The city of Milan renews the wholesale market in via Lombroso: it will be called “Foody – Milan agro-food market”. The delivery of the works is scheduled for 2022.
The redevelopment project, approved at the end of 2018, now passes to the implementation phase thanks to the capital increase of 273 million euros formalized a few weeks ago.
An exceptional and decisive event for the fate of Sogemi, the company that manages the wholesale markets of the city on behalf of the Municipality of Milan.
With a total investment of over 100 million euros by 2022, the project foresees:
- a new fruit and vegetable pavilion, revised in a more modern and innovative key;
- a new logistics platform that will be a point of reference for complementary activities;
- a renewed Palazzo Affari, which will follow a progressive redevelopment to become a hub for Italian and international companies and professionals operating in the agro-food supply chain, offering smart working and co-working workspaces and services designed to meet today’s and future needs.
114 wholesalers and 97 local producers are expected to attend.
The redevelopment will also be accompanied by a widespread work of building a new brand identity: Foody was in fact the name of the mascot of Expo 2015, recognized worldwide as an emblem of quality, freshness, dark diversity of agro-food products, ambassador of a culture of sustainable innovative power supply, attentive to the balance of the planet.
Today Foody has become the brand of the Milan Agro-food market, an ambitious project that aims to become the reference of the tradition and excellence of “Made in Italy” in the world and spokesman for the founding values of the market, namely:
- the quality and freshness of the products,
- the sustainability pursued through the enhancement of local products,
- the seasonality of raw materials
- smarter logistics
- the proximity that makes the market the main fresh and very fresh supply point in Milan
- convenience
It is precisely the President of SogeMi, Cesare Ferrero, to tell us about the Agro-Food Market of Milan, as one of the great assets of the city:
“It is here that Milan supplies itself every morning with the freshest and freshest products that fill shops, stalls and constitute the raw material necessary for the creations in the kitchens of Milanese and Lombard restaurants, bars during the day.
Every day, on average, forty thousand quintals of fresh products come out of the market and have flowed in during the night. A structure alive and active 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, for every day of the year, we need over 10 million people in an area of about 650 thousand square meters “
It is the largest Italian wholesale market.
Here is the arrival and departure point of fresh products for the entire city and the entire region.
The food safety checks and traceability of the origins, this is to be highlighted, are foreseen and performed beyond the parameters set by the Italian legislation, which is already very restrictive.
For fish products, Foody has even created a specific brand, MIM – MercatoIttico Milano, to identify the products treated on the agro-food market in Milan, which for quality, freshness and hygiene are unanimously recognized among the highest in Italy and Europe.
And Ferrero adds:
“Thanks to the ambitious project wanted by the municipality of Milan, which foresees an investment of 100 million euros, the Milan Agro-Food Market is destined to become even more competitive and at the forefront of all European markets”.
And just taking a cue from the markets of other cities, which have also developed as a “tourist” and addressing a lot to the final consumer, the Milan Market wants to make great strides forward, and is doing so also involving great chefs who can give the technical and organizational support, to think about how to bring people to buy fresh produce at the base and to live the market in a more lively and active way.
To date, Foody has four markets:
- the fruit and vegetable market, the most historic and largest, with 14 wholesalers. It is characterized by the quantity and variety of products available all year round. From here every day the best fruits and vegetables leave to supply shops and restaurants in Milan and beyond.
- The fish market, the first fish market in Italy for guaranteed quality, freshness and safety. The best catch comes here and the chefs know it well. The Milan Fish Market is in fact one of the most important centers for the distribution of fresh fish products of national and foreign origin with 25 wholesalers.
- The meat market, leader for the marketing of white and red meats, eggs and derivatives, is the fundamental reference point for the entire national and international product sector, with 13 wholesalers.
- The flower market, the largest distribution in Italy of national and foreign flowers and for the export of Italian products, offers cut flowers, plants and potted flowers for indoors and outdoors, as well as dried flowers, herbs and seeds , with the presence of 16 wholesalers.