What is the minimum salary required to live comfortably in Milan, Italy

It really depends on your lifestyle. If you are willing to have a few roommates and live in some nice but perhaps not centrally-located neighborhoods, you can certainly live on $30k, $40k, $50k per year. Anything less than $30k is going to be really hard, but I've known people who have done that also. If you want your own place 1-2 bedroom, assume you will spend $1500 / month - $3000 / month. Then you'd be better off making at least $80k - $100k, of course.

When I was 20 I lived in a private hostel that's one step in the social ladder above a homeless shelter. It was in SoMa right above an offbeat club that plays loud music till 3AM. I shared the room with 5 people, 3 of which were "residents" and 2 random visitors/tourists who changed every week. The hostel had a free use kitchen and fridge storage, so I bought cheap wholesale food at Costco and cooked every day. It was quite comfortable for me and it cost $12/night + $5-10/day for food. I could easily live doing just temporary jobs and quitting them whenever I felt like. 10 years later, life made me soft. I now require my own apartment, in a nice neighborhood, with private parking space and better be close to the company's shuttle. It takes some $80K/yr before tax to live like this.