For decades the Lombard capital was identified with its Fiera Campionaria, the trade show centre which in turn grew out of the city’s experience of hosting the Universal Expo early in the last century. Following the re-organization of its exhibition facilities in the Eighties, Milan also became one of the first cities in Europe to launch specialized trade shows and to turn events at the expo centre into real international showcases.

A strategic step that has confirmed Greater Milan’s expo vocation is the opening of the new Fieramilano Exhibition Centre, at Pero-Rho, and the prospect of re-qualifying the former exhibition centre in the heart of the city. Milan can now offer itself as a global showcase with record European exhibition space totalling 710 thousand square metres.
The decision to focus on the new Fiera as one of Milan’s, Lombardy’s and Italy’s fundamental assets is reflected in the sheer scale of the investments made – some 800 million euros – and by the number of jobs created by the events hosted and their fallout: over 40 thousand, making the Exhibition Centre Lombardy’s biggest employer.

Along with Paris and New York, Milan is still unanimously recognized as the capital of world fashion. When the latest season’s collections are presented, the whole city is abuzz with fashion shows, stylists, models, buyers, industrialists and reporters from the world’s press.

An event on an even more pervasive and massive scale is the Salone Internazionale del Mobile, now into its 18th year. The Salone is not only the world’s number one event for the latest and greatest in international home design and furnishings; it is a huge workshop that takes over the city, with scores of side events that invade Milan’s public spaces and galleries and which, in just seven days, sees an influx of hundreds of thousands of foreign operators, designers, spectators and tourists, especially young people.