The name Porta Venezia is commonly used to refer both to the gate proper and to the surrounding district (quartiere), part of the Zone 3 of Milan.

[2][3][4] In 2019, after a commercial advertisement campaign by Netflix Italia for the 2018 Milano Pride, Mayor Giuseppe Sala announced that the Porta Venezia metro station would have become a Rainbow Station, thanks to the agreement with the ATM metro service: the rainbow colored wallpaper would have been indefinitely kept making Porta Venezia Italy's first official LGBT-dedicated urban transport stop.

[7] A gate whose location and direction roughly correspond to those of modern Porta Venezia was already part of the Roman walls of Milan (then Mediolanum), which were expanded in the Middle Ages.

Piermarini's work was continued by his student Luigi Cagnola, who built a first temporary triumphal arch to celebrate the visit of Eugène de Beauharnais.

[10] The area surrounding Porta Venezia has been recognized as a distinct "rione" (the medieval equivalent of the modern "quartiere", i.e., a district) since the 12th century.

Despite the district having a medieval origin, most of the surviving architecture in the area is from the 19th and 20th Century, with neoclassicism and Art Nouveau being the prominent styles.

[13] Another specific trait of Porta Venezia is the number of night life venues, such as restaurants (many of them started by immigrants and serving African, Asian, or South American cuisine) and "trendy" and underground night clubs; for this reason, Porta Venezia is one of the centres of the so-called "Milanese movida".

[14] The district has both a minor railway station (Stazione di Porta Venezia) and several stops of the Milan Metro subway (Line 1).

Along Corso Buenos Aires, there are large department stores, cheap clothing boutiques and shoe shops, as well as supermarkets.