Fiera Milano

Description

Fiera Milano Rho-Pero is one of the largest exhibition districts in Europe, with 345,000 sqm of covered space and 60,000 sqm of outdoor areas on a site straddling the municipalities of Rho and Pero, roughly 12 km north-west of central Milan. The complex was inaugurated in March 2005 to designs by the Italian architect Massimiliano Fuksas, whose practice is notably responsible for the Vela, the serpentine glass canopy linking all the pavilions together.

The site is owned by the Fondazione Fiera Milano and is operated by Fiera Milano S.p.A., a company listed on Borsa Italiana (STAR segment) since December 2002. The centre's former historic site, Fiera Milano City (near the MiCo congress centre), is still used as a complement for consumer trade shows such as Milan Fashion Week, while the major international professional trade shows have moved to Rho-Pero.

Halls

According to Fiera Milano, the district comprises 20 exhibition pavilions spread across 8 large buildings, two of which are double-storey, lined up on either side of a central pedestrian street of roughly 1 km set beneath Fuksas's Vela. The odd-numbered pavilions occupy one side of the central axis, the even-numbered pavilions the other.

• Vela Fuksas: serpentine glass canopy of around 38,000 sqm made up of 40,000 glass pieces, undulating along the 1 km of the pedestrian street. It houses the circulation areas, cafeterias and service points, and forms the architectural signature of the site.
• Milano Ice Park: four pavilions of the district (13, 15, 22, 24) have been temporarily reconverted for Milano-Cortina 2026. Pavilions 13 and 15 form the Milano Speed Skating Stadium (400 m oval track, around 35,000 sqm covered); pavilions 22 and 24 house the Milano Rho Ice Hockey Arena. Outside the Olympic period, these pavilions revert to their exhibition use.
• Stella Polare conference centre: 10 modular rooms, integrated into the district.
• Meeting rooms: 74 rooms in total across the site according to Fiera Milano.

The detailed individual floor areas of pavilions 1, 2, 3, 4, 7, 8, 9, 22 are not published openly by Fiera Milano S.p.A.; technical plans and configurations are provided on request to organisers via exhibitors.fieramilano.it.

Access & transport

The site is positioned to the north-west of Milan, on the Rho/Pero municipal boundary, alongside the major Lombard motorway routes.

• Metro M1: Rho Fieramilano station, the terminus of the red line, directly integrated into the eastern entrance of the district. Journey ≈ 25 minutes from central Milan (Duomo).
• Train (Trenord and Trenitalia): Rho Fiera Milano station, served by the suburban lines S5 and S6 from Milano Cadorna / Milano Centrale, as well as by certain high-speed trains (Frecciarossa, Italo) linking the district to the rest of Italy.
• Milan-Malpensa Airport: around 20 minutes via the Malpensa Express (changing at Bovisa or Saronno depending on the service) or by car on the A8.
• Milan-Linate Airport: around 30 minutes by car depending on traffic.
• Roads: Fiera Milano exit on the A8 / A4 and access from the A50 (Milan's western ring road); the district is designed to absorb peak traffic during major trade shows.
• Parking: around 14,000 visitor spaces and 5,000 exhibitor spaces, distributed around the district.

Services

• Catering: food courts integrated into the Vela and restaurants scattered throughout the pavilions. The offering is sized for the attendance peaks of the major international trade shows (Salone del Mobile, EICMA and HOST can exceed 200,000 visitors per edition).
• Business centre: 74 modular meeting rooms across the entire site, including 10 in the Stella Polare conference centre.
• On-site hotel accommodation: an NH Hotel Milano Fiera is located immediately alongside the district, a few minutes' walk from the main entrances.
• Exhibitor services: build-up, handling, utilities, security and logistics coordination operated by Fiera Milano S.p.A. via the exhibitors.fieramilano.it portal. WiFi advertised across the entire site.
• Expo 2015 connectivity: the district was directly connected to the Expo 2015 site by a pedestrian footbridge, an infrastructure that has been retained and reused for various events.

News

Milano-Cortina 2026: Fiera Milano is an official partner of the Milano-Cortina Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games (announcement January 2025, Fiera Milano press release). Four pavilions of the district (13, 15, 22, 24) have been temporarily reconfigured into the Milano Ice Park: pavilions 13 and 15 form the Milano Speed Skating Stadium (400 m oval track) dedicated to speed skating, and pavilions 22 and 24 house the Milano Rho Ice Hockey Arena, which hosts part of the Olympic ice hockey tournament (men's preliminary matches and the majority of the women's tournament, with the finals held at the Milano Santagiulia Ice Hockey Arena). The temporary investment for these facilities was announced at around €15m and financed through private funds. The complex also houses the IBC/MBC (International Broadcast Centre / Main Broadcast Centre) for the broadcasting of the Games.

The district also hosted, in 2015, the Expo 2015 Universal Exposition on the adjacent site (« Nelle vicinanze ed all'interno del complesso »), and the post-Olympic programming of pavilions 13-15 will revert to a standard exhibition use.

Flagship trade shows

Rho-Pero hosts most of the major Milanese trade shows that structure the design, fashion, beauty, motorcycle, hospitality-catering and tourism sectors:

• Salone del Mobile.Milano: the global benchmark for design and furniture, an annual edition in April, mobilising the whole district.
• EICMA: Esposizione Internazionale Ciclo e Motociclo, the international motorcycle trade show, an annual edition in November.
• HOST Milano: a biennial trade show for professional hospitality, catering and coffee (odd-numbered years).
• MIDO: the global optics and eyewear trade show, an annual edition in February-March.
• HOMI Milano: a trade show for the worlds of the home (lifestyle, decoration), two editions per year.
• MICAM Milano: the international footwear trade show, two editions per year (February and September).
• MIPEL: the international leather goods trade show, co-located with MICAM.
• MADE expo: an architecture and construction trade show, a biennial edition.
• BIT: Borsa Internazionale del Turismo, the tourism trade show.
• TUTTOFOOD: a B2B food and beverage trade show, biennial.

For planning professional events in Northern Italy, Rho-Pero is the benchmark alternative in terms of scale to BolognaFiere (Cosmoprof, SAIE) and Fiera di Vicenza; its volume positions it at European level alongside Messe Frankfurt, Messe Düsseldorf and Hannover Messe.