With the Salone del Mobile international furniture exhibition, the city of Milan confirms its position as the world capital of design. A design in the form of knowledge, expertise, profound skills, both in the details and overall. It is an international event that enhances the competitiveness of excellence made in Italy and whereby Milan expresses its solidarity and inclusiveness, its propensity to welcome and its cosmopolitanism. The Salone del Mobile is a celebration of creativity applied to reality, a long history of innovation which ranks Pirelli among its star players, a company that has always stood out over the years for its polytechnic culture and for the design of a quality future. A future that, like every year, brings to the surface an ecosystem that is increasingly rich in excellences, that testify to the close relationship between the history of industry and creativity.
One of these excellences is constituted by the cutting-edge spirit of Pirelli, in its attempt to respond in an original and alternative way to reflections on "sustainable culture", trying to tie creatively the environment with industry, work and increasingly sophisticated technology with the improvement of social balance, design, town planning and architecture, always taking steps towards what could be referred to as a new "industrial humanism."
It is in its constant motion in this direction that Pirelli CYCL-e Around and Pirelli HangarBicocca are rethinking the mobility of the future, by organising an e-bike tour across Milan to guide their guests in the discovery of the city in the form of an experience heralding beauty and sustainability.
It is an itinerary along the dedicated cycle path across the entire Bicocca district and which can only be travelled on an e-bike made by P Lunga, with an experienced cycling tourist guide that will lead visitors to some of the city's iconic landmarks, on a journey through time starting in the agricultural past of the Bicocca district, through the industrial sector linked to Pirelli and Breda and ending at the Pirelli HangarBicocca. There, a dedicated cultural mediator will accompany participants into the exhibition space, that stands on a refurbished former Breda Elettromeccanica production plant and conceals plenty of secrets to uncover.
Once the visit is complete, there will be time for total relaxation with an exclusive lunch at The Manzoni Restaurant on the namesake street. Guests will be greeted personally by London designer Tom Dixon who, with a truly stylish comeback - after having missed last year's edition - will be showing his first European venue - or we could say his new Milanese home - outside Great Britain. This ambitious project, embracing both a restaurant and a showroom, is being inaugurated with a pre-opening specifically on the occasion of Milan Design Week and can also be reached by bike.
Guided tours are scheduled from Wednesday 10th until Saturday 13th April, starting at 10 o'clock in the morning from The Manzoni and returning to the same place after lunch, scheduled at 12:30/13; the maximum number of participants for each mini-tour is four people.
