As stores re-open for business, so the lights come on again. MonteNapoleone District, with the patronage of Milan City Council, inaugurates its eleventh “Christmas Shopping Experience” with renewed spirit to create a welcoming, evocative atmosphere, in full compliance with measures to ensure the health and safety of visitors and employees.

For the entire festive season, from 1 December to 7 January, Via Montenapoleone, Verri, Sant’Andrea, Borgospesso, Bagutta and San Pietro all’Orto will be festooned with sparkling spheres and chandeliers, while Via Santo Spirito will be decorated with pine branches lit by flashes of light and green pine globes. Christmas illuminations will be extended again this year to include the Ponte Lambro district and Piazza Selinunte, where MonteNapoleone District will create a special atmosphere in the spirit of sharing.

As well as the illuminations, lights on the tree in Piazzetta Croce Rossa will be switched on at dusk on Friday, 4 December as a symbol of a new kind of Christmas in a spirit of tradition and sustainability. Testimonial for MonteNapoleone District’s Christmas Shopping Experience 2020, is the “Tree of Light”, a Corten steel sculpture created by artist Roberta Cipriani, decorated for the occasion by Magic Décor with mirrored gilded aluminium discs. The work represents our journey on Earth, a process of transformation of life itself, in which the flower, the Camunian rose at the base, becomes a trunk encompassing the history of humanity, lifting its arms to the sky in a hymn of love, underscored by the philosophical and spiritual quotations inscribed on the trunk. “The Tree of Light” in Piazzetta Croce Rossa is part of the “Christmas of Trees” project promoted by the Milan City Council.

Another essential element of Christmas 2020 will be music. To make strolling and shopping an even more pleasant experience, Radio Monte Carlo, which has been part of this project since its inception, has created a special playlist of well-known Christmas tunes that will be piped-in along the length of Via MonteNapoleone.

Confirming its ties with the city of Milan and its long-established collaboration with the District, Audi Italia will be present with its e-tron series in Via MonteNapoleone, an exceptional shop-window for the manufacturer’s zero emissions cars in the heart of the Quadrilateral. Audi e-tron, the first in the series, Audi e-tron Sportback, with its exciting design, and the high-performance e-tron S Sportback, the world’s first electric car with three electric motors, are proof that environmental awareness and driving enjoyment are not mutually exclusive.

Also in Via MonteNapoleone, and adding its own enchantment to the run-up to Christmas, the Acqua Valverde display case depicts the interior of a luxurious Alpine chalet, where elegance and style create the perfect setting for enjoying the magic of Christmas with loved ones around a warming fire. The snowy white decor combined with the gleaming gold of the decorations and elements of some prestigious design brands create a welcoming, tranquil atmosphere, accompanied by Acqua Valverde.