Milan, cultural capital of Italy. Record spending on culture in 2023

In 2023, the City of Milan recorded a significant increase in cultural consumption spending, which reached 790.2 million euros, including sports events. The 44 percent year-on-year growth reflects the strong impact of the full reopening of cultural spaces post-pandemic and Milan’s role as a center of cultural attraction. Without sports events, cultural spending in the area stood at 491 million euros, an increase of 33 percent over 2022, compared to a national average of 20 percent.

These data emerge from theObservatory on Cultural Consumption in Milan, conducted by the Italian Publishers’ Association (AIE) in collaboration with SIAE and the Milan Library System and presented at the Trivulziana Library at Castello Sforzesco. The city, which accounts for 2.3 percent of Italy’s population, concentrates 13 percent of national cultural spending and 8 percent of the total audience. This disparity highlights Milan’s strength as a cultural attractor for a national audience. Excluded in the count is spending on recorded music and cinema purchases, video games, and admissions to museums other than municipal museums.

Books and sports top spending

Spending on books in bookstores and large retail outlets in Milan reached 170 million euros, a figure that underscores the importance of the literary sector and places the sector in second place, surpassed only by soccer, which generated 191 million euros. This is followed by pop and rock music concerts (168 million), nightclubs (62 million), exhibitions (48 million), opera theater (33 million), prose theater (29 million), theatrical cinema (26 million), other forms of entertainment (14 million), revue theater and musicals (12 million), classical music concerts (7 million), ballet (6 million), fairs (4 million), other sports (3 million), and amusement parks (2 million).

As for the book world, there are 180 bookstores in the territory, 17 more than in 2019 and accounting for 7 percent of the national total. The Milan Library System hasalso seen an increase in users, now at 86,700, an increase from 75,600 in 2022 and also higher than pre-pandemic levels (85,200 users in 2019). Of the users, 60 percent are women and 62 percent hold a bachelor’s degree or higher. Libraries are not only places to borrow (38 percent), but also to consult (29 percent), attend events (18 percent), and take courses (13 percent), with 67 percent of members visiting a library at least once a month. In addition, the variety of materials borrowed ranges from fiction (26 percent) to non-fiction (20 percent) to DVDs and CDs, while digital borrowing is less used, with 63 percent of users not having used it in the past year.

As for municipal museums, record spending and access in 2023: 1,722,000 visitors entered Milan’s museums (compared to the previous record in 2019, which was just over 1.5 million), and spent €3,176,000 (previous record €3,154,000 in 2022).

An offer that attracts all of Italy

Milanese spending on cultural consumption shows a high concentration in several sectors: 31 percent on exhibitions (22 percent of the public), 30 percent on opera theater (17 percent of the public), and 19 percent on pop and rock music concerts (13 percent of the public). Milan thus attracts a very large audience compared to the resident population, confirming its ability to offer a unique range of cultural events and activities in Italy.

With a constantly growing cultural investment and fruition, Milan thus confirms itself as a cultural capital and a national reference point for the sector. The city continues to strengthen its offerings and encourage cultural participation, thanks also to events and collaborations such as BookCity, which annually strengthens citizens’ connection with the world of culture.

Statements

“Milan has made a new leap forward in cultural consumption, confirming and indeed increasing its leadership on the national territory,” AIE President Innocenzo Cipolletta stresses. “The inclusion from this year of libraries within our research also tells us that the increase also concerns behaviors other than private spending. We confirm again this year our intention to enrich and make more and more complete this important tool at the service of those who plan cultural policies in the territory.”

“It is a great responsibility, as well as a great satisfaction, to see Milan grow every year and be confirmed as the Italian capital of culture,” says Culture Councillor Tommaso Sacchi. “The cultural debate, which is always very lively in our city, finds space today at BookCity with the presentation of this research by AIE, which for the first time involves the civic library system and is really useful to guide the city’s cultural policies. The data reported, which are very positive, confirm to us the goodness of the method that this Administration carries out, with its own institutes, its own libraries, and together with the whole network of public and private subjects in the city.”

“More than positive are the data presented by the Italian Publishers Association on cultural consumption, which once again define Milan as the capital of Italian publishing, not only because of the presence of large publishing groups but because of an increasing and increasingly attentive participation of citizens. Mirroring these data is also the high number of meetings within the schedule of BCM24, an event dedicated to books, which is increasingly widespread throughout the territory and participatory,” says Piergaetano Marchetti, president of the BookCity Milano Association.

“Milan is the melting pot of Italian publishing,” says Stefano Mauri, president thirteenth edition of BookCity Milano. “More than 90 percent of bestsellers are published by publishing houses based in Milan or that are part of Milan-based groups. Anyone can see this by looking at the rankings. This would not be possible if there were not a population that is particularly attentive to cultural offerings and at the same time pragmatic. Milan knows how to elaborate and give a national format and dissemination to works from all parts of Italy and the world. It is not by chance that it is on this cultural humus, with a vast participation of all actors, that Bookcity has flourished.”

Milan, cultural capital of Italy. Record spending on culture in 2023

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