Miracle in Milan

One hundred years have gone by since Luigi Bizzozero, President of the Milan Fair’s executive board, gave his inaugural speech at the very first Milan Fair in 1920. His emotional, pressing words came at a historical moment felt to be crucial for the development of trade—seen as a real chance for improving the lot of all peoples, and the city of Milan.
It was a “starting point and not a finishing line” of a process that brought “a chance for vitality” in the everyday lives of people.

Thus, the curtain was raised on what would be the stage for Italian—and world—industrial culture throughout the twentieth century, spotlighting fashion, design, technological innovation, and architecture.

From that moment on, transformations and rebirths would be the order of the day—wars, bombs, the Italian economic miracle, crises, changing social mores and customs—but the fair always reliably managed to “move with the times,” as Bizzozero put it, keeping pace with the endless changes that shaped the course of the twentieth century.
It was a window on the world, but also a window of the world.

A “new city at the doors of Milan” had risen, as Giovanni Titta Rosa described the fair in a 1923 article for the newspaper L’Ambrosiano: “So we come to the Music pavilion, which looks like a mosque, though it is not one. Here, impalpable sounds will be heard, capturing the most profound, and possibly the most Italian, of the arts. Then there are the two grand pavilions and two furniture galleries; the fashion hall, which will be richly decorated with fabric. Elegance of all kinds will converge here, and even concerts will be performed.”

From the first prefabricated wooden stalls along the bastions of Porta Venezia to Porta Garibaldi, to the futuristic Milano Rho fairgrounds designed by Massimiliano Fuksas, the Milan Fair never stopped growing, attracting visitors from all around the world.

In 1923, to address early problems of space, it was decided to move the fair to Piazza d’Armi, where the prefabricated wooden stalls were replaced by permanent buildings.

Giovanni Titta Rosa’s light-hearted prose and meticulous descriptions compellingly evoke the atmosphere of those early years of the fair: “If you come, I will take you to see the house of electricity, where you can observe household chores of every kind, from ironing shirts to shining shoes—work that is done like it is in America, with the help of electrical appliances. What a wonder they are! Then there will also be animals—yes, even animals. Three hundred specimens, on show at the Animal Husbandry Show—but you, readers, and me will not be among them, I hope.”

By 1930, the Milan Fair was the third biggest in the world by size and importance, after Leipzig and Paris. Every year it showcased the latest progress in technology to a visiting public of over two million fair-goers. It was only natural that leading writers and intellectuals of the time were similarly attracted by it and placed their pens at the service of newspapers to tell people all about the fair, for those who did not have the chance to go see it for themselves.

Testimony of their perspectives on the new, colourful collective rite can be found in the archive. One example is an article by Carlo Emilio Gadda, who for L’Ambrosiano described the habits and customs of the people animating the corridors of a “world lasting a fortnight.”

“The two or three lire that each of the four hundred thousand visitors handed over at the ticket offices lend the populace of this cosmopolis a rather solemn tone. Everyone is aware of the need to “enjoy” the ticket. The fine clothes to be seen give everyone an air of Sunday affluence, and that affluence, especially with provincial folk, is especially seen in the healthy glow of their faces.”

With the Second World War, the war effort absorbed the country’s entire industrial production and the number of exhibitors declined. Despite the gloom, however, in 1942 over two million people came through the gates, reflecting the renown and resilience of the Milan Fair.

Nevertheless, on April 12th, 1943, the gates of the fair remained closed for the first time in twenty-three years.
Three years of silence would reign over the fairground, as more than half its pavilions collapsed under the bombs dropped on the city.

Miracle in Milan is not just the title of one of Vittorio De Sica’s most moving films, a neo-realist fable and fantasy tale—it is also a reality of the city. Thanks to the tenacity of its people, Milan has always managed to get back on its feet and thrive after any kind of adversity.
It is the same tenacity which the prize-winning author Vincenzo Cardelli wrote about in a 1946 article telling of the fair’s rebirth from the ashes.

“After a three-year stop imposed by the war, this twenty-fourth Milan Fair has reclaimed its place, against all odds and difficulties, among all of Europe’s other fairs, after Paris, Valencia, Barcelona, Prague, Utrecht, and Lausanne got back up and running. None of these cities suffered the war damage that struck Milan. But ‘Milan is always Milan’—and the miracle has been accomplished.”

Years of reconstruction followed, with new buildings erected between 1947 and 1950 to host the fair in years to come, including the Nations Pavilion, the Crescent, and the grand entrance of Piazza Giulio Cesare.

With time, the Milan Fair would also re-establish its international flavour, as Dino Buzzati reported in an article for the daily Corriere della Sera in 1968: “Today, it is a fully international trader, with a face slightly past its prime, dressed in dark grey with a black homburg on his head, who fluently speaks four languages besides his own. It is increasingly less about show business, and more about substance.”

However, besides developing its international credentials, the fair also stepped out in a new direction, with the aim of expanding its role as a “marketplace.”
Thus the International Trade Centre was established with the purpose of providing services to facilitate the encounter of producers and traders through the creation of specialist events, underscoring the commercial character of the fair.

“The fair is the temperature, but also the pulse measuring the health of Milan and Italy. Long before the official economy voices its rumours and speculations, the fair can tell you whether fine weather or storms are to come, whether business will boom or bills will be protested,” continued Buzzati.

As the twentieth century came to a close, so the fair shed its skin. The last Milan Fair was held in 1990. Since then, numerous specialist shows, staged over the full course of the year, have picked up where it left off.

Yet the fair is far from dead and forgotten. The Fondazione Fiera Milano was established in February 2000 with the objective—delivered in 2005—of building a new fairground for Milan on a former refinery site straddling the municipalities of Rho and Pero.

Though transformed, still today the fairgrounds keep the torch of the fair’s original spirit and intentions burning brightly, as acknowledged by Italian president Sergio Mattarella in his address at the opening of the Supersalone, the 2021 edition of the Milan Furniture Fair: “This occasion, showcasing business courage, creativity, imaginativeness and culture, is of extraordinary significance in this historical moment for the country for its recovery and growth. The Fiera di Milano also plays a role in this, as a space for encounter and coordination that allows our country to project itself towards new markets.”

Thus, driven by a social conscience and desire to contribute to the common good, the Fiera di Milano continues to rise anew from the ashes.

If you liked this story, listen to it here (or on Spotify, Google Podcasts, Apple, Podcasts, or Spreaker), as told by Valentina De Poli—voice and author of The Phoenix Principle, a podcast series conceived, produced, and directed for Fondazione Fiera Milano by Promemoria Group for the 2020 Settimana della Cultura d’Impresa, a cultural initiative promoted by Museimpresa. Ten stories about ten international businesses that look on their past with pride, but whose visionary projects—and embrace of the arts, culture, research, and technology—have a lot to tell us about the future.