The week of the Salone del Mobile and the Fuorisalone: ​​events and closed roads

The hottest week of the year begins in Milan in terms of tourism, room prices and events: the Design week, i.e. Salone del Mobile, on the one hand, Fuorisalone on the other. From 15 to 21 April the city is transformed.

Through a notice, the Municipality has selected projects and initiatives of public interest dedicated to design to build the official schedule of the Milan Design Week. The growth trend of recent years was confirmed, with 182 initiatives (+3.4% compared to the 2023 edition) for a total of 1,326 events in the city (10.5% more than last year). The map with all scheduled events is available here.

The districts and routes of the Fuorisalone

Exhibitions, exhibitions, events and installations open to the public will animate 18 different neighborhoods of the city, each characterized by its own identity and a different offer. Insiders, but also tourists and citizens, will be able to explore Milan by moving between the areas historically protagonists of the design week: Brera, 5Vie, Durini, Isola, Statale, Tortona.

Two of last year’s new features have been confirmed for 2024: Zona Porta Venezia and Zona Monumentale, which for this edition is enriched by the new itinerary that will develop along the street and the Sarpi district, also involving the Chinese Cultural Center.

There are many proposals spread across the city which will involve the Castello, Porta Romana, Central Station, San Vittore, Quadrilatero della Moda, Bocconi area, Navigli areas, up to the less central ones such as Nolo, Crescenzago and Barona with projects in the name of the circular economy , artisan tradition and experimentation.

Metro open until later and more trains: the ATM guide for the Fuorisalone

Milan Design Week in the buildings

This year too, the event offers citizens and visitors the opportunity to discover the city’s historic buildings which will open their doors to host design-themed initiatives: from Palazzo Litta, which will host some exhibitions of the 5Vie Design Week project, to Palazzo Bovara and Palazzo Castiglioni which will be the spaces for the two Elle Decor projects Material Home and L’Appartamento Spagnolo respectively. It will also be possible to visit Villa Mozart, thanks to the Doppia Firma exhibition of the Cologni Foundation, and Palazzo Morando with the exhibition of photographs by Carlo Valsecchi which will tell the story of the works created over twenty years by the architectural studio of Antonio Citterio and Patricia Viel.

The former archiepiscopal seminary, now Portrait Milano, will be the headquarters of AudiHouse of Progress, while the Gallery of Modern Art will host Hearst’s House of the Architect. Furthermore, Palazzo Giureconsulti will open for Masterly- The Dutch in Milan, while in the Sala dei Pilastri of the Castello Sforzesco it will be possible to visit Stark’s installation, Transitions.

Fashion for Milan Design Week

Fashion and design will also meet in the 2024 edition: from the Milano Moda Design schedule – promoted by the Camera Nazionale della Moda Italiana which will welcome the initiatives dedicated to home collections and the events of fashion brands – to Bottega Veneta and Ralph Lauren which propose installations and projects of great visual impact for the city, in Zegna which, on the occasion of the redesign of the flowerbeds in Piazza Duomo, will give new shape to some city newsstands and its showroom in Via Montenapoleone. Many other events will also involve the Fashion Quadrilatero.

Reuse of abandoned municipal buildings

After the temporary opening of the Marchiondi Institute on the occasion of last year’s Milan Design Week, also for this edition the Administration invited design operators to imagine projects or installations within disused municipal spaces that could be opened to the public for ‘occasion.

The proposals received were selected by a commission made up of the Municipality, Triennale, ADI Design Museum and Polytechnic of Milan which selected two very different projects:

• the former Water House in via Giacosa, a 1920s building inside the Trotter Park, will host an immersive and sensorial installation which will enhance the rooms of the historic building through the theme of water;
• some disused commercial spaces owned by the Municipality in the Cimiano and Niguarda districts will be regenerated to host the exhibitions of young emerging designers and, at the end of the design week, they will be put up for tender to host neighborhood shops serving the neighbourhood.

Traffic blocking in some areas of Milan

To decongest vehicular traffic and allow better use by the public, the Municipality, in collaboration with Amat and in agreement with the main operators in the areas concerned, will carry out temporary pedestrianization projects with elements of tactical urban planning in two of the areas with the greatest concentration of events: Tortona area and Brera area. At the end of the Design Week, the furnishings will be reused for pedestrianization interventions in front of the city’s schools.

There will be several roads closed in the city. Via Solferino, according to the union ordinance published on the notice board of Palazzo Marino, will be closed from Monday 15 April to Friday 19 April from 5pm to 10pm, Saturday 20 April from 2pm to 10pm and Sunday 21 April from 2pm to 8pm. as regards the Tortona area, this is the exact list of closures: Via Savona, from Via Tortona to Via Bergognone; Via Tortona, from Piazzale delle Milizie to Via Forcella and from via Voghera and via Savona; Via Voghera; Via Bergognone, from via Solari to the railway; Via Orseolo Pietro; Via Montevideo, from Via Solari to Via Savona; Via Cerano, from via Savona to via Voghera; Via Novi; Via Forcella Vincenzo; Via Bugatti Gaspare; Via Stendhal, from Via Savona to Via Tortona; Via delle Foppette; Via Ventimiglia; Via Bobbio; Via Barbavara; Largo delle Culture, Piazzale Stazione Genova, railway side.

Priority themes of the 2024 edition

For Milan Design Week 2024, the Municipality asked operators to pay particular attention to 4 priority themes: participation of young designers; the use of circular and sustainable solutions for the creation, reuse or recycling of displays; maximum inclusiveness and access to people with sensory and motor disabilities; solutions to minimize the use of private cars and encourage the use of public transport and cycling and shared mobility.