One Hundred Years of Fiera Milano

Today, Fiera Milano is the biggest fairground in Italy and the fourth biggest in all the world.

He said: “Shows today—fairs as they call them—have the dual advantage of being illustrative and temporary. They are exhibitions reduced to a homoeopathic dose of today’s production; they are the condensation of the most summary expression of the present output of industry. Their duration must be brief. My friends, time beats as fast as ever, and everything becomes old in no time.”

It would be another three years before the Milan Fair moved to what was then Piazza d'Armi, but which for decades would quite simply be known as “the fairgrounds” to indicate both the exhibition venue and the local neighbourhood itself.

A celebration of the knowledge and know-how that underpin the fabric of the production and consumer society, where individual experience becomes collective experience and industrial manufacturing lives side by side the excellence of craftsmanship.

Thus as far back as 1916, with the First World War still raging, the initiative of a broad group of industrialists led to the establishment of a first fair committee. Made up by Luigi Bizzozero, Ettore Carabelli, Virgilio Viganoni, Luigi Brenni, Tommaso Pini, and other members of the Industry and Trade Alliance, its task was to organize a trade fair in Milan, along the lines those held in Lyon and Leipzig.

When the war was finally over and the Spanish flu epidemic overcome (the parallels with our own age one hundred years later are certainly not lacking), society was restless. Production facilities needed to be reconverted, the economic engine put back into gear, and confidence rebuilt in domestic and international markets to get trade going again.

Milan was no stranger to exhibitions. It had hosted a National Expo back in 1881 and then others, culminating in Milan’s first big world expo, the Milan International, in 1906, held from April 28th until early November to mark the opening of the Simplon Tunnel. But a World Expo is not a Fair.

The committee formed in 1916 was recalled, a proper promotion board was set up, and the organizational aspects studied in greater detail.

On November 1st, 1919, the official announcement was made for the new Milan Fair, to be held on April 12th–27th, 1920. The work group took up three small offices at the Manzoni firm in Via Agnello 12. Organizing the event soon proved to be a complex affair, requiring significant investment even before having actually surveyed the interest of potential exhibitors.

The board members, however, refused to back down and personally advanced funding of one hundred thousand lire each. The area along the bastions of Porta Venezia—the same that had hosted the big National Expo of 1881—was identified as a venue and made available for the event by the city council for a token fee. Work then got under way to busily build the facilities needed.

Finally, on April 12th, 1920, the great entrance arch was ready for the official opening of the Milan Fair.

From there the Milan Fair would grow from year to year, changing location along the way—first to the former Piazza d’Armi (1923), later to the Portello district (1997), and finally to the municipalities of Rho and Pero (2005).

One hundred years of history, transformation, dreaming, and reality. One hundred years marked on April 12th, 2020, with all sights set on the next one hundred years with the same strength of determination expressed by Luigi Bizzozero on that Monday, April 12th, 1920 when he said, “Italy is not dead! It is as alive as ever in this festival of work, in the certain sureness of its future, in the restless activity of its genius!”.

In the unfolding of such an intense century, the fair has played a leading role in the processes of economic and social transformation, opening Italy to the world and connecting industry, trade, and society. The Made in Italy label was very much generated by the fair, receiving great impulse from its exhibition spaces.

The Fiera Milano system has expanded the presence of Italian business on the most varied global markets. The fair has been an engine and showcase of Milan’s ambition to be an Italian and European metropolis, a true driver of growth for Lombardy and the entire country.”