The Milan districts to visit during Milan Design Week 2022

Milan celebrates the arrival of the warm season by making a great start with events, pop-up stores, installations that from 6 to 12 June will populate showrooms, windows, historic buildings and entire streets on the occasion of Design Week and Fuorisalone. Many events (even free) to explore, where the signatures of the most famous names in the world of Italian architecture and furniture are concentrated to offer a unique point of view for the innovation of science that studies the relationship between body and space, with a hopeful look beyond the restart and towards the future. In this moment more unique than rare, Nss G-Club brings you to the areas in the center of Milan that will light up design in search of the right creative stimuli with which to fill your eyes to start the year again in a great way, and why not also the belly: the places where to make a culinary stop are included in the article, for an itinerary in the name of design in all its forms, from the planning to the table.

5vie

The 5vie association has been working since 2013 to relaunch the smaller areas of the historic centre of Milan. The beauty of a city that grows between urban history and craftsmanship is hidden between Piazza dei Mercanti passing through Via dei Meravigli and Corso Magenta, meeting Via Torino and Corso di Porta Ticinese in a curious coexistence of elegance and street culture. Getting lost by bike on Via Santa Marta, Via Santa Maria Podone, Via Santa Maria Fulcorina, Via Bochetto and Via del Bollo means living a real local experience.

Events: Prototyping Utopias is the theme that unites the events of the 5Vie district. The most interesting are two. The first will be held at 14 Via Cesare Correnti, where Centro Studi Poltronova presents a focus on the work of Archizoom Associati, a radical collective founded in 1966 in Florence by architects Branzi, Corretti, Deganello and Morozzi. The second is Design Pride, a street parade animated by floats, music, dancing and performances that will start on Wednesday 8 June from Piazza Castello (corner of Via Minghetti), invade the 5VIE District and end in Piazza Affari with the final party by Sammontana.

Have a bite at: Chiosco Mentana, for a drink, a sandwich on the fly and a bite of a slow Milan that smells of history or from Sixieme, bistro Space Six in via Scaldasole 7, which houses the installation "Mezzoterra Mezzomare. I mediterranei - Love Difference chairs" by Michelangelo Pistoletto, father of Italian Arte Povera.

Tortona

In Tortona even the air smells of design: the most active creative district of the city houses large showrooms and exhibition spaces that pulsate with fashion and art at different times of the year. The bricks of the buildings change shape under the creative flair of the artists who interpret the environment at every design week, while graffiti and windows are mixed with the industrial effect of glass and steel of the huge buildings such as BASE, home of the fashion fair WHITE, Armani Silos and Superstudio+.

Events: Via Bergognone 34, BASE Milano, We Will Design 2022, where international designers, universities, institutions, companies and emerging brands rethink the research and design of new ways of experiencing community in a unique location; also at BASE Milano, Ikea is hosting its Festival with talks and immersive experiences; while at Via Tortona 27, Superstudio +, there is Superstudio Show with a sort of spontaneous village themed Looking Ahead. From 7 to 12 June, from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m., at Viale Gabriele D'Annunzio 20 you can visit the Floating Forest, a floating multisensory forest created at the Darsena in Milan by Timberland in collaboration with Stefano Boeri Interiors. Via Tortona 56, Cariplo Factory, here Cancellato Uniform will present its first pop-up store designed by architect and art designer Caterina Fumagalli, to explore Diletta Cancellato's clothing line and its aesthetics, amid artistic performances curated by Carlotta Franco, architect and music curator of Fritto FM.

Have a bite at: The Botanical Club, Via Tortona 33 innovative cocktail bar with a sophisticated design, where you can try pokè and Hawaiian flavors.

Montenapoleone

It’s the fifth most expensive street in the world, after the Champs-Elysées and Upper 5th Avenue, where the most exclusive pret-a-porter boutiques are concentrated. Take a walk through Via Montenapoleone is equivalent to drawing up a long list of wishes in terms of fashion and design.

Events: The association that brings together over 120 Global Luxury Brands has dedicated the Montenapoleone Design Experience to 1970s Italian design with a new open-air photographic exhibition, visible from 6 to 12 June in Via Montenapoleone, recalling the importance and brilliance of the exhibition Italy: The New domestic landscape organized in 1972 at the Moma in New York and curated by architect Emilio Ambasz.

Have a bite at: Via Montenapoleone 9, Marchesi 1824, for a sweet break at an institution in terms of Italian pastry and Milanese history, owned by Prada Group or Via Durini 26, for a quick sandwich from Panini Durini in the street that gives the name to the Italian chain.

Porta Venezia/Palestro

The chorus of the Myss Keta hit contains a slice of life shared by many young people in search of beauty, autonomy and fashion in the background of the historic city gate. The area is full of Art Nouveau period buildings and elegant boutiques, which coexist in a particular atmosphere with the local cradle of history as well as the LGBTQ+ community: here rise the Mono, the Redcafè, Leccomilano and Lelephant, Milan Pride is held every year in June.

Events: Via Palestro 16, GAM Galleria d'Arte Moderna, Dear Joe Colombo, you taught us the future, an exhibition dedicated to architect and designer Joe Colombo. Via San Gregorio 29, Salone dei Tessuti, Moooi A Life Extraordinary, an exhibition of the Dutch brand founded by Marcel Wanders and Casper Vissers. 

Have a bite at: Via Palestro 18, Lùbar, garden restaurant and cafeteria, also in food truck version to live the season or via Mozart 10, at the Café of Villa Necchi Campiglio, Villa del Fondo Ambiente Italiano for a magical moment between beauty and nature.

Brera

The heart of the fashion district, one of the most chic districts, with a charm closely linked to Italian art and history, nightmare for valets. The timeless charm does not change from season to season despite the numerous cultural initiatives that animate the poetic area that attracts thousands of curious tourists all year round. Here, the Art Gallery and the Academy of Fine Arts carry the banner of creativity between history and innovation.

Events: Via Clerici 5, Palazzo Clerici, Porsche will explore the interaction between nature and technology through The Art of Dreams and the work of floral artist Ruby Barber. During the week, Palazzo Clerici will also offer other special initiatives, such as yoga sessions in the morning in collaboration with CiaoMondo di Licia Florio. Via Formentini 10, Casa Brera, FENIX with The Wall of Wonders, offers an experiential journey in the location transformed for the occasion by artist Gustaf von Arbin and designer duo CARA\DAVIDE. Inspired in Barcelona: a gathering place will transform the spaces of Via Madonnina 12 into a Spanish-style concept bar.

Have a bite at: Via Ponte Veneto 11, Salsamenteria di Parma, tasty for the palate, light for the pockets or Piazza San Marco 6, Clotilde for a Milanese lunch doc.

Magenta 

The district that unravels to the west of the Duomo, extending as far as Parco Sempione and the Castello Sforzesco area, to the south, along the Corso Magenta axis and then as far as Viale Papiniano, is full of 19th- and 20th-century palazzi with their stunning Art Nouveau and Art Deco façades, cafés and luxurious pastry shops, but the real place to be cultured is the Galleria Rossana Orlandi, a true institution in the world of design.

Events: Via Matteo Bandello, 14/16, Rossana Orlandi's Galleria hosts the in-house exhibition RoCOLLECTIBLE 2022/Designers & Crafters and, in particular, The Danish House, a project that brings together all aspects of Danish making from the green soul to the colours inspired by Scandinavian nature to the furnishings of brands such as Ferm LIVING, Louis Poulsen and Muuto.

Have a bite at: Corso Magenta 9, Bistrò, for homemade bread and pasta, also gluten-free; Corso Magenta 66, Cavoli a Merenda, an atmospheric restaurant hidden inside a late 18th-century flat with a menu that follows the seasonality of raw materials.

Inganni 

An area that, thanks to converted industrial locations, has become a hub of new Milanese landmarks for design, clubs and special projects such as Alcova, which explores the new frontiers of design through events, talks, installations, site-specific projects and live performances.

Events: Via Saint Bon 1, Alcova 2022 reopens the doors of the urban park of the Milan Military Hospital Centre for major brands such as SolidNature, which presents new works by Sabine Marcelis and OMA, UMPRUM, the Water School by Studio Makkink & Bey, Muthesius Academy Kiel, Formafantasma, Studio Plastique, Snøhetta and many others.

Have a bite at: Via Saint Bon 1, Offcut Bar, the new bar in a lounge area designed by Soldi Nature, ANSlight, ZEITRAUM and 5Spaces/ZigZag Zurich is perfect for a coffee break and happy hour.

Isola

One of the city's liveliest and trendiest Isola neighborhoods, where past and present meet, including graffiti, trendy boutiques, organic groceries and second-hand shops, ethnic restaurants and nightclubs like the legendary Blue Note, Milan's temple of jazz music.

Events: Via Pastrengo 7, Spazio Gamma, Materialized explores the world of sustainable and innovative biomaterials; Via Confalonieri 21 will host the exhibition The New Paradigma, between design objects and live performances; Via Farini 35, an industrial loft is the location of Rising Talents, an exhibition dedicated to recent graduates who will present the best projects of their university careers; Via G. De Castillia 26, Stecca 3.0, No Space for Waste to reflect on the importance of recycling with projects made with waste materials to minimize environmental impact.

Have a bite at: Via Luigi Porro Lambertenghi 25, Casa Ramen for a lunch break; Via Luigi Porro Lambertenghi 15, I'le douce for a moment of sweetness with the creations of pastry chef Fabrizio Barbato. 

Farini 

The Farini district, home to the famous Alcatraz, location of the city's most rockin' concerts, is undergoing a continuous transformation. Its next phase will be green thanks to the regeneration of the seven disused railway yards that will become the site of a large park of about 300,000 square meters.

Events: Viale Lancetti 34, Nilufar Depot, gallery owner Nina Yashar's second Milanese space, alternates projects and installations by 17 different designers and artists including Analogia Project, Architude, Ashley Hicks, Draga & Aurel, EDXXKAT and Sophie Dries, Vibeke.

Have a bite at: Via Carlo Farini 38, Uzbek, for a sensory journey between Russia, Uzbekistan, Korea and Italy, tasting borsch soup, plov, somsa and many other delicacies.

Certosa 

Symbol of the great urban transformations that are characterizing Milan, with green spaces, new squares and innovative architecture Certosa is transforming itself from a former industrial area into a center of sociality and leisure, an ideal location for creative industries and innovative companies.

Events: Via Barnaba Oriani 27, Certosa Initiative, a curation and exhibition project in a post-industrial building of over 10,000 square meters will host brands and artists from different disciplines interacting with each other.

Have a bite at: Via Privata della Bindellina, Innocenti Evasioni, if you want to dine in one of Milan's most beautiful Zen gardens with dishes by star chef Tommaso Arrigoni.