Milanruns on a handful of strong industries. If you’re job-hunting or weighing a move, here’s where the opportunities (and the big-name employers) are.
Top industries & employers
Finance & banking
Intesa Sanpaolo, UniCredit, Mediobanca, Borsa Italiana (Euronext Milan), Generali
Italy's only financial centre — the stock exchange, the asset managers and essentially every foreign bank's Italian operation sit within a few streets of Piazza Affari and Porta Nuova.
Fashion & luxury
Armani, Prada, Dolce & Gabbana, Moncler, Versace, Kering and LVMH Italian operations
Design and commercial headquarters rather than manufacturing, which sits in the Veneto, Tuscany and the Marche. Fashion Week in February and September reorders the whole city.
Design, architecture & media
Alessi, Kartell, Molteni, Salone del Mobile, RCS, Mondadori, Publitalia
The Salone del Mobile each April is the world's largest furniture fair and the week around it — Fuorisalone — takes over entire districts. Italy's publishing and advertising industries are also concentrated here.
Professional services & consulting
The Big Four, McKinsey, BCG, Bain, major international law firms
Milan is where multinationals put their Italian head office, so the advisory market is far deeper than anywhere else in Italy and is the most reliable English-speaking entry point.
Pharmaceuticals & life sciences
Chiesi, Zambon, Bracco, Recordati, IEO, Humanitas, San Raffaele
Lombardy accounts for a large share of Italian pharmaceutical output, and the private research hospitals around Milan are among the strongest clinical research centres in southern Europe.
Technology & digital
Bending Spoons, Satispay, Scalapay, Prima Assicurazioni, plus Google, Amazon and Microsoft Italian offices
Italy's startup scene is small by European standards but almost all of it is here, clustered around the Politecnico, Bocconi and the regenerated Porta Nuova and Bovisa districts.
Some of this may be out of date. Spotted something inaccurate? Help us keep it right for the next newcomer.