Milan from 8 to 13 April 2014 becomes the capital of design and furnishing. A week of events throughout the city that attract thousands of visitors and fans of the sector every year.
The main event is the Furniture expo at the Rho-Pero exhibition center where the great interior design brands exhibit the new products and trends of the year. The fair, during the week, is for operators in the sector and the public can only enter on Saturdays and Sundays.
But what is really interesting and what has become a social event for the Milanese is everything that is organized in fuorisalone. At the beginning there were only a few companies that had chosen other locations to exhibit their products, then it became a real circuit that has infected architects, designers but also students and lovers of events who during the week turn to show rooms, exhibitions and aperitifs. That of design, together with that of fashion, is one of the moments in which Milan becomes cooler and more trendy, in which it attracts many foreign visitors and during which the city comes alive by day and by night.
The Fuorisalone locations are:
Zona Tortona which is the most important, largest area and where this phenomenon started. To host companies, products and emerging artists there are some old abandoned factories that are transformed for the occasion into fascinating stages and in which one feels a bit in New York, with large lofts, industrial spaces and modern or vintage furniture. Throughout the week, events, workshops, performances and tastings are organized in which design also meets food, with Lombard recipes and reinterpretations, classic dishes and street food, tradition and innovation. Via Tortona and neighboring streets are located in the southern area of Milan and can be reached by taking the green line underground, getting off at the Porta Genova or Sant'Agostino stop.
In the center of Milan is instead the Brera Design District. In this case, the shops and courtyards of the old Milan are the host companies and the background for kitchens, furnishings and objects. One of the most historic and important areas of the city, near the renowned academy and the Pinacoteca di Brera, where painters and artists are always at home. Whole apartments are set up for the occasion, you enter, sit down, often you can even come across an aperitif and you feel, for a moment, as if you were at home.
Not far from Brera is also located Corso Como, one of the trendy areas of the city that comes alive during the design week, one of those nightlife streets, with louge bars and clubs where it is easy to meet VIPs and celebrities.
And then there again Steam Factory, a beautiful abandoned area, transformed into a cultural center for events and exhibitions that hosts installations, exhibitors and performances for the occasion.
A new circuit has been added since 2010, the one called Ventura Lambrate with a selection of emerging designers, academies and niche companies who have chosen to exhibit in a location between urban and industrial in the Lambrate station area to the east of the city.
One of the new places of the design week is the Sarpi Bridge in the area of the Lombard capital where the Chinese community has settled. This new location joined the events to bring oriental creativity to Milan defining itself as "a bridge between East and West". It is the first Oriental design week in Italy and presents new and unconventional proposals.
And if you are not yet tired you can take a tour of the city's civic museums. In fact, during the Salone, you can visit the Museo del Novecento, the Archaeological Museum, the Natural History Museum, the Castello Sforzesco Museums, Palazzo Morando, the Civic Aquarium, the Gallery of Modern Art and the Museum of the Risorgimento for free.
In short, there will be events and places to spend an interesting week in Milan.
