Milan transforms: Fuorisalone 2025 is back

There’s a moment, every year, when Milan changes its face. The streets fill with creatives, designers, architects, and curious visitors from all over the world; courtyards open up, showrooms light up, and the whole city becomes an open-air laboratory.

That moment is Fuorisalone – and in 2025 it returns more eagerly awaited than ever, from April 7 to 13, during Milan Design Week.

Born as a collateral event to the Salone del Mobile, Fuorisalone is now much more than a design exhibition: it is a widespread experience involving neighborhoods, public spaces, historic locations, and regenerated industrial areas. It’s a journey into the city’s creative heart, where every corner becomes a story to live.

Milan lights up with inspiration and vibrates with energy. Every edition brings with it a vision, a message, a new aesthetic. And in 2025, the theme “Connected Worlds” promises to amplify this magic, turning the city into a weave of immersive experiences, dialogues between real and virtual, matter and imagination.

During those days, living in Milan is no longer just living in a city – it’s inhabiting an idea. And every step through the creative districts becomes a chance to be amazed.

2025 Theme: Connected Worlds

Every Fuorisalone edition has a soul. The 2025 one is called Connected Worlds: an invitation to explore the relationship between reality and digital, between design and technology, between humans and the environment, in an age where everything communicates, intertwines, merges.

In an increasingly hyperconnected world, design can no longer be just object or form. It must be experience, interaction, connection. That’s why this year’s theme centers on design’s ability to build bridges between different worlds, real and virtual, personal and collective.

Expect immersive installations, multisensory experiences, and projects that actively engage the public. From interactive architecture to artworks responding to external stimuli, from sustainable design tied to the urban landscape, to the new frontiers of phygital, Connected Worlds will be a continuous exploration.

A common thread running through all Fuorisalone districts, yet interpreted uniquely by each space, creating an urban mosaic where connections take center stage: between generations, cultures, languages, and technologies.

In a Milan already naturally connected – in its spaces, rhythms, and soul – this theme finds the perfect home and promises to inspire, amaze, and provoke thought.

Districts not to miss

The beauty of Fuorisalone is that it doesn’t have one center, but many beating hearts. Each neighborhood turns into a creative universe with its own voice, its own design vision, its own way of interpreting the year’s theme. Year after year, these design districts have become true pilgrimage spots for enthusiasts, architects, trendsetters, and the curious.

Here are the key districts of 2025:

Brera Design District
The most elegant, sophisticated, artistic. In 2025 it will host over 290 events, including exhibitions, installations, and talks. The cobbled streets, art galleries, and historic buildings open to the public in a perfect mix of beauty and research. Brera is the design district that inspires with grace and depth.

Isola Design Festival
Young, creative, experimental. Isola is the district that highlights new talents of international design. It offers a vibrant atmosphere, filled with independent projects, innovative materials, and unconventional visions. With nearly 40 confirmed events, it will be one of the epicenters of the most authentic creative energy.

Tortona Design Week
The former industrial neighborhood par excellence remains one of Fuorisalone’s most spectacular stages. Here, big brands meet immersive installations, and design blends with art, fashion, and technology. If you're looking for exciting and visually striking experiences, Tortona is a must-see.

5Vie Art+Design
A boutique district with an artisanal and intellectual flavor. 5Vie explores the more conceptual side of design every year, with projects that tell stories of tradition and innovation, craftsmanship and thought. Perfect for those seeking unexpected inspiration and narratives to listen to – not just observe.

Porta Venezia Design District and Lambrate Design District
Two distinct realities, united by an independent and dynamic spirit. The first, also known for its cultural openness, offers a mix of Art Nouveau architecture and contemporary content. The second, more decentralized but growing fast, is a meeting point for urban art, self-production, and sustainability.

During Fuorisalone, Milan isn’t just visited: it’s crossed, explored, lived.
Each district is a gateway to a connected world – just as this year’s theme suggests.

Most anticipated events and iconic installations

Each edition of Fuorisalone brings unforgettable moments: immersive installations, surprising collaborations, events that blend art, technology, architecture, and storytelling. And for 2025, expectations are high.

Among the announced or anticipated highlights:

Immersive installations in major creative hubs
Spaces like Superstudio Più, BASE Milano, and La Fabbrica del Vapore will host sensory and interactive environments interpreting the Connected Worlds theme through technology, light, sound, and augmented reality. Places where the audience doesn’t just watch – they step inside the work.

Collaborations between major brands and international designers
Fuorisalone is also a showcase for luxury, furniture, and tech brands. Companies like IKEA, Samsung, Boffi, Louis Vuitton, Hermès, and Lexus (to name a few) will present spectacular projects by prominent figures of contemporary design.

Site-specific projects and artistic contaminations
From Brera’s secret courtyards to Tortona’s former industrial spaces, many events will be designed in dialogue with their environment. Public art, monumental sculptures, sound installations, and interactive paths will turn every corner of the city into a unique experience.

Focus on sustainability and circular design
Responsible design takes center stage: recycled materials, ethical supply chains, and objects that combine functionality with minimal environmental impact. Many projects will highlight the connection between design and nature, prompting reflection as well as wonder.

Talks, workshops, and live performances
Not just to watch, but to experience and explore: Fuorisalone will be full of opportunities for exchange between designers, artists, architects, companies, and the public. A chance to hear new ideas, discover trends, and maybe… be inspired.

In short, Fuorisalone 2025 promises a week of pure inspiration, where the city is not just a backdrop but an integral part of the experience.

Fuorisalone as lifestyle: living (and inhabiting) design

Fuorisalone is not just an event: it’s a way of experiencing the city, a celebration of the creative spirit that lives in Milan year-round. During that week in April, design leaves the showrooms and becomes part of daily urban life: it infiltrates cafés, courtyards, concept stores, regenerated spaces, and even historic buildings.

But the best part is that this energy never truly fades. Fuorisalone shines a spotlight on a Milan that, even outside of Design Week, remains a permanent lab of style, innovation, and vision.

For those who live in the city or are looking for a home, living in Milan during Fuorisalone feels like leafing through a guide to new ways of living: sustainable, connected, beautiful, and functional. Spaces become experiences, natural light becomes a design element, materials tell stories, and the home blends into the urban context.

And it’s no coincidence that many of the design week’s key neighborhoods – from Brera to Isola, from Tortona to Porta Venezia – are also the most sought after by those looking for premium homes, because here, design is not an accessory, but an attitude.

Fuorisalone is style, culture, innovation – but above all, it is a statement of Milanese identity: curious, cosmopolitan, elegant, and always in motion.

And for those who choose to live in Milan, this week is the perfect calling card of a city that never ceases to surprise, create, and inspire.