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| Milan set for make-over in the run-up to Expo 2015 |
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The city has launched a series of large-scale regeneration projects, with the biggest conference centre in Europe under development. Hotel accommodation is also growing, with international chains and fashion designers competing for the best locations in the city centre. This dynamic backdrop provides a setting for the areas in which Milan excels, sport and design, around which events programmes can be tailored.
 
The bid and then assignment of the tender to host Expo 2015 have undeniably sparked a process of regeneration through numerous re-development projects covering around 10.5 million sqm of unused former industrial land in the centre and the outskirts. In the future, Milan will have a new skyline, road network and districts, but above all fresh services and facilities. These will include the City of Fashion, the European Library of Information and Culture, a laboratory-museum of contemporary culture based on the Beaubourg model in Paris and a state-of-the-art bio-medical research centre, all designed by leading international architects such as Renzo Piano, Zaha Hadid, Daniel Libeskind, Arata Isozaki, Cesar Pelli and Norman Foster.
Milan will have a more modern look, in addition to its long-standing appeal as a city that caters for large numbers: it is the centre of an area with a population of 10 million, accounts for 10% of national GDP, registers 40% of new Italian patents for innovations, and sells ten million tickets a year for shows, art and music. Inbound figures are equally impressive: 70,000 beds in the city; an airport system capable of dealing with 36 million passengers a year, and a rail network with more than 100 trains running a day.
Alongside those of the health-research sector (two faculties of medicine, nine large hospitals, 1,897 companies operating in the health industry with more than 30,000 employees, 20,000 researchers, 124 pharmaceutical companies), these numbers have for years ensured Milan’s place on the European circuit of large medical-scientific conferences.
The city boasts some extensive venues, including Milano Convention Centre (MIC), Italy’s largest, located in the former trade fair area: opened in 2002 and doubled in size in 2005, it now has a capacity of 25,000, and if it gets the go-ahead, the project to convert another pavilion adding more rooms for a total of 10,500 seats will make it the biggest in Europe. |
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 A bright future
Winning the Expo has stimulated the city’s whole business community, including the hotel industry, which is estimated to reach the target of 100,000 beds by the end of 2015.
Two areas have experienced the greatest growth: the first is the city centre, where the major international chains are vying for the best locations and spaces, often in historic buildings. Spring has seen the opening, in the rising area of the City of Fashion, of the Crowne Plaza Milan City, equipped with a conference centre and a spa on the spectacular, panoramic winter roof garden; in 2009 it will be the turn of the Grand Hotel Duomo, an historic hotel located right in front of the cathedral, in the very city centre, set to reopen as part of the InterContinental Hotels Group, and, in January 2010, of W Milan, the first in Italy under the luxury Starwood brand in the “bohemian” quarter of Brera. 2010 will see also the inauguration of the Mandarin Oriental Hotel, the Hong Kong chain’s first in Italy, which will be housed in a former bank.
The most important phenomenon is however the interest in the city centre of the large fashion houses, which are increasingly gaining a foothold in the accommodation business. The first was Bulgari, which opened a hotel in Milan in 2004. Now the Maison Moschino hotel, belonging to the fashion brand of the same name, is about to open its doors: it is situated in the trendy area of Corso Como in a former railway station, and has 69 rooms, a bar, a boutique, a spa and a restaurant overlooking the garden. Armani has also begun work to open a hotel in the central Via Manzoni by the end of 2009. It will have 95 large rooms, a spa, a top-level restaurant and a business centre.
The second area of the city of interest to investors is the west outskirts, which have been undergoing huge development since 2000 following the opening of the new Malpensa airport and subsequently the trade fair district Fieramilano. There are numerous public and private projects under way in this vast area: a new metro line, Volandia Park (Italy’s largest aeronautical museum), the huge project of the Expo Area, and 20 new large hotels of the major international players, distinctly geared towards conferences and design. For example, the 4-star Domina Inn Fiera with 200 rooms will open in 2009, as well as the NH Hotel Fiera, with 450 rooms next to the trade fair. |
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 Sport’s central role
Milan has two football teams: world champions Milan and Italian title holders Inter; then there are the Vipers, at the top of the hockey league, and the trophy-winning teams in basketball, volleyball and fencing. In short, sport is a passion (and a business) in Milan, comparable to its more renowned activities of fashion, design and music. The corporate market is all part of it, with venues offering exclusive bookings of the best seats for international competitions and the possibility to organise various types of events, from conventions to team-building activities, in the most symbolic sports arenas.
The San Siro football stadium, for example, has a wide range of spaces for meetings, such as the Executive Suite, commanding a spectacular view of the pitch and available for exclusive hire even on match days. Other activities can be organised at the stadium: a visit to the Football Museum, gala dinners showing films of historic matches, the visit to the changing rooms with the 24 statues of the former greats of Milan’s clubs, and the thrill of taking a penalty kick on the pitch.
Nearby is another famous landmark in the history of Milan sport, the San Siro horse racecourse. Its spaces for events include open-air zones, a large wooden gazebo in the park, reception rooms in the art nouveau villa in the Gallop area and panoramic terraces and restaurants in the Trotting section. It is also possible to organise exclusive horse races that can be tailored for the company.
The buzz offered by motor sport, meanwhile, can be found 20 km outside Milan, at the famous Monza race track, which has dozens of rooms, restaurants and terraces for events organisers, who can also exclusively book the stands. Participants can realise their dream of being driver for a day on a track that has witnessed key events in world motor sport history since 1922, behind the wheel of a Formula 3 or Formula Nissan car, directed by a team of experts; alternatively, they can experience the rush of a 300 km an hour race on board a three-seater Formula 1, driven by a professional, or improve their skills with a safe driving course.
Another sports venue recently restored to the city after a complete makeover is the historic Palazzo del Ghiaccio (Ice Palace), opened at the beginning of the 1920s as the largest indoor ice rink in Europe. Following the huge renovation project, it is now an excellent location for events boasting a large ground floor covering 2,400 sqm, two galleries, an open space and a panoramic terrace. Its original function was also maintained: the rink has been restored for shows or team-building activities… on ice. |
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In search of design
Milan, the city of design, proposes various activities on the theme, always with the support of accompanying art experts, which may last from two to four hours, depending on the time available (the real variable in Milan’s programmes). These range from the “design aperitif” in the magnificent showrooms of the city centre, such as those of De Padova, Driade, Artemide, Flos or Cappellini, to a team competition to devise (with the help of autocad designers) for an everyday object. As well as an Honorary Designer certificate, the winning team gets to see their prototype made by hand.
A more cultural choice is a visit to the new Triennale Design Museum, opened in December 2007 at the Milan Triennale, a contemporary art museum and exhibition space. The Design Museum is dynamic, and its contents will change every year: the first layout exhibits 300 pieces depicting the history of Italian design. It also includes the Agorà Theatre, a space wholly fitted out in wood, available for presentations, social events and performances.
As well as museums, there are also company collections, organised in a circuit called Milano Città del Progetto [Milan Project City]. One of the most interesting is in Noviglio, about 10 km from Milan: the Kartellmuseo (with a stocked outlet for shopping next door) tells the story of Italian company Kartell, founded in 1949 with the mission of producing plastic design objects. Here, visitors can take part in the production of La Marie and Ghost chairs designed by Philip Stark, two must-haves when staging a conference.
Milan abounds in events venues renowned in the design industry, rigorously fitted with design furnishings and objects (on sale at the end of the event). Again, one of these is the Triennale, a flagship building for contemporary Italian architecture. The East End Studios and the SuperStudio Group, large former industrial spaces converted for event hospitality, are also very much in vogue, and for some years have been the venues for fringe events related to the Salone del Mobile, the international design furniture exhibition (to be held from 16 to 21 April in 2008).
New spaces, albeit smaller, are added to these every year, from the conversion of former factories. For example, the brand new Molo Design Workshop, linked to the Canadian design studio, which is a versatile venue and exhibition space that sells Molo products: walls, room dividers, over-size chairs, poufs and soft seating, 100%-manufactured from treated paper and fabric, which can be folded and are incredibly flexible.
November 2008
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