In the ’50s, Peter Van Wood sang “Via Montenapoleone, Milan’s living room, meetingpoint of the ladies, of the of the city elite”: since then little or nothing seems to have changed.
Glittering shop-windows reflect the eyes of the milion pedestrians that each year pass through this way to treat themself with something important, to buy a present for someone else or just to enjoy the beauty that luxury brings along.
At the heart of the “Fashion District” where one can find all the boutiques and showrooms of the most prestigious names in the fashion industry, Via Montenapoleone is, for the cost of rent per square meter, in sixth place of the ranking of the most expensive shopping streets in the world (“Main streets across the World” compiled by Cushman & Wakefield, one of the largest private companies in the real estate market worldwide); it is therefore easy to understand why only major brands have access to this great showcase, thus maintaining the exclusivity of a place renowned throughout the world.
In Via Montenapoleone, and, more generally, in the Fashion Quadrangle, no one is missing from Giorgio Armani to Moschino, Prada, Trussardi, Versace, Missoni, Laura Biagiotti, Salvatore Ferragamo, Valentino, Dolce & Gabbana and many other names of the prestigious Italian fashion.
There is also an association that aims to promote this very particular place of beauty, a symbol not only of Milan, but also of Italy in the world, organizing and promoting initiatives related to fashion, art, design, culture and charity: it is the ‘MonteNapoleone Association‘, headed by Guglielmo Miani.
Among the projects planned for 2015 by the MonteNapolone Association, the third edition of “OVER THE UNDER – Tombini (manholes) Art tell the Wired City”, an event organized by Metroweb, Milan-based company that owns the largest network of underground fiber optics in Europe. For this event, from February 2015, 24 manholes between Via Montenapoleone and via Sant’Andrea have been decorated in a unique and original from by thee most famous Italian fashion designers. At the end of the event – in January 2016 – the manhole covers will be auctioned by Christie’s and the total proceeds donated to the the NGO Oxfam Italy for the campaign ‘With women to combat hunger‘.