Milan's Malpensa airport opens "Luxury Piazza" travel retail space

By

Dominique Muret

Published
May 29, 2014

Malpensa is undergoing a makeover and thinking big in advance of Expo 2015, the World Expo to be held in Milan next year. Milan airport operator SEA has invested 30 million euros to finance a major renovation. The project’s centerpiece is a new mall area that is structured around the new "Piazza del Lusso", or Luxury Piazza, which just opened the first section.

This 8000-square-meter shopping area is located in Terminal 1 and accessible to all passengers on Schengen and non-Schengen flights, comprising 46 retail spaces, including a 2000-square-meter duty free store. The project increases Malpensa's retail surface area in the departures area to 23,000 square meters for some one hundred commercial spaces that includes bars, restaurants and stores, the airport said in a statement.

This new area primarily houses major global luxury brands, such as Armani (the label's first store in a European airport), Bulgari, Ermenegildo Zegna, Etro, Gucci, Hermes, Montblanc, Salvatore Ferragamo, Tod's, Burberry and Moncler.

Architect Gregorio Caccia Dominioni designed the Malpensa makeover, which features a distinctive lighting concept created by lighting designer Cinzia Ferrara. SEA described the renovated Milan airport as "an elegant, bright and airy state-of-the-art steel and glass facility, featuring an aerodynamic design, marble floors, and zinc-titanium cladding."

Work will be completed by April 2015 for a total area of 350,000 square meters.