Milan Design Events 2025

The Milan Design Week for exhibitors and visitors

People often ask me about Design Week Milan. Both visitors and would-be exhibitors. So, I thought I would write this short guide explaining the essential info about the Milan Design Week and the Milan Design Events, 2025. 

Milan Design Week and Events 2025 Essentials

Dates: April, 6-13, 2025
Tickets: Free for events in town, paid admission to the Salone del Mobile (Milan Furniture Fair)

Size: 10 Districts, over 1000 events

Learn more about Milan Design Week 

Exhibition by Jacopo Foggini at Milan Design Week 1999. Photo Andreas Otero, courtesy Jacopo Foggini

What is Milan Design Week

Design Week Milan is a week-long design festival, which takes place in April.
Milan Design Week consists of the Salone del Mobile, in Milan, and Fuorisalone.

What is the Salone del Mobile.Milano

The Salone del Mobile.Milano is a furniture fair that takes place in Rho-Fieramilano pavilions. Admission is charged; you can find all the info at salonemilano.it. Companies in the furniture or related sectors (doors, flooring, textiles) can exhibit at Salone del Mobile. Bathroom furniture, sanitary ware, and faucets (Salone del Bagno). Kitchens and household appliances (Eurocucina). Lighting (Euroluce).
Young designers up to 35 years old can exhibit at SaloneSatellite.

Learn more about Milan Salone del Mobile 

Entrance at Salone del Mobile.Milano, photo Alessandro Russotti, courtesy Salone del Mobile.Milano

What is Fuorisalone

Fuorisalone is a Milan Design Events Festival, that consists of about 1,000 independent events, mostly exhibitions. The events are all free admission.

Fuorisalone started as an alternative to Salone del Mobile, but many exhibitions and events are not related to the furniture industry. The global resonance it has gained over the years prompts many international brands to exhibit at Fuorisalone. Big fashion brands, such as Louis Vuitton or Hermès, take advantage of Fuorisalone to show their collections of objects. On the other hand, large electronics brands, such as Samsung or Huawei, organize events where design becomes the driving force for improving daily life.

How to get around the Fuorisalone

First of all, you need to prepare yourself, and arm yourself with a lot of patience. Milan Design Week events can also be very crowded, so you need to be ready for long lines.
There are several guides to Fuorisalone, or Milan Design Week, but none are really comprehensive, for several reasons.
The guides compiled by magazines and various design portals are fee-based; event organizers pay a fee to be there, so they do not include all the events.
The Fuorisalone.it website is probably the most comprehensive, but it does not have any kind of selection. Anyone can register for their event.

What kind of audience visits Milan Design Week

Given the diversity of events, the audience is also very diverse. The lion’s share, of course, is from furniture buyers. Media and bloggers are present in large numbers, so it is a great opportunity for visibility, as long as you are in the right place.
As already mentioned, Design Week Milan counts about 1,000 design events in a week. Journalists and bloggers who are not from Milan (the majority), rarely stay more than 3, maximum 4 days. If you exhibit for visibility, you have to carefully plan where.

Visitors to Milan Design events, in all, in 2025 probably will number more around 500,000. A part, then, includes design and architecture students, and the general public. Because of this, some exhibitions can be very crowded.

Discover Milan Design Week 2025

Design Week Milan: Brera Design District. Photo Brera Design District

How to visit the Design Week in Milan

Even if you do not visit the Salone del Mobile in Rho-Fieramilano, Milan Design Week requires at least three days to get an idea of the general content. Milan is costly, so three days in Milan may need a substantial investment.
There are many evening events, so staying in Milan is always more convenient. However, some areas are served quite well by trains, so you can also try to stay outside the city to save on the cost of accommodation. Trains are affordable. The public transportation system in Milan is quite efficient, and affordable.
Events are all free admission; some require registration for entry, which can be done directly on-site.
Although the guidebooks do not include all events, they feature maps that are very helpful when visiting various locations.
The different Design Districts feature signage that guides you from one event to the next. Each event participating in that circuit has a banner outside. Moreover, each District has its own map, which can help with visiting.

The Design Districts

Milan Design Week is divided into design districts. Some are occasional, but most are permanent, always the same. The main Milan Design Districts in 2025 are:
– Brera Design District – Brera area
– Durini Design District – Via Durini area
– 5VIE – 5VIE area
– Porta Venezia Design District – Porta Venezia area
– Sarpi Design District – Via Paolo Sarpi area
– Tortona – Via Tortona area (Tortona Rocks, Superstudio 13, Superstudio Più, Tortona Design Week)
– Isola Design Festival – Isola area

Every year, with every new edition, different destinations add to these ones.

How you can exhibit at Milan Design Week

Exhibiting at Design Week in Milan generally involves a significant investment.
Anyone – company, individual designer, institution – can exhibit at Fuorisalone. There are many locations available. However, to participate in Milan Design Week independently, you need to have a very clear and defined communication strategy, and a lot of resources.

There are several ways to exhibit at Milan Design Week

– With an independent event: you choose a location, you rent it, you hire an architect for the exhibition design, and you hire an agency for communication. Or you hire an agency that follows everything from location search to set-up and take-down, to design, to communication

Pros: This is your own event, and cannot be confused with any other
Cons: Requires substantial investment and a lot of experience

– Renting a space in a group exhibition. There are several group exhibitions in Milan; many have an art director who selects the projects. A small brand, or a designer who chooses to participate in a collective, should rely on an expert to be sure they make the right choice.
Collectives, in fact, are not all the same. Some specialize in innovative design, others in collectible design.
Choosing the right exhibition is essential to get the best visibility.
Among the most visited collectives, we can mention the Superdesign Show, Isola Design Festival, Capsule Plaza, Fabbrica del Vapore, and Design Variations, but there are some new initiatives in every edition. So, it’s better to look at the area where the exhibition takes place or the past history to make your choice. It’s also better still to rely on some experienced consultants.

– Creating a one-day event may not be the best idea, especially if one’s brand is not well known yet.

Milan Design Week 2025 Essentials

Dates: April, 6-13, 2025
Tickets: Free for events in town, paid admission to the Salone del Mobile (Milan Furniture Fair)

Size: 10 Districts, over 1000 events

Where to stay

Milan is an expensive city, in general. During Milan Design Week, however, it becomes very expensive, almost unaffordable. To find a place to stay during Milan Design Week, moving well in advance is good.
In addition to this, it may be worth considering staying outside Milan, in a city connected by train. On the Trenord.it website, you can find a map of all train connections in Lombardy (and also in neighboring regions within a reasonable distance from Milan).

Where to eat

For restaurants, the same applies to hotels-they are expensive. Pizza can come to the rescue, as can takeaways. In any case, you can find cheaper restaurants in every area. Apps and sites with budget food in Milan, can help.

Getting around

Milan has a good, fairly efficient public transportation network. Subway, buses, and trams run from early morning (about 6 a.m.) to late evening (midnight). Trenord trains, on the other hand, may have reduced evening runs (10:30, 11:00), always good to check. Some locations are connected by buses, even outside Milan.
On the Regione Lombardia website, https://www.muoversi.regione.lombardia.it/planner/#/home, the planner for planning trips
Alternatively, you can use the Moovit (buses and trams) or Trenit (trains) apps.
You can pay with contactless cards or smartphone on all metro lines, buses and trams. However, it’s better to make passes or tickets for a day or a few days, as needed, to save money. (The contactless card is activated with each ride). More information on tickets and subscriptions is available at atm.mi. Trenord also has Trenord + ATM cumulative tickets available (you must download the Trenord app).
It is very difficult to use cabs these days; you can also have very long lines. There is no cheap transportation in Milan, unlike the car apps available in many cities; Uber is available but not cheap. The only public car available is the cab.
(Updating)