Best New Restaurants, Exhibitions, and Stores in Milan for Spring 2025

Veramente restaurant in Milan. Courtesy of Veramente

Sandì restaurant

If you’re looking for a thoughtfully prepared meal in a relaxed setting, Sandì has opened on Via Hayez in Milan in a former 1960s bakery. Created by Laura Santosuosso and Denny Mollica, the restaurant offers a mix of contemporary cuisine with Emilian tradition, Santosuosso’s culinary heritage.

The lunch menu changes weekly, offering a set formula with three options, while evening and weekend menus feature dishes with a focus on vegetables and minimal animal protein. As for the wine list, it includes a curated selection that changes monthly, showcasing labels from Italy, France, and occasional finds from Germany and Austria.

The space was redesigned by Parasite 2.0, a Milan–based architectural studio formed by Stefano Colombo, Eugenio Cosentino and Luca Marullo. Two walls were partially removed: one, between the dining area and kitchen, which was replaced with a semi-transparent partition made of raw iron and smoked polycarbonate, allowing for a peek into the kitchen; the other wall was replaced by a dense curtain, acting as a theatrical stage backdrop, opening into a small private dining room. A central wooden and green granite counter serves as the restaurant’s focal point. The furnishings blend contemporary and vintage design pieces from the 1970s and 1980s such as chairs by Giancarlo Piretti.

Veramente

The storied Brera district has welcomed a new restaurant called Veramente in via Palermo, 11. Founded by Gianmarco Venuto and Filippo Sironi together with brothers Filippo and Marco Mottolese — all hailing from the restaurant industry — the location seats 115 guests indoors, of which 15 in a private room, and 20 guests outdoors.

The menu comprises recipes from the entire Italian culinary tradition. Among the signature dishes there are eggplant “parmigiana,” “spaghettoni alla Nerano con provolone (an Italian semi-hard cheese) del Monaco” and “pici al ragù”, a traditional Tuscan pasta with ragù sauce.

The wine list offers more than 200 Italian labels from each region.

Veramente
Via Palermo 11 – 20121
Tel. 02-85-68-7716
ristoranteveramente.it

Ditta Artigianale

Ditta Artigianale, the artisanal roaster of specialty coffee founded in 2013 in Florence by Francesco Sanapo and Patrick Hoffer, after the opening of six units in its hometown, recently unveiled its first door in Milan, located in Corso Magenta, 31.

The offer comprises espresso blends from Honduras, Colombia or Ethiopia and more. Guests can also try seasonal and signature coffee proposals, such as the bestseller Coffeemisù, an innovative espresso-based tiramisu-inspired drink served with mascarpone cream and biscuits.

For the aperitif, Ditta Artigianale proposes the cocktail dinatoire: Guests can choose from a selection of signature cocktails such as “Gin Peter in Florence,” with tapas.

The design of the location recalls the Art Nouveau style with wrought iron fixtures and floral decorations. The concrete of the walls is flanked by the walnut wood paneling, while the Venetian grit counter stands out as a key element.

Ditta Artigianale in Milan. Courtesy of ditta Artigianale

Ditta Artigianale
Corso Magenta 31 – 20123
Tel. 02-99-25-0284
dittaartigianale.com

Santoni

In the year of its 50th anniversary, Santoni opens its doors on Milan’s Via Montenapoleone, conceived by architect and designer Patricia Urquiola.

Located inside a historic building at n. 18, it spans over 1,614 square feet, and offers the first view of Santoni’s new concept which will soon be rolled out in monobrand stores, starting with the brand’s New York flagship. The Milan boutique features a wide corridor with terrazzo flooring, in keeping with Milanese tradition, which leads into the main hall, where visitors are welcomed to a carpeted area.

A backlit metal grid ceiling creates a seamless continuity with Urquiola’s previous concept for Santoni, where interior architecture is expressed through a composition of geometries. The boutique’s color palette pairs shades of orange, terracotta and rose with champagne brass details.

Fine Italian marble, including onyx and travertine on the consoles, shelves and partitions, add elegance to the space. The boutique carries footwear, leather goods and accessories displayed with sofas and armchairs that pepper the space.

Santoni store in Milan. Courtesy of Santoni/ Tommaso Biondo

Santoni
Via Montenapoleone, 18 – 20121
Tel. 02-76-28-0508
santonishoes.com

‘A Kind of Language’ Exhibition

Until September, Fondazione Prada presents the exhibition “A Kind of Language: Storyboards and Other Renderings for Cinema,” at the Osservatorio, located at Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II in Milan. Curated by Melissa Harris, the exhibition showcases the creative process behind filmmaking by exploring more than 800 items like storyboards, mood boards, drawings, sketches, notebooks, and photographs all created from the late 1920s to 2024 by more than 50 authors among film directors, cinematographers, visual artists, graphic designers, animators and choreographers.

The set design was entrusted to Andrea Faraguna of the Berlin-based architecture office Sub who drew inspiration from the movie storyboards as a tool which embodies the director’s creative vision and helps the technical realization of the film. Visual narratives and sequences of scenes of movies are displayed on tables where visitors can analyze them. Among the storyboards featured there are J. Russell Spencer’s for Charlie Chaplin’s “The Great Dictator” (1940); Pablo Buratti’s for Pedro Almodóvar’s “Julieta” (2016); and Terry Gilliam’s for his “Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas” (1998) and more.

The second chapter of “A Kind of Language: Storyboards and Other Renderings for Cinema” will be held at Prada Rong Zhai in Shanghai from November 2025 to February 2026.