to enter the church (which was empty when she was there, but full of tourists when I passed by) and in front of the museum on the other side of the road. A few scenes were also filmed inside the Duomo metro station, and I actually took the metro there, but once again I couldn’t take pictures because it was too full of people.

This scene was filmed next to the railing at the crossroads on the southwestern corner of Piazza del Duomo.

This scene was instead filmed near the mailboxes and the stairs of the metro station at the northwestern corner of Piazza del Duomo.

There are also several other scenes from the music video filmed not far from the Cathedral. These include a moment in which Yves is looking at a painting on the ground, and I actually found that this was an art installation along Via dei Mercanti, but it was temporary, and it wasn’t there anymore when I visited. Along the same road is Palazzo della Ragione, and another place from the “Tik Tok” music video can be found here, as Yves was sitting on a wall on this building along the narrow alley on the western side. More specifically, Yves sat on the southernmost half of the wall, the one closest to Piazza dei Mercanti and below the arch (Google Maps, coordinates: 45.4649, 9.1875).

From Piazza dei Mercanti, a passageway leads to Via Orefici, and the bus stop here (marked as “Via Orefici Piazza Cordusio”) appears in the music video, including the thumbnail (Google Maps, coordinates: 45.4646, 9.1872). The last place in this area is instead located along the nearby Via Spadari, and is a store named Peck, in front of which Yves walked by in the music video (Google Maps, coordinates: 45.4636, 9.1871).

Yves was sitting here, on the wall on the side of Palazzo della Ragione along the alley on the western edge of the building.

Yves was also here, next to bus station “Via Orefici Piazza Cordusio” on Via Orefici.

Yves walked by this store located in Via Spadari, not far from the Milan Cathedral.

The second group of places is located in another famous area of Milan, along a canal known as Naviglio Grande in the Navigli neighborhood. The first place here is a wall on which Yves leaned on, located along the road facing a water basin called Darsena del Naviglio, at the northern end of Naviglio Grande (Google Maps, coordinates: 45.4524, 9.1773). Next up, at the start of the “Tik Tok” music video there’s a shot of the road located along the canal, which was filmed around Ripa di Porta Ticinese 27 (Google Maps, coordinates: 45.4517, 9.1749).

Continuing along the same road, the next place is a pizzeria called Il Vero OK, in front of which Yves passed by (Google Maps, coordinates: 45.4515, 9.1740). Just next to it is a bridge called Ponte Alda Merini, where Yves filmed a few more scenes from the music video (Google Maps, coordinates: 45.4515, 9.1738). Yves also filmed another scene on the next bridge located along the same canal, Ponte Enrico Molteni (Google Maps, coordinates: 45.4510, 9.1713).

Yves leaned on this wall on the road facing Darsena del Naviglio, at the northern end of Naviglio Grande.

This shot from the “Tik Tok” music video was taken around Ripa di Porta Ticinese 27.

In the “Tik Tok” music video, Yves walked by this pizzeria located on Ripa di Porta Ticinese.

A few scenes from the music video were filmed on Ponte Alda Merini along the Naviglio Grande.

This scene was instead filmed on another bridge along the same canal, Ponte Enrico Molteni.

The final group of locations from the “Tik Tok” music video are all along the same road, Viale Sabotino, in the Porta Romana neighborhood southeast of the center of Milan. Starting from Porta Romana and heading west along Viale Sabotino, the first place here is the balcony on which Yves was standing in the music video. This building is located at Viale Sabotino 12, and the shot of the balcony with the trees in front of it was taken from the small garden just across the street (Google Maps, coordinates: 45.4510, 9.1993). Just at the crossroads on the side of this building is a small bar called Bar dell’Angolo, and Yves was sitting just outside this place in some scenes from the music video (Google Maps, coordinates: 45.4508, 9.1991). In another moment filmed nearby, Yves is next to a white gate, which is also located along the same road, a few meters more west (Google Maps, coordinates: 45.4509, 9.1983).

This building is located at Viale Sabotino 12.

This bar, called Bar dell’Angolo, is located at the crossroads between Viale Sabotino and Via Altaguardia.

This white gate is located further west on Viale Sabotino.

Finally, several scenes of the “Tik Tok” music video were filmed in a supermarket. This place, called Pam Milano Sabotino, is also located along the same road, more specifically at Viale Sabotino 6, just next to the white gate I mentioned before (Google Maps, coordinates: 45.4509, 9.1980). Inside the supermarket, the fruit stand that appears in the video can be found right at the entrance. Various other scenes were filmed inside this place, including the moment in which Yves was holding a candle with the number 9. This area of the supermarket is located towards the back, next to the sign reading “preparati per dolci”. When I went there, unfortunately there were no more candles with the number 9, so I took my picture with an upside-down 6 instead, and I think that’s good enough.

Various scenes were filmed inside the Pam Milano Sabotino supermarket, the fruit stand is located right at the entrance.

Yves walked through this area of the supermarket near the sign reading “preparati per dolci”.

This scene was also filmed in the same area of the supermarket, near the “preparati per dolci” sign.

This concludes the tour of the “Tik Tok” music video locations, but there are a few more places in Milan worth mentioning. The day after the concert, the ARTMS members visited the city, and while unfortunately I didn’t meet them while walking around, they went to various places where I’ve been before. HeeJin, JinSoul, and Kim Lip posted several pictures taken in Milan after I had already left, so I couldn’t take the same photos as them, but the places are easy to recognize, so I’ll list them here. I might update this article in the future with new pictures after my next visit to Milan (HeeJin’s post, JinSoul’s post, Kim Lip’s post).

HeeJin and JinSoul walked around Milan together, and they posted pictures inside Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II (HeeJin’s 5th and 6th photo, Google Maps, coordinates: 45.4657, 9.1900), and just outside of it, at the western exit (HeeJin’s 7th photo, JinSoul’s 1st and 2nd photo, Google Maps, coordinates: 45.4656, 9.1893). HeeJin’s 12th photo in her post was taken at the northwestern corner of Piazza del Duomo, with the Milan Cathedral in the background (Google Maps, coordinates: 45.4646, 9.1891). Other photos they posted were instead taken outside the Mondadori bookstore at the crossroads between Piazza del Duomo and Via Mazzini (HeeJin’s 13th photo, JinSoul’s 7th photo, Google Maps, coordinates: 45.4635, 9.1885). HeeJin and JinSoul also visited the Navigli area, and HeeJin’s 8th photo was taken next to the northern end of the Naviglio Grande, along the road called Alzaia Naviglio Grande (Google Maps, coordinates: 45.4522, 9.1761). The day after their concert, HeeJin and JinSoul went to another concert together, which was held at a venue called Fabrique (HeeJin’s photos from the 17th onwards, and JinSoul’s photos from the 10th onwards, Google Maps, coordinates: 45.4524, 9.2523). Kim Lip instead posted a few photos from another area of Milan, at a pedestrian crossing on Foro Buonaparte, not far from the Sforza Castle (Kim Lip’s 4th, 5th, and 6th photo, Google Maps, coordinates: 45.4689, 9.1828).

This is the end of the Loona-related places in Milan, but since I was there, I took the opportunity to visit another interesting location linked with a K-Pop idol. This past February, Karina of aespa went to Milan for a fashion event, and she visited Villa Necchi Campiglio, a historic residence in the center of the city. As shown in the vlog posted some time later on aespa’s YouTube channel, Karina also signed the guestbook of the villa, so I looked for her message. Luckily, the book was still there, in the store located just at the entrance of the villa, so I found Karina’s message with her signature, and I left my own small message just next to hers (Karina’s Milan vlog, the scene in which she signs the guestbook starts at minute 18:15, Google Maps, coordinates: 45.4687, 9.2020). It’s not necessary to go inside the villa to see the guestbook, since it’s located in the store right at the entrance, which can be visited freely.

Karina’s message on the guestbook of Villa Necchi Campiglio as seen in her video at the bottom, and on the top a picture I took of her message with my own message just next to it.

Once again, I had a lot of fun looking for all these places, and finding them was extremely satisfying. I honestly didn’t think that I would be able to find some of these, like the supermarket from the “Tik Tok” music video, so I was really happy that I managed to do it. Finding Karina’s message also felt really rewarding, especially considering that it might not be there for long, as the guestbook only had a few empty pages left, and it might be replaced with a new one soon. In any case, as I said in the previous articles, I will keep doing this every time I’m in some place where the Loona members have filmed something, so the journey through the Loonaverse will continue.

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