From an idea to a monumental project: the overhaul of Milan’s Fair System

Bari – The transformation of Milan’s fair system as a driving force for the development of Milan. The speech by Fondazione Fiera Milano Chairman and CEO Luigi Roth, at the Ottagono in Galleria Vittorio Emanuele, at 6.00 p.m., refers to the major changes that are taking place in the city’s exhibition system.
The speech was delivered at the forum “Yet it moves! Great projects for a changing Milan", attended by Fiera Milano SpA, MM SpA, AEM SpA, Grandi Stazioni SpA, Ferrovie Nord SpA and Euromilano Spa “.
The city of Milan and its north-west border are changing radically. These changes are transforming the ‘old’ Milan Fair into one of the largest exhibition systems in the world. A process that will fuel development in Lombardy and Milan”. This, in brief, is the speech by Luigi Roth.

Fondazione Fiera Milano is at the helm of the large-scale project involving the development of a New Exhibition Complex in the area that formerly hosted the Agip refinery in Rho-Pero and which has recently been reclaimed. This is the place where the first pavilions are now taking shape. The completion date of the entire project is scheduled for March 2005.

Fondazione Fiera Milano is also overseeing the redevelopment of the present-day exhibition complex, which currently occupies a surface area of 440,000 square meters. The winning project of an international tender for two thirds of this area, approx. 285,000 square meters, will be awarded by 31 July 2004. The remaining 185,000 square meters will become the so-called City Complex and will remain the property of Fondazione Fiera Milano, hosting business-to-consumer exhibitions.

Fondazione Fiera Milano is a private entity with a controlling shareholding in Fiera Milano Spa – which, in turn leads a group of nine companies – and in Sviluppo Sistema Fiera, and with a relative majority shareholding in Villa Erba. It also owns the current exhibition complex in Milan and the  Rho-Pero site where the new exhibition complex will be built. Innovation, a managerial approach, transparency and tradition are the guiding principles that lie at the basis of all its projects. In addition to its large-scale projects in the Milan area, Fondazione has created the International Academy of Trade Fair Management and is working on the Historical Fair Archive. It also contributes to the dissemination of the cultural aspects and values intrinsic to international exchanges domestically through studies, research activities, conferences and publications.