Good morning people,

The temperature is rising and with it the amount of true FOMO events in Milan. I really wanted to see some open air BAM circus performances last week but was away (if you saw it, tell me how it was 🥲)

This week’s special is Artigiano in Fiera - basically all of Italy’s (and international) best food under one roof. Every stall gives you something to try. Pure heaven.

Aaand we are hosting our second community event. If you like journalling, introspection and a bit of planning you will enjoy this one.

(PS: discount code for the subscribers below)

Frugal Economy (Mon May 25, 5:30pm - Libreria Egea) What if scarcity was a starting point for better thinking? A talk on rethinking the models through which we produce, consume, and grow. For entrepreneurs, managers, public decision-makers or anyone wondering what a different kind of growth could look like. The event is explicitly stated to be fully in English (hope they mean it cause I’m ready to nerd out on this one).

Milan Startup Basket #30 (Mon May 25, 8pm) Basketball for founders and VCs. The 30th edition of a refreshing format - physical exertion as a networking strategy, which honestly makes more sense than most alternatives.

360 Capital x blisce/ (Tue May 26, 7pm - 360's Milan office) Evening cocktail co-hosted by two European VCs, open to founders. Informal drinks and conversation - where the real pitches happen.

apeira — al crepuscolo (Tue May 26, 7pm) A recurring hackerspace meetup where builders show up to work on whatever they're building — app, project, idea.

The Logic of Venture Capital (Thu May 28, 6:30pm - Viale Molise 82) A talk by Indie Milano on how VC has shaped the leading companies of today - and whether the model still makes sense. A good primer if you're thinking about raising, or just curious how the machine works.

Evening with Professor Linda Hill (Thu May 28, 6:30pm) An in-person session with the Harvard Business School professor. She will talk about innovation and present her latest book, Genius at Scale: How Great Leaders Drive Innovation.

Codex Community Meetup — Milan (Sat May 30, 10am) Milan's OpenAI Codex community gathering: updates, live demos, best practices for coding with AI. For developers, students, startup founders, designers, product builders, AI enthusiasts, and anyone curious about the future of coding and technology.

Checkmate Club (Wed June 3, 8pm ) 16 seats, hand-picked founders, chess boards. Application required, 5 spots left at the time of checking.

The Closet Swap (Fri May 29, 7pm — Via Comune Antico 11) Bring clothes you no longer wear, leave with things you actually will. Organized by 54 Milano as an immersive experience around personal style and sustainable fashion. A good reason to finally clear out that corner of your wardrobe.

🌟 Monthly Reset Picnic — Reflect, Reconnect, Recharge (Sun May 31, 11am) Ever feel like the weeks are moving faster than you can notice? This is our community picnic to slow down - reflect on the month, reconnect with yourself and with the why behind your to-do lists. Expect a mix of journalling and non shallow conversations. Use this code for a 20% off: FOUNDIT20

English Book Club — Literary Fiction (Sun May 31, 7pm - bar Otto, Paolo Sarpi) Monthly English-language book club for internationals and anyone who wants to read and talk about fiction in a relaxed setting. New people welcome.

🌟 Artigiano in Fiera (Thu May 29 - Mon Jun 2, Fiera Milano) The artisan fair is back for its spring edition. Handmade goods, food, crafts, and more square meters than you can possibly walk. I’ve been there about a year ago and it was great. Go hungry, because you’ll want to try EVERYTHING. Free tickets here.

Wellness & Hands-on

Sip & Paint @ QUO Bar (Tue May 26, 7pm) Every Tuesday at QUO Bar: grab a drink, paint something, meet new people. No prior experience needed. Paint should be provided.

Art in the Park — Paint & Sip Workshop (Sat May 30, 4pm) Outdoor painting session with wine involved. A more committed version of the one above (+ outdoors).

Hands On #1: Collaborative Drawing (Wed Jun 3, 6:30pm — Designers of Milan) First event in a new series: collaborative drawing, no screens, no brief, no deliverable. Designers of Milan going deliberately analog for one evening.

Mark your June calendar: three separate transport disruptions incoming - Three to plan around before summer travel kicks in. June 13: airports nationwide go on strike 1–5PM (Milan Linate confirmed, expect cancellations on short-haul). June 19–20: a full general strike hits all national and regional trains, buses, and metros for 48 hours. June 26: a 24-hour ground-handling strike covers every major Italian airport — Malpensa, Linate, Fiumicino, Naples, all of it. If you're booking anything with a connection in June, build in a buffer. → Dolcevia

Plus one full-day general strike on May 29th (all public & private transport affected🫠)

Italy and Spain are pushing the EU to sanction an Israeli minister - Foreign Minister Tajani and Spanish PM Sánchez jointly called for EU sanctions on Israel's far-right national security minister, saying the treatment of detained activists was "unacceptable." The ironic part is that Spanish police has just beaten up the same activists upon their return home (I guess “unacceptable” is a stretchy term).

The Giro d'Italia used Milan's streets as a racetrack yesterday - your Sunday commute was a casualty. Stage 15 finished on a city circuit through central Milan, which meant large chunks of the centre were closed for most of the day. If you were trying to get anywhere by car yesterday, you already lived this story. The race moves south now and finishes in Rome on May 31. → Giro d'Italia official

A Swatch caused scenes in Milan (yes, a Swatch). A limited-edition Royal Pop Swatch went on sale at Corso Buenos Aires on May 18. It sold out in under an hour. Before that: pre-dawn queues, people jostling at the door, and at least some actual scuffling - for a watch that retails around €100. → Wanted in Milan I’d be honestly shocked, but I’ve seen people put tents on the streets to get a pair of snickers in Berlin.

AC Milan and Roma took the last two Champions League spots - Como and Juventus just missed out. Milan and Roma both finished on 70 points; Como and Juventus, also level on 68, drop to Europa League and Conference League respectively. For Como, this was their first season back in Serie A after 21 years - and they still got European football. Juventus's commercialista is having a harder week. → ESPN

Hoepli closes today - 156 years, gone. If you walk past Via Hoepli 5 this week and notice people carrying trolleys full of books, that's the finale. Milan's most storied bookstore, founded in 1870 by Swiss-born Ulrico Hoepli (who eventually got a street named after him), shuts its doors today, May 25. The reasons: losses, e-commerce pressure, and a years-long family feud between the shareholders that nobody managed to resolve. 89 workers affected; the last 50% clearance sale drew queues around the block. → Il Post · → Il Fatto Quotidiano

The White House claimed Barilla as an American brand. The Trump administration this week celebrated Barilla expanding a US production line as a symbol of "American industry." r/italy called it appropriazione indebita di pasta italiana. The irony is thick: this is the same administration that proposed 107% tariffs on Italian pasta imports last year (eventually scaled back to 9% after Italy pushed back). They tried to tax it out of existence, now they're taking credit for it. → Fox Business

Italy made card readers talk to cash registers — and €5 billion appeared out of nowhere. Since March, merchants have been legally required to connect their POS terminals to their fiscal cash registers, so every card payment automatically triggers a receipt sent to the tax authority. One month in: 100 million more receipts issued than the same period last year, and €5 billion in previously unregistered revenue surfaced. → Open Online

Lega wanted to revoke residence permits after an attack — until they checked who was arrested. After a violent incident in Modena, Lega (Italy’s right wing party) called for automatic revocation of residence permits for anyone who commits a crime. Tajani intervened: the person arrested is Italian 😅 → The Local

Satispay - Software Engineer (Backend)
Mollie - Engineering Graduate Program
iBanFirst - Account Manager
Satispay - Data Analyst
Scalapay - Senior Product Manager

I have a favour to ask. Let’s say you find an event here and end up going there. You have a whale of a time and post something on socials as one does - mention us 😇 This helps more than you can imagine.

Cheers, Irina

Are you an event orginizer? Submit it here👈🏼
Looking for English speaking talent? Post your job here🤓