Milan Design Week is Milan’s city-wide design festival held every April alongside Salone del Mobile, the furniture fair founded in 1961 that anchors the week at the Fiera Milano exhibition grounds. Since the 1980s, independent designers and brands have expanded the event beyond the fairgrounds into the Fuorisalone, a sprawling programme of exhibitions and installations staged across the city’s design districts.

Salone del Mobile itself now draws roughly 1,900 exhibitors across some 169,000 square metres and around 400,000 visitors from more than 180 countries, while the Fuorisalone spreads through neighborhoods including Brera, Tortona, 5vie, Isola and Porta Venezia, plus newer hubs like Alcova and Dropcity. Together they turn the whole city into a showcase of furniture, lighting and product design, with installations, brand takeovers and talks running from galleries to former industrial buildings.