A digital passport for event acess is the big innovation of Fuorisalone 2026

That Milan turns into a nation of its own during Design Week — less Italy, more world — has long been clear. The Salone del Mobile and the events across the city known as Fuorisalone draw every kind of visitor: not only industry professionals, but also true design tourists, from Italy and abroad, who rely on guides and Instagram trends to navigate a world that partly depends on them and partly, at the same time, resents them.

This inevitably creates issues of space and long queues across each of the more than nine Design Week “districts.”

The 63rd edition of the Salone del Mobile will take place from April 21 to 26, and this year things appear set to change. A strictly digital passport aims to streamline access to the many events spread throughout the city.

With the Fuorisalone Passport, visitors register once via the web app and receive a unique QR code, valid for all participating events within a single district. “Fewer multiple registrations, more time for design,” as stated on Fuorisalone.it’s official channels. The system is currently in beta — a prototype — and will be tested this year only within the Brera district, one of the event’s historic hubs, and only for venues taking part in the initiative. The project seeks not only to reduce queues, confusion, and repeated registrations, but also to make it easier to collect data on visitor flows — something that, until recently, largely eluded the algorithmic tracking systems typical of major events. It is a unified system shared among brands and organizers, but it does not alter entry rules: capacity limits, opening hours, and access criteria remain unchanged. And, above all, it can do little to overcome Milan’s physical limits — which, even if it sometimes feels like it, is not actually a nation.

Opening image: Courtesy Fuorisalone.it