The Salone in the city: a guide to the unmissable events

Again this year, the Salone del Mobile.Milano Cultural Programme is extending into the city. With signature installations and a packed palimpsest of events, the trade fair is bolstering its ties with the local region, reintroducing the event for professionals and design lovers.  

Es Devlin's installation in the courtyard of the Pinacoteca di Brera 

Library of Light is a rotating 18-metre-diameter cylindrical sculpture created by the English artist and designer Es Devlin, one of the most significant voices of our time. It is located in the heart of the 17th century Cortile d'Onore that connects the Pinacoteca di Brera, the Braidense National Library and the Academy of Fine Arts. The installation celebrates the artist's research into the life and work of the 18th-century mathematician, philosopher and theologian Maria Gaetana Agnesi, the only woman to be represented among the statues of illustrious Enlightenment thinkers in the courtyard. For two weeks, visitors will be able to immerse themselves in the texts read aloud put together by Es Devlin in response to the Pinacoteca’s immense collection, with books of their choice further boosting the selection. 

Robert Wilson lights up Michelangelo’s Rondanini Pietà 

The Robert Wilson. Mother installation at the Rondanini Pietà Museum – Sforzesco Castle in collaboration with the Municipality of Milan | Culture will be open to the public from 6th April to 18th May, forming an ideal bridge with the Art Week of Milan. In the year of Euroluce, the famous American artist is celebrating Michelangelo: with all due respect to the installation designed by Michele De Lucci at the Ospedale Spagnolo in 2015, Wilson’s  installation will take on the power of the “unfinished” in a dramaturgical dialogue with the Stabat Mater, a medieval prayer in the vocal and instrumental version by the Estonian composer Arvo Pärt.   The Stabat Mater will be performed live from 6th to 13th April by the Vox Clamantis ensemble, conducted by Jaan-Eick Tulve, and La Risonanza, conducted by Fabio Bonizzoni. 

The second edition of Design Kiosk 

Following the success of the first edition, the Design Kiosk will be back in Milan’s Piazza della Scala from 1st to 13th April. This Salone del Mobile landmark, entrusted to Corraini Edizioni, will again be the meeting point for a series of presentations moderated by the journalist Serena Scarpello. The 2025 edition will see the participation of guests such as Piero Lissoni, Federica Biasi, Giulia Ricci and Alessandro Valenti, Aldo Cibic, Stephen Burks and Malika Leiper, Olimpia Zagnoli and Pietro Corraini. There will be no shortage of publishing products, design objects and posters for fans of graphics and illustration.  

 
The Salone in the city 

Again this year, the Salone will extend into the city: more than 100 showrooms belonging to exhibiting brands at the annual exhibitions and Euroluce will join in the great celebration of design, in partnership with fuorisalone.it, flinging open their doors to design lovers. Lastly, the Salone will again be promoting the Welcome Project, in collaboration with the Municipality of Milan, the Fondazione Fiera Milano, NABA, New Academy of Fine Arts, IED Istituto Europeo di Design, Politecnico di Milano – School of Design and Domus Academy. More than 100 students will be involved, providing the general public with information on the Salone and the main events in the city.  

There will also be eight graphic interventions around the city of Milan, near some of the leading design icons, aimed at celebrating the role of design culture and demonstrating how design is present and accessible to all. These include the handrail of the M1/M2 Milan Metro, designed by Franco Albini and Franca Helg; the bus shelters designed by Norman Foster and the concrete panettone designed by Enzo Mari.