Things to do e not to do in Milan during Fashion Week: 10 tips from locals

In Milan, a city that sets trends and buzzes with events 365 days a year, Fashion Week still holds a special place. After all, Milan is one of the world’s fashion capitals and the ultimate home of Italian style at its very best!

From September 19–25, 2026, the city once again becomes the stage for Spring/Summer collections, with a packed calendar of runway shows, presentations, events, and openings. It’s a week when the whole city transforms: if you’re arriving for the occasion and want to know how to get around and where to go to experience its most authentic side, who better to turn to than the Milanese themselves?

We’ve rounded up 10 insider tips covering must-see events, experiences, and places, along with a few pointers to help you steer clear of the more touristy spots and discover Milan’s most contemporary and creative side.

In the busy Fashion Week calendar we find classic places such as cinemas and historic theaters next to disused sheds of Milan's industrial heritage, period buildings in the center and ultra-modern suburban showrooms with wall screens.

But be careful to consider the new locations as places for the exclusive use of events, because most of these become trendy clubs and cultural spaces available to people of Milan and travelers all year round. The best way to experience Milan at 360 degrees and follow its mood in real time.

Let's not forget that even the most famous places in the fashion capital participate in the Fashion Week calendar: Piazza Duomo in the space in front of Palazzo Reale, Piazza degli Affari, the young Piazza Lina Bo Bardi at the foot of the Porta Nuova complex which leads to the Vertical Forest and Piazza Gae Aulenti. All locations that Fashion Week uses for fashion shows, so as to make Milan a whole stage!

All locations used for fashion shows, so as to make the whole Milan a unique and special stage!

It's one of Milan's coolest nightlife districts. Isola's transformation wasn't just about urban redevelopment—it also changed the way people experience the neighborhood. During Milan Fashion Week , it comes alive with events, installations, and pop-up happenings, becoming one of the city's favorite meeting spots for creatives, industry insiders, and fashion lovers.

Those looking for Milan's social scene will quickly find the Alcatraz, one of the city's iconic nightlife venues. All around it, you'll find a fantastic mix of international restaurants that reflect Isola's multicultural spirit.

Take a walk toward the former Scalo Farini, Milan's largest disused railway yard. Covering more than 400,000 square meters, it's one of the city's most striking urban regeneration projects and, with its repurposed industrial spaces and the Brera Academy of Fine Arts' Campus delle Arti, remains a fascinating setting for events, installations, and creative initiatives.

Many fashion protagonists have made investments in Milan, equipping themselves with their own spaces but on some occasions also open to the city. This is the case of Fendi, which has established its representative office in via Solari 35 and it is precisely here that it unveils the new collections of Fashion Week.

Hidden inside this building is also the remarkable "Labyrinth" by Arnaldo Pomodoro, a monumental artwork inspired by the Epic of Gilgamesh that can be explored through guided tours organized by the Arnaldo Pomodoro Foundation.

Heading north through the Lombardy capital, City Life is another must-see stop during Milan Fashion Week. Home to the striking Three Towers and the Palazzo delle Scintille—a landmark dating back to 1923 that has been transformed into a venue for events, exhibitions, and international happenings—the neighborhood is the perfect place to experience the intersection of fashion, design, and architecture.

Basque pelota was one of the most popular escape sports after the Second World War. The arenas to play were born for the "cheerful game" ("Jai alai" the Basque name for pelota) between cheering and betting (illegal!), and so in Milan - in via Palermo, in the heart of Brera - the Sferisterio was born with 1,200 seats.

Once the sports parenthesis is over, the structure has been dedicated to major events for years and Fashion Week did not miss the opportunity to embrace its unique charm and central location. Year after year, it continues to host runway shows and presentations by leading fashion houses.

Via Palermo means being a stone's throw from Corso Garibaldi, Brera is a certainty to the south while to the north you look at Piazza XXV Aprile, Corso Como and Gae Aulenti. In short, the most popular and fashionable places of Milanese nightlife, from Eataly to Hollywood, from the arthouse cinema of Anteo to the walks along the BAM, Biblioteca degli Alberi Milano.

Behind the Maggiolina, a renowned residential district, there is Villa Mirabello, chosen by Daniela Gregis for her fashion show during Fashion Week. It is a noble villa from the 1400s which was a hunting reserve for the Viscontis and today a pleasant meeting place for the Milanese with a view of the Vertical Forest.

Sticking to the city center, Garden Senato (14 Via Senato) is a location to keep an eye on—a beautiful garden in the heart of Milan’s Fashion District that has long been a go-to venue for events focused on design and creativity. During Fashion Week, it continues to host events that make it one of the city’s most interesting addresses to know.

Dolce & Gabbana remained at their home instead. Yes, because the location where they exhibited their collections is none other than the Metropol, or rather the former Metropol in via Piave 24, one of the most celebrated cinemas and theaters in Milan with 1500 seats.

Today, it’s a stunning multipurpose space and an enduring Milan landmark, as well as the stage for Dolce&Gabbana’s fashion shows. The two designers wanted it at all costs and had it renovated, embellishing the room without losing anything of the past heritage but adding modern furnishings and precious inserts. 

Let's move south and discover that Max Mara presented its spring/summer 2024 collection in via Besana 12, a location also chosen by other designers. Here there is the historic Rotonda della Besana and today it houses the MuBa, the Children's Museum.

An important place for Milan’s history, indeed there are those who maintain that anyone who does not know the history of Besana is not really Milanese. It was built starting in 1695 and over time it has been a cemetery area, a hospital, a Milanese pantheon in the intentions of Napoleon Bonaparte (but the Austrians thought differently...), a barracks and even a hospital laundry. 

Quiet and tucked away, the Rotonda is one of those places that many Milanese know and frequent, but that often goes unnoticed by first-time visitors.

During the Fashion Week, it’s well worth adding to your itinerary—not only for the fashion events that have taken place here over the years, but also to discover a more authentic and unexpected side of Milan.

Continuing towards the south of the city and we discover the decisive importance that the Prada Foundation has assumed in re-evaluating a suburban area that seemed abandoned. We are in via Lorenzini 14, behind Piazza Lodi and towards Brenta and Corvetto, and since the Maison chose this area as its new headquarters, the entire area has found new life.

Our tip, however, is not to stop at the exhibitions: the Foundation is also home to Cinema Godard, with a program ranging from contemporary cinema and restored classics to retrospectives and talks with directors and artists. In September 2026, the lineup includes, among others, events featuring Ali Asgari, Maria Giovanna Cicciari, Fabrizio Laurenti, Nicolas Winding Refn, and Cao Fei.

Even outside Milan Fashion Week, the Foundation’s cultural program makes it a worthwhile stop for anyone looking to discover a different side of Milan—more contemporary, experimental, and international.

We are now far from the lights of the centre (above we see a very bright via Dante), but as we know, fashion is made up of trends, of alternative styles that sometimes arise by surprise in the most unthinkable places. This is why fashion loves the suburbs, abandoned warehouses, abandoned warehouses, places that however often return to a second life.

This is the case of via Mecenate, which is increasingly becoming the Milanese hub for TV filming, so much so that RAI has set up its new production center there. Antonio Marras exhibited his women's and men's collections in via Mecenate 84, at Joy Hub.

Nearby, you’ll also find Officine del Volo, another Fashion Week event venue, as well as Studio Novanta and, most notably, Fabrique on Via Fantoli, one of the city’s leading clubs and spaces for concerts and events.

And if you want to head even farther south, it’s worth making your way to the Famagosta area, home to Superstudio Maxi, a large multifunctional venue spanning around 10,000 square meters and designed to host trade shows, conferences, and major productions. Another example of Milan’s industrial outskirts, which during Fashion Week can be transformed into a surprising stage for creativity.

With rare exceptions, the Fashion Week catwalks are reserved for insiders: press operators, testimonials and VIPs who have ties to the brand, but also influencers and important clients. The events are all by invitation, so avoid showing up to the fashion shows without this, it will be difficult to enter.

But let's take a look at the top three things not to do during Fashion Week.

Between innovative places and famous squares, following the Milan Fashion Week is therefore an opportunity not to be missed to discover alternative places rather than the most important monuments and places of the city. But the too many events cause that it is preferable to postpone Piazza Duomo, Piazza Affari or the squares of Porta Nuova and other famous places on the days of the fashion show.

Not forgetting that the shopping streets of the Italian fashion capital - the quadrilateral - are open.

To visit the Arnaldo Pomodoro Laboratory at the Fendi headquarters you need to book online. There's no point in doing it during Fashion Week. The same goes for the important cultural center that the Prada Foundation has become: the Progetto Cinema section, now Cinema Godard, is open with its meetings and film club screenings all year round.

The MuBa housed inside the Rotonda della Besana is one of the youngest museums in the city, but it is open all year round and therefore it is right to avoid it during the weeks of big events such as Fashion Week.