The major 50 year milestone has been reached. The Saloni are wearing those 50 years well, given that visitor numbers have gone up from 12,100 in 1961 to 329,563 in 2010 and that the initial 328 exhibitors over what was then 11,000 square metres of display space have risen to 2,775 in an area that now measures 210,030 square metres. Of those original exhibitors, no less than 20 have faithfully attended every single one of the 50 editions: Besana, Bonacina Pierantonio, FEG, Flexform, Gervasoni, Bonacina Minotti Giorgetti, Gruppo Industriale Busnelli, IPE, Jesse, Medea, Minotti, Minotti Italia Trading, MisuraEmme, Molteni & C., Pianca, Porro Industria Mobili, Potocco, Rossi di Albizzate, Turri, Nieri and Industria della Poltrona Pizzetti.

Just as in 1961, when the Salone was set up to respond to the demands of a small number of businessmen, now, in its 50th anniversary year, the Saloni are catering to a design world that is increasingly cross-cutting, and to a market that is incontrovertibly geared to design, and has thus come up with a new layout for the Pavilions, pairing the various exhibitions to maximise synergy and user-friendliness various user-friendliness.

This year, for the first time, the Salone Internazionale del Mobile the International Furnishing Accessories Mobile, Euroluce,Exhibition and SaloneSatellite are being joined by both Euroluce the International Lighting Exhibition and SaloneUfficio the International Biennial Workspace Exhibition, located opposite each other –the former in Pavilions 9-11 and 13-15, and the latter in Pavilions 22-24, thus broadening the range of goods on offer, especially in the planning and contract sector, and responding to the steadily increasing affinities that now exist between the worlds of work and illumination. Coupling these two exhibitions together is a significant move, because designing lighting systems and offices always makes for many points of contact and overlaps, while their location is strategic because the Pavilions are situated between the Porta Ovest (West Gate) and the Porta Sud (South Gate)

For the first time this year, the spaces assigned to exhibiting companies have been organised differently,in that the design section of the Salone Internazionale del Mobile has been extended to take in Pavilions 16-20.This is where the companies exhibiting at the previous edition n Pavilions 8-12 will be this year,perfectly placed between the lighting and office biennial exhibitions and thus part of an ideal visitor path,leading from classical to rather more trend-setting design.

From Tuesday 12th to Sunday 17th April 2011 there will be a double appointment, therefore, both at the Fair itself with its numerous meetings and seminars – including “The Office as Creative Hub.The Italian Way!” which will discuss useful toolkits for man and his creativity, the seminar on the role of Facility Managers organized especially for SaloneUfficio by IFMA Italia and the one on Lighting Designers organized by the PLDA and APIL sectorial associations - and in the city, with a various collateral events (set out below and in the relative communiqués), in keeping with Cosmit’s policy of being constantly on the look-out for the balance between tradition and innovation in the name of quality.

The 50th anniversary year officially kicked off in February with “Great Hands, Without End-The birth and ascent of design in Milan: the Castiglionis, Magistretti, Menghi, Sottsass, Viganò, Zanuso”, at the Teatro Studio Expo, as part of the project “Achieving the improbable” - a theatrical piece by Laura Curino,produced by Piccolo Teatro di Milano, and staged by Cosmit, in collaboration with Fondazione Giannino Bassetti, FederlegnoArredo and the Milan and Monza-Brianza Chambers of Commerce.An original way of recounting history while looking to the future, a platform for the ideas, attributes and experiences of Castiglioni, Magistretti, Menghi, Sottsass, Viganò, Zanuso and the entrepreneurs with whom they dealt, Cassina, Castelli, Gandini, Barassi, Bitossi and Sarfatti.

Innovation lies at the heart of all the events: innovation in people and in things, looking back at the past with an eye to the future

To mark the fiftieth anniversary of the Salone del Mobile, the Triennale Design Museum will be dedicating its fourth edition to the people and companies that have helped to create the Italian design system.“Dream Factories”, from 5th April 2011 to 26th February 2012.

This year, at the biennial Euroluce / International Lighting Exhibition, Cosmit will be gazing into the heart of Milan, right to its ancient core, comprised of what is now the area around Piazza della Scala-Piazza San Fedele. Here, where the ground rises gently, the ancients used to worship a small wood that created an arbour sheltered by trees they considered sacred, we intend to recreate the ancient sacred grove grove,the lucus as they used to call it, which – when the light fell on it – became “a multitude of trees of religious significance.” Attilio Stocchi’s scenography for “The Arbour” will transform the heart of Milan into a new, visionary Theatrum Naturae, where the trees once swathed in the Po Valley mists will flourish once again,to the sound of that extraordinary chorus produced by the flying species that populated it: goldfinches,long-tailed tits, hoopoes, common redstarts, wagtails... Under the Patronage of the Municipality of Milan,from 12 to 17 April.

The suggestive setting of Piazza Duomo will provide the backdrop to “Principia – Forward Arts”an exhibition devoted to an imagined future a path through eight spaces designed by Denis Santachiara in collaboration with the Solares Arts Foundation, scientists and young and famous artists. The most innovative scientific discoveries will be reinterpreted, manipulating science to create unique works of art that stem from a principium, largely attributable to the latest and most cutting-edge technologies.Under the Patronage of the Municipality of Milan, from 12th to 17th April.

Just as the Salone del Mobile has seen Milan become the capital of the furnishing sector,Via MonteNapoleone one of the symbolic and extremely central prestigious city streets, will provide the venue for “an open air museum” set up by Cosmit and the Associazione di Via MonteNapoleone and Citro?n Italia. This exhibit will feature a selection of objects from the “Avverati – A Dream Come True”Exhibition, curated by Beppe Finessi, all conceived by international designers and shown over the years at SaloneSatellite before going into production. MonteNapoleone Design Experience by Citro?n.Avverati - A Dream ComeTrue. A SaloneSatellite Exhibition”, from 12th to 17th April.

Building on the successful format of the previous two editions, this year’s initiative – supported by Cosmit and the Cosmit Events Foundation – will be dedicated to autograph designs and sketches donated by graphic artists from all over the world to the FAI – The Italian Environment Fund – to be held at the Villa Necchi Campiglio Historic House Museum “The Hand of the Graphic Designer” from 8th April to 8th May.

The Saloni will also permeate the city - in the Milanese showrooms of 70 of its exhibiting companies companies,each with their own events, each with their own unmistakable style; with the “City Dressing” project that will bring a party atmosphere to the streets, with hundreds of flags from the Saloni 50 Years Young to those of Milan, Expo City 2015 and all the countries in the world, in celebration of the city of Milan,which is providing an space for reflection on design, on the business world that has made it all possible,on creativity and on culture. The City of the Saloni a Milan that believes in the future and wants to be part of it.

By logging onto the Cosmit site with an iPhone or smartphone the mobc3 platform (www.mobc3.com) set up by Neos, real time information can be had on what is happening at the Saloni: not just the companies taking part, conventions and events. The wide-ranging info-mobility service set up by the Milan Fairgrounds together with Radio Traffic will provide real time information on parking and traffic conditions around the exhibition complex, on the motorways, the underground, railways and airports.

With the support of the President of the Republic.