Interaction 20

Milan was the perfect spot for Interaction Week 2020: recently crowned with the 2019 Design Award for Best City, by Wallpaper* magazine, citing an “exciting renaissance”. This ancient, sophisticated city is often described as the world capital for fashion and [furniture] design, but Northern Italy also played a key role in the advancement of interaction design. In 2003 Arduino was invented in nearby Ivrea, at the Interaction Design Institute, which later merged with Domus Academy, our education partner for the 2020 conference.

As Italy’s industrial and business center, Milan has many world-class attractions, from ancient ruins to cutting edge institutions. With the sartorially sophisticated locals, renowned restaurants, modernist architecture, and opulent museums and galleries, Milan is a surprisingly cool city.

Milan-DSL-Studio-1 — Photo courtesy © Delfino Sisto Legnani

Milan-DSL-Studio-2

Milan-DSL-Studio-3

Milan is served by three international airports. Milan Malpensa (MXP) is the largest of the three, with non-stop flights to many global capitals. Upon arrival the Malpensa Express offers a 35-minute express train ride into the city center for 13 EUR.

Milan Linate (LIN) is within city limits and serves many destinations throughout Europe. From Linate you can catch a city bus to the center with a regular transit fare of just 2 EUR.

About an hour away is BGY Bergamo Orio al Serio, which is served mostly by budget airlines. Nonetheless, there are buses leaving regular from BGY to Milan for 5 EUR.

Milan can be reached via high-speed rail service via Trenitalia, Italo, SNCF TGV (from Paris & Lyon), Thello (from Marseille & Nice) and SBB (from Switzerland). Turin is only 45 minutes away and Rome is 3 hours. Planning an Italian viaggio before or after the conference? You can easily reach Bologna, Venice, Florence, Naples and many more destinations by train.

Milan is now home to Europe’s largest traffic-restricted zone, as part of an initiative to reduce pollution. We do not recommend traveling around within city limits by car. If arriving to Milan by car for a single day, consider parking at a metro station and entering the city by metro.

Our official conference hotel is the NH Milano Touring.

This modern hotel is located within Milan’s Centro Storico (historic downtown), as well as two of Milan’s main train stations.

More Hotel Options

Enterprise Hotel
Corso Sempione, 91, 20149 Milano

This upscale hotel is just 500 meters from MiCo, our main conference venue. It also offers a fitness center and rooftop spa. The historic center is 20 minutes away by tram.

Looking for alternatives to NH Milano Touring? Check out the following hotels.

NH Palazzo Moscova

Milan is famous for its numerous 5-star and even 7-star hotels. To be in a convenient location for the conference without sky-high prices, we suggest the stylish Hotel Viu Milan, located in one of the most vibrant areas of Milan - near Corso Como and Gae Aulenti square.

In the design capital, you’d expect to find numerous “design hotels.” Here are some of our favorites:

Room Mate Giulia

SINA The Gray

Magna Pars Suites

Savona 18 Suites

Want to wake up in the middle of it all? These boutique hotel options are all near the Duomo Cathedral and the iconic Castello Sforzesco:

Hotel Milano Scala

Palazzo Segreti

Santa Marta Suites

We’d recommend checking out the two Milan locations of the hotel and hostel Ostello Bello. Each location’s lobby cafe is a known spot for locals to mix with foreigners for language exchange. Another option that is more conveniently located for reaching MiCo is B&B Hotels Cenisio Garibaldi. Last but certainly not least, Milan has a wide range of offerings on Airbnb.

Milan combines the wonder and history of an Italian city, together with contemporary comforts.

The historical center is best discovered walking around on foot. There is a modern transit system including four metro lines, trams and buses, as well as rail connections to the suburbs and other Italian capitals.

Milan’s public transit system is ATM: Azienda Trasporti Milanesi. Tickets work for the entire system: metro, buses, trams and even suburban rail within city limits. It also includes the historic trams made of wood and iron!

Fun fact: these trams are the ones that are iconic of San Francisco as well: the city of Milan decided to gift about a dozen of these vehicles to San Francisco.

Single ride tickets, valid for 90 minutes including transfers, are 2 EUR. An unlimited use 1-day ticket is 7 EUR and a 3-day ticket is 12 EUR. You can purchase tickets at metro stations, newsstands or many “Tabacchi” shops that have a large T sign out front. In the metro system you can pay using contactless payment credit cards from Mastercard, Visa, American Express, Maestro and VPay. You can also purchase tickets via PayPal in ATM’s own app, as well as via SMS (Italian SIM cards only). For directions using Milan’s public transit system, try CityMapper, Moovit, Google Maps, or ATM’s own app.

Milan city taxis are white and have a medallion on the back and a "TAXI" light on top. Street hailing of taxis is forbidden, so taxis can be requested via the Free Now app, at a taxi stand marked by an orange sign, or by calling one of the taxi company phone lines.

+39 02 4040

+39 02 5353

+39 02 6969

+39 02 8585

There are numerous shared mobility services in Milan, including cars, bicycles, mopeds and even scooters.