Milan’s skyline from Terrazza Martini – Photo by Miquel Fabre.

A Corona virus outbreak in Italy led the government put in lockdown the whole country. Schools and universities, theatres, cinemas and libraries but also public events, churches and stadiums have been closed in order to isolate the infection. And Milan Design Week has been canceled.

A GLOBAL OVERVIEW – The Coronavirus pandemic , a new flu-like infection, began to spread from the city of Wuhan, China, between December 2019 and January 2020. With 6.8 million people infected worldwide so far, the disease global death toll is almost +396.000 people, while over +3.3m have recovered. The first infections in Italy were detected in a small city not far from Milan at on February 23. So far, in Italy, +33.700 people passed away while +234.000 have tested positive. The virus is challenging mostly The United States (+1.950.000) followed by Brazil (+630k), Russia (+449k), Spain (+288k), the United Kingdom (+283k), India (+235k) Italy (+234k), and Peru (+187k). All European countries have flatten the curve and started to ease lockdowns. Tokyo Olympics and Dubai 2020 World Expo have been postponed to 2021. Major event and fairs such as Milan Design Week, Venice Biennale, London Design Festival, Burning Man and most of LGBT+ Pride parades across the globe have been canceled.

RELATED STORIES: Find out more about Corona virus on Archipanic.

June 5: museums open to the public

Interiors of Villa Necchi Campiglio – Photo courtesy of FAI Fondo Ambientr italiano

After months of lockdowns due to the coronavirus, museums and cultural sites across Italy are cautiously reopening to the delight of locals, who have long avoided them due to overcrowding. In Milan it’s now possible to visit: Triennale Museum, Villa Necchi Campiglio, Mudec and more…

June 3: Italy lifts travel ban between regions

Manarola, Cinque Terre in Liguria, Italy – Photo by Felix Wolf.

People will be free to move across country as the number o new daily infections and deaths significantly dropped. The Central and Southern regions are recording an average of 0 to 10 cases per day. Lombardy, the region o Milan is still the most afflicted counting half of the national infections. The R0 – the index of contagion – is under control in the whole country. Families separated by the pandemic are finally preparing to reunite.

MAY 31: landscape artist Christo who wrapped Vittorio Emanuele II statue in Milan passed away aged 84

Wrapping Monument of Vittorio Emanuele, Milan, 1970 – Photo by Shunk-Kender. ©Christo and Jeanne-Claude.

Bulgarian artist Christo has wrapped iconic monuments and islands, dotted valleys with pink and yellow umbrellas and built floating large installations with a mission: creating new ways of seeing familiar landscapes. Read more…

MAY 24: the city is alive again!

MAY 18: Venice Architecture and Art Biennales delayed by one year

© Barca NOSTRA – Venice Biannle 2019.

After consulting with the curator, La Biennale di Venezia has decided to postpone the opening date of the Biennale Architettura to the year 2021, extending its duration back to the customary six months, from May 22 to November 21, 2021.

The decision became inevitable as shuttered architecture studios and universities, heath regulations and travel restrictions limited the invited architects, participating countries, institutions and collateral events organisers.The new dates of the 17th Architecture Biennale coincide with the 59th International Art Exhibition, curated by Cecilia Alemani, which has in turn been postponed to 2022. It will last 7 months and will be held from Saturday April 23rd to Sunday November 27th. Read more…

MAY 18: bars, restaurants and shops open with restrictions

While the daily death toll figures are still high, Milan is recording a sharp decrease in new infections. Meanwhile, bars, restaurants and shops as well as hairdressers, tatoo shops and malls open with restrictions (one client per time in small businesses, social distancing between tables with no service inside, temperature check in larger venues).

MAY 16: Milanese artist and architect Nanda Vigo passed away aged 83

Nanda Vigo portrait – All photos: courtesy of Archivio Nanda Vigo.

Master of light, transparency and immateriality, Nanda Vigo was one of the most visionary postwar Italian architects and artists. Her creative journey began as a child fascinated by Giuseppe Terragni’s architecture and Flash Gordon comics. During her carrier she collaborated with some of the most influential avant-garde movements and creative minds such as the Zero Group, Lucio Fontana, Piero Manzoni and Gio Ponti.

“I am meticulous and have a strong personality. I always say what I have to say. And I am proud.” Said Nanda Vigo in an interview on Domus magazine. “Remind that I was born – as many others – in a culture dominated by men. There wasn’t another way: you either developed a strong character or nothing. And I developed it for the love of my work.” Added the architect and artist known for sculpting spaces with cosmogonies of light. Read more…

May 15: Ventura Lambrate empty while the city awoke

Over a month after the canceled Milan Design Week ought to kick off – the next edition will take over the city again on April 2021 – we biked through the Ventura Lambrate district which used to be one of the main creative epicenters of the event but fell in disgrace when the main organiser Venura Projects pulled off two years ago to move to other locations due to a sharp increase of locations rents. The district looks orhan of both creativity and life. Ventura Projects ended all activities due to the cancelation of  Milan Design Week 2020.

MAY 15: Ventura Projects ends all activities due to Milan Design Week cancelation

Photo by Davide Grassi.

After a decade of design innovation at Milan Design Week and beyond, Ventura Projects ends operations due to the economic impact of COVID-19. Just few weeks before it was due to take place, Milan Design Week – the world’s leading design event – was first postponed to June and then canceled alltogether. This situation “have had a massive and irreversible impact on the company,” Says Margriet Vollenberg, founder and art director of Ventura Projects.

“I spent many sleepless nights worrying about whether and how I could save or transform my company to adjust to a new normal to still be able to serve the design world and enable the talent as we have always done. It is therefore with great pain in my heart that I came to the conclusion that it is no longer feasible to build my dream, and therefore the dreams of many designers and design studios. The current circumstances leave me no other choice but to end Ventura Projects,” says Margriet Vollenberg. Read more…

MAY 7: Soffio inflatable design by MARGstudio

SOFFIO inflatable face shield – Courtesy of MARGstudio.

Milan-based MARGstudio together with Alessio Casciano Design and Angeletti Ruzza have designed Soffio, a colorful inflatable and reusable face shield that allows people to socialise in a safe and convivial way.

Soffio, which translates into blow, in Italian is made of a colorful and inflatable PVC frame, a plastic visor and a plastic head band. The a cantilevered and lightweight 180-degree protective barrier can be easily assembled and worn allowing to eat and drink safely while maintaining visual and hearing contact with nearby people. Read more…

MAY 6: social distancing within parks project by SBGA Blengini Ghirardelli.

Milan-based Design studio SBGA Blengini Ghirardelli has created C’ENTRO, a modular frame made of colourful fibreglass rods that would snap together to form a circle on the ground for up to two people to sit inside. The concept design was developed as a practical solution for social distancing within parks such as Parco Sempione in Milan – pictured. “We like to define C’entro as an instrument to socialise rather than a barrier,” said at SBGA. C’entro would let people sit outside and be social with each other without any barriers but with a strong visual guide for distancing.

MAY 4: The City of Milan call on architects and designers to create social-distancing devices

As part of the UN PASSO ALLA VOLTA – ‘One step at a time’ – campaign the City of Milan has invited architects, designers and creatives to rethink public spaces so that they comply with the new safety rules while ensuring social distancing without sacrificing conviviality. ‘What we want to achieve is a catalog of projects and ideas, aimed particularly at small and medium-sized companies,” says Milan’s councilor for commerce Cristina Tajani. Read more…

MAY 3: Italy eases lockdown and enters Phase 2

Milan and Italy ease lockdown restrictions allowing people to move more from their home and reunite with their families and partners. Meeting up with other relatives and friends is still banned, as well as leaving their city.

On our way to reunion, we biked across an empty city as you can see in these series of videos while we bike through an empty Piazza del Duomo and Galleria Vittorio Emanuele but also the via della Spiga in the fashion district. More video of Milan lockdown before and during the phase 2 can be seen HERE.

APRIL 30: Italian design brands reopen their factories

Coronavirus: Italian design brands reopen factories. Photo by Moroso.

The Italian government has started to lift lockdown restrictions and some of the major design brands such as Moroso, FLOS and Minotti as well as the country’s furniture supply chain producing goods for export have began to reopen factories as long as safety measures are guaranteed. Read more…

APRIL 27: Milanese studio designs bubble-PPE

Italian design studio Designlibero created a prototype for a new kind of protective equipment people might wear to protect themselves against COVID-19, the coronavirus disease: a bubble shield. Many designers and labs are working on protection solutions for doctors, but this specific prototype focuses on average people being able to go outside while staying protected from the virus. Read more on Business Insider…

APRIL 21: Milan Design Week

Today Milan Design Week should have kicked off. The event has been postponed to June but then canceled all together. See you in 2021!

APRIL 20: Moooi pays tribute to Milan

MILANO CI MANCHI tribute video by Moooi – Movie by Moooi

The day before the canceled Milan Design Week was scheduled to begin, Dutch furniture company Moooi has released the video ‘Milano ci manchi’ – ‘Milan we miss you’ in English – as a tribute to the most important design events of the year which has been canceled due to Coronavirus. Read more…

MARCH 15: Dezeen Virtual Design Festival kicks off

The controversial Virtual Design Festival organised by influential magazine Dezeen kicked off. In the inaugural video, 35 international designers including Yves Behar, Es Devlin, David Rockwell and Hella Jongerius have sent us self-filmed clips for our launch movie. Several leading Milanese designers such as Stefano Giovannoni. Fabio novembre and Lorenza Bozzoli recorded a video featured in the footage.

The movie begins with a message from Maurizio Stochetto, owner of Milan’s legendary Bar Basso, where designers congregate in their thousands each evening during Milan Design Week. Stochetto unlocks his bar and walks through an empty interior that is familiar to architects and designers around the world. “With Dezeen’s Virtual Design Festival, we still have a chance to be together,” he says.

Next, Dezeen founder and editor-in-chief Marcus Fair introduces Virtual Design Festival and explains its mission. “Today Dezeen is launching Virtual Design Festival, which we hope will help bring everyone together during these difficult days,” he says, speaking in the temporary VDF broadcast studio that has been set up in a bedroom. The studio will be used to conduct regular live and pre-recorded interviews as part of VDF.

MARCH 14: Pio Albergo Trivulzio scandal

Entrance of Pio Albergo Trivulzio

A big scandal in Pio Albergo Trvulzio, a large retirement house in town, hit the news as the administration covered up cases and did not take precautionary measures putting at risk the lives of patients and medical staff.  over 270 people have died in the structure.

MARCH 10: Italy is flattening the curve

Italy has reached its peak and the curve has started to flatten. Still the decline is slow and the governemt has prolonged the quarantine until May 3. Then the famous Fase 2 will see a gradual lifting of restiction depending on how fastly the pandemic figures will decrease. Even though there are small signs of improvement, in Milan and the Lombardy region the situation is still alarming and the number of deaths is still very high.

MARCH 05: Arper founder Luigi Feltrin dies aged 85

Luigi Feltrin – Photo by Giovanni Gastel

Luigi Feltrin, founder of Italian furniture brand Arper, has passed away after contracting coronavirus. Born in 1934, Luigi lived in the northwestern Piedmont region when he was young. He moved across the border to live in Switzerland for a period, before returning back to Italy.

MARCH 31: Fuorisalone goes digital!

Fuorisalone 2020 goes digital – Photo by Design Vlaanderen, MDW2019.

Fuorisalone.it, the digital platform of the diffused festival featuring over 1.700 events taking over Milan Design Week, has announced a digital programme of events allowing the most influential design festival’s orphan companies of the physical event to communicate better, thanks also to extensive collaboration with the main magazines in the sector.

“We are convinced that Milan Design Week is a combination of many excellences, a unique moment of exchanges, experiences, emotions, visions and that cannot be reduced to a digital version, but digital can be important for companies that need to reach the Fuorisalone public even without being there.” Says the Fuorisalone 2020 committee which is made up of the Brera Design District, Ventura Projects, the Zona Tortona representative – Tortona rocks , Tortona Area Lab, BASE and Superstudio Più – as well as the districts of inBovisa, 5vie and Porta Venezia In Design and the Asia Design Milano project. Read more…

MARCH 29: Oliver Astrologo offers hope by capturing the beauty of empty spaces in Italy

Acclaimed Italian filmmaker Oliver Astrologo has captured the beauty of Italy’s empty spaces in the midst of social distancing. His short film offers a message of hope to those who are staying home due to the outbreak of the Coronavirus and the governmental advice to avoid public gatherings.

“We Italians are strange people, in love with contradictions,’ says Paolo Buglioni, an Italian actor who narrates the video. ‘We live in the most beautiful country in the world and we hardly acknowledge it. And now, that the country is empty and we can admire it only from the window in all that silence it seems even more incredible.”

The video concludes with a message of hope, courage and national pride: “We miss its beauty but there is something reassuring. when all of this is over we’ll fill those squares again and all the monuments envied by the rest of the world will still be the background of our kisses. We’ll take back all this beauty because out of our windows it’s still the most beautiful country of the world.”

MARCH 28: Iconic Milanese brands give their contribution proactively

Milanese Fashion houses and iconic liquer brands and more have converted their factories to help doctors and nurses dealing with Coronavirus. All Italian industrial plants of Giorgio Armani are now producing monouse gawns for hospital personel, the company has also donated 2m euros to the city’s Sacco and San Raffaele hospitals as well as other hospitals across the country. Prada has converted the production of its Montone, Italy-based factory to supply 80,000 medical overalls and 110,000 masks to health-care personnel.

Amaro Ramazzotti, the historic after dinner liqueur born in Milan in 1815 and now owned by Pernod Ricard, produces hand sanitizer instead of ‘amaro’. “In such delicate moment, hand sanitizer has never been so useful and essential for local communities.” Explains Laura Mayr, head of Amaro Ramazzotti business unit. “I normal conditions we are ‘Creators of Conviviality’, now is time to support public health and to give our contribute proactively.”

MARCH 27: Salone del Mobile.Milano suspended

Entrance of Salone del Mobile.Milano -Photo by Salone del Mobile.

“Although we were determined to keep to the June date, to allow the annual event to take place as planned, the present, unprecedented circumstances and medium-term uncertainties now mean that this year’s Salone can no longer go ahead.” Say Salone del Mobile.Milano in the official statement. The next edition of the fair will now take place from 13th to 18th April 2021 and it t will celebrate the 60th anniversary of the Salone. Read more…

MARCH 27: Is Salone del Mobile.Milano to be canceled?

Salone Satellite @ Salone del Mobile.Milano – Photo by Salone del Mobile.Milano.

It is not official, but Salone del Mobile.Milano, the world’s most influential furniture fair which was originally scheduled in April and has already been postponed to June could be cancelled due to Covid-19.

MARCH 24: Carlo Ratti’s CURA intensive-care container units

CURA pods by Carlo Ratti Associati – Images by CRA.

Carlo Ratti, founder of CRA – Carlo Ratti Associati and director of MIT Senseable City Lab, has developed CURA, a compact Intensive-Care pod for patients with respiratory infections, hosted in a 20-foot intermodal container with biocontainment. The unit is being built for test at a hospital in Milan, Italy.

CURA – the acronym for Connected Units for Respiratory Ailments – is a modular open-source solution that could be as fast to mount as a hospital tent, but as safe as an isolation ward. The pods “can be quickly deployed in cities around the world, promptly responding to the shortage of ICU space in hospitals and the spread of the disease.” Explained Carlo Ratti. Read more…

MARCH 22: All non strategic business to shut down until April 3

Last night, Italian PM Giuseppe Conte said that all Italian businesses must close until April 3, with the exception of those essential to maintaining the country’s supply chain, in the latest desperate effort to halt the coronavirus epidemic. “It is the most difficult crisis in our post-war period,” Conte said in a video posted on Facebook, adding that “only production activities deemed vital for national production will be allowed”.

Supermarkets, pharmacies, postal and banking services will remain open, Conte said, and essential public services including transport will be ensured. While smart working will be allowed for architecture studios, all furniture production plants, artisans and craftsmen will have to temporarily close.

“We are slowing down the country’s production engine but we are not stopping it,” the PM said. The government is expected to publish an emergency decree today to make the latest crackdown immediately effective. Yesterday Italy recorded a jump in deaths from the virus of almost 800 on Saturday, taking the toll in the world’s hardest-hit country to almost 5,000.

MARCH 20: Dezeen’s Virtual Design Week scrapped

Coronavirus is disrupting business globally and caused the cancelation or postponement of many design fairs including Milan Design Week – now rescheduled in June – Light+Building – reprogrammed in September – WantedDesign New York – Canceled – and DesignShanghai – postponed in May. The ultimate victim is Dezeen’s Virtual Design Week, which has been put on hold even if nobody should attend to it physically.

Few days ago, the magazine launched  the idea of a digital platform for those brands which had their product launches frozen. Originally named Virtual Milan, the digital design week was supposed to take place during the original dates of Milan Design Week, prompting anger in Italy and across the global design community with readers accusing Dezeen of wanting to capitalise on a terrible tragedy at the expenses of the people of Milan.

In a post, founder and editor in chief Marcus Fair apologised and explained “why this was the wrong thing to do“. “We never for one minute intended it to be disrespectful to the city of Milan, its community and its current suffering amid the Coronavirus pandemic. We didn’t think of it as a competitive move against Salone del Mobile or any of the other Milanese design platforms, but rather as something to support the global design community at this difficult time. […] Our thoughts are with everyone during this terrible time. Please stay safe and let’s all stay connected.”

Still, for many readers, the apologies might not be enough. Jimmy MacDonald, Founder of London Design Fair wrote: “Marcus, adding an apology to the end of a multi-story newsletter is not going to cut it. The Italians will not forgive you until you make good. Those that say you have apologised so move on clearly don’t understand Italy. Italian brands and fairs have made Dezeen what it is today. It’s time to GIVE something back and fast, or you will lose their patronage.”

MARCH 19: 2015 World Expo’s ‘Tree of Life’ shines again with the Italian flag

News agengy AGI reports that the 37m high landmark Albero della Vita (Tree Of Life) built for 2015 Milan World Expo, as an act of support for the city and the country. Made of wood and steel, the structure has been financed by a network of companies in the province of Brescia, one of the most hit by the infection. The decision to make the tower shine again was made by the company Mind – Milano Innovation District, the former Arexpo, which is working on developing the former expo site into a futuristic epicenter for science and research.

MARCH 18: STATE A CASA! #stayathome

Despite authorities’ clear message to stay at home to prevent the virus from spreading, many people keep ignoring quarantine rules. Which are mandatory. IT’S ILLEGAL! And there are fines as well. PLEASE avoid going out unless strictly necessary – meaning going to the supermarket (but not every single day!) or to the pharmacy. No hanging around in parks, jogging,  joining outdoor activites or going for a walk. #StayAtHome.

After Wuhan, Milan is the most hit city in the world – with over 2.000 positives cases every day. Hospitals struggle to cope. Again, Stay at home!!!

 MARCH 15: Italian architect Vittorio Gregotti dies of Corovavirus

Teatro Arcimboldi in Milan by Vittorio Gregotti, 2002 – Photo by Paolo Margari.

Architect and urbanist Vittorio Gregotti known for important projects from Milan to Shanghai passed away aged 92 due to complications to Co-Vid19. “In the globalized world, we architects are only asked to amaze. My advice to younger generations is not to distance from your roots.” Read more…

MARCH 14: national flash mob to thank nurses, doctors and scientists

A warm, thankful and diffuse applause has been resonating across Italy – the whole country is in lockdown due to a Coronavirus outbreak which has infected +17k people locally. The national flash-mob is a way to thank all the doctors, nurses and scientist who form the front line of defense.

In the video – from our home – you can see the new skyscraper district of Tre Torri and FieraMilano, the cit’s old main fair, where constructors and medical teams are working around the clock to set up in record-time an emergency brand-new hospital with hundreds of intensive care units in order to manage more efficiently the emergency.

Milan – as the rest of the country – will be in lockdown until April 3. I am good and healthy. #StayTuned! #iorestoacasa

MARCH 13: people sings the national anthem and cheerful songs

Today at 6pm across the whole city, musicians played and citizen sang out loud from their balconies and windows to cheer up their neighbours. The event was part of a nation wide flashmob.

MARCH 12: Milan Art Week postponed

Scheduled on April 17-19, MIART art fair and the city’s vibrant Art Week have been postponed to Septber 7-13.

MARCH 12: Dezeen launches ‘Virtual Milan’ digital design week

International architecture and design magazine Dezeen.com has launched a digital design week which seems to aim to replace the city’s design week – the most influential one world wide. Named Virtual Milan, the event is set to take place on online during the original dates of Salone del Mobile Milano at the end of April. Milan Design Week has been postponed to June 15-21.

After the announcement, readers from Milan and across the globe accused Dezeen to want to capitalise on a terrible tragedy at the expenses of the people of Milan and Italian business. What angers Italians above all is the name. Virtual Milan.

“It has nothing to do with Milan, let alone the Salone del Mobile“, says Andrea Brega, Head of Communication for the Salone del Mobile. “Indeed, frankly, it seems like a bad taste initiative”.

“It’s the way we react to the bad things that happen to us that say a lot about who we are.” Writes journalist Laura Traldi on her blog DesignAtLarge.  So does the fact that Dezeen – which is a magazine and not a fair – is organizing a Virtual Milan in April say about Dezeen itself?

Following many negative comments, Dezeen has swiftly renamed the event Virtual Design Festival.

MARCH 11: further restrictions for a grater good. #IoRestoACasa

#IoRestoACasa message by @chiaraferragni

Italians have been strongly invited to stay at home. We must carry a self-certification stating we left our flat for only necessary errands such as going to the supermarket, going to work or going to the doctor. The country is responding well. The more we are responsible the quickest we leave this surreal situation behind. At Archipanic we are responsible.

#IoRestoACasa and #StateACasa (I stay at home, Stay at home) hashtags are litterally going viral across social media. Starting from global influencer Chiara Ferragni who raised over 3m € to go to italy’s national health service.

MARCH 10: The whole Italy in lockdown

“The whole Italy is in lockdown conditions”, the Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte has said. The restrictions include banning all public gatherings and preventing all movement other than for work and emergencies. According to the Reuters news agency, he has said the decision was necessary to protect Italy’s most vulnerable citizens and that the right course of action now is for people to stay at home.

MARCH 9: biking through empty Milan

Biking through the Engineering Faculty of Milan University Politecnico during Coronavirus outbreak – on March 9, 2020.

MARCH 8: Milan in lockdown as well

Milan, the capital of the Lombardy region, and other 24 provinces in the richest part of Italy have been ‘Red-Zone’ quarantined. Irresponsabile people are fleeing. Helping the virus to spread at its best across the country. Please stay at home!

MARCH 3: Venice Biennale postponed

Photo Giorgio Zucchiatti.

Venice Architecture Biennale will run from 29 August to 29 November. The world’s most influential architecture event has now been shortened to just three months instead of the usual six. Read more…

MARCH 2: Milan Duomo re-opens to the public.

Milan Duomo – Photo by ©Lorenzoclick.

Milan’s main cathedral swung open its gates to tourists this morning as Italy’s financial capital tried to get back to work after landing in the heart of Europe’s coronavirus outbreak. All churches and museum have been closed to prevent the infection to spread but in the next days are going to reopen as well.

FEBRUARY 29: the city slowly awakens

Navigli in Milan on Feb 29, 2020 . Photo by Enrico Zilli.

FEBRUARY 28 – #MilanoNonSiFerma

On his Instragram profile, Milan’s mayor Beppe Sala published a video inviting Milanese people to be strong and stoic with the motto #MilanoNonSiFerma which means Milan Doesn’t Stop. The mayor is being pushing authorities to gradual exit from the shutdown. Today the the Duomo, the city’s iconic gothic cathedral re-opened to the public while bars were allow to work after 6pm.

FEBRUARY 27: key players of Fuorisalone announce new dates tuning with Salone del Mobile.Milano postponement to June 15-21

FUORISALONE 2019. Super Design Show – Photo by Superstudio.

As expected, key players of Fuorisalone, the fair outside the fair that takes over Milan with over 1.700 events across the city during the design week, announced they rescheduled their event to June 15-21.

• “Well be there!” Wrote Superstudio which will double its presence both in the Tortona design district and in a brand-new location.
• Same thing for the Brera Design District. “Such change triggers a complex process that must be managed at its best and requires the commitment of all players, companies and sponsors“. The district postponed the official press conference – originally scheduled next week – to April 16.
• Ventura Projects announced that both Ventura Future and Ventura Centrale will take place simultaneously with the Salone del Mobile and all the main events of Milan Design Week from 16 – 21 June 2020. “Our aim is to maintain the formats of Ventura Future and Ventura Centrale the way they were initially planned and to create successful exhibitions with limited changes.”
• June 16-21 are the new dates of Design Variations the exhibition platform at Palazzo Litta. “We would like to thank everyone for the collaboration and the willingness promplty demostrated in such a delicate moment.” Wrote organisers at Mosca Partners.
• We’ll keep you updated with more announcements. Feeling positive. Milan is moving forward – Hooray!

FEBRUARY 27: Venice Biennale to go ahead as scheduled

Venice Architecture Biennale 2018 – Photo by Andrea Avezzù; courtesy of La Biennale di Venezia.

#BREAKINGNEWS – During the a behind doors press conference broadcasted on streaming, Paolo Baratta, president of La Biennale di Venezia, announced that the 17th Venice Architecture Biennale will  open to the public on 23 May. During the conference Baratta did not mention the Corona Virus infection and focused on the contents of the world’s most prestigious architecture event.

In a video from the United States, the appointed curator Hashim Sarkis introduced the Biennale main theme: How will we live together?  “In the context of widening political divides and growing economic inequalities, we call on architects to imagine spaces in which we can generously live together.” Said Sarkis. “We  need a new spatial contract.”

Today we would have gone to Venice for the press conference of The Venice Architecture Biennale which is scheduled to inaugurate on May 24. But, of course – we are smart working from home. Buggers! Actually, it is unclear if the most influential architecture event will proceed as planned or if its organizers will also opt to push back the show. #StayTuned!

FREBURARY 26 – Biking on Navigli – pretty empty eh?

FEBRUARY 25, 2020 – Salone del Mobile postponed to June 16-21

After an emergency meeting, Salone del Mobile organizers decided to postpone the world’s largest and most important furniture fair due to take place between 21 and 26 April.

Entrance of Salone del Mobile.Milano -Photo by Salone del Mobile.

“Following an extraordinary meeting today of the Board of Federlegno Arredo Eventi, and in view of the ongoing public health emergency, the decision has been taken to postpone the upcoming edition of the Salone del Mobile,” the statement said. “Confirmation of the change of date for the trade fair – strongly supported by the Mayor of Milan Giuseppe Sala – means that the manufacturers, in a major show of responsibility, will be able to present their finalised work to an international public that sees the annual appointment with the Salone del Mobile as a benchmark for creativity and design.”

FEBRUARY 24 – Milan Design Week at risk

Postponed or canceled? Milan Design Week jeopardised by the Corona virus ourbreak in northern Italy. Later today the announcement of the board of Salone del Mobile.Milano. Over 270 people in the Lombardy and Veneto regions have tested positive for Coronavirus, making Italy the most affected country in Europe.

FEBRUARY 23 – Biking under Zaha Hadid’s GENERALI tower

FEBRUARY 23 – Milan Fashion Week vs Corona virus

The news of the Corona Virus infection hits Milan during Fashion Week. Italian fashion house Giorgio Armani has staged its women’s Autumn/Winter 2020 show in Milan without an audience. “We support national efforts in safeguarding public health“, and to protect the invited guests by stopping them attending “crowded spaces“. This was intended as “a message of love” for the country. After the catwalk, Giorgio Armani himself followed the models to close the event, gesturing thank you and waving to an audience that was not present.