Milan Expo 2015. The spread of cultural events in historic places and beyond

The exhibitions promoted by the Bureau International d’Expositions (BIE) are usually located in one, large and specifically dedicated exhibition area. In the case of the Milan Expo 2015, the official venue was located on the outskirts of the city. Yet Milan already had a strong tradition of hosting events, tradition that the city leveraged in this occasion. Specifically, the Fuorisalone (Design Week) event inspired the development and coordination of thousands of minor collateral events gathered through an online platform under the ExpoinCittà umbrella label. These events were located in and impacted dozens of historic and modern buildings and spaces throughout the city and metropolitan area. Other heritage sites underwent more substantial transformations, as in the case of the renewal of the old Darsena and the pedestrianization of the central Piazza Castello.