Milan, cultural consumption rises to 13% of the national total
Data from the Observatory of the Italian Publishers' Association (Aie), in collaboration with Siae and the Milan Library System, presented for BookCity
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Key points
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A reconfirmation of its leading role in Italian cultural consumption. And it is a result that not only consolidates the city's role in promoting culture, but also highlights its ability to adapt and respond to the wishes of citizens and visitors. Milan puts on record a 2023 of growth in the field of 'cultural consumption'. Spending grows and increases both in absolute value and in relation to the national total.
This is according to the data of the Observatory of the Italian Publishers' Association (Aie), in collaboration with Siae and the Milan Library System, presented for BookCity, which will take place from 11 to 17 November 2024: an initiative promoted by the City of Milan and the BookCity Milano Association (Corriere della Sera Foundation, Giangiacomo Feltrinelli Foundation, Arnoldo and Alberto Mondadori Foundation, Umberto and Elisabetta Mauri Foundation School for Booksellers).
The new normal and increasing demand
.And these numbers and figures show that in Milan last year over 790 million euro was spent on cultural events, including sports shows, up 44 per cent. Even excluding the latter, spending remains impressive, reaching 491 million euros with an increase over 2022 of 33 per cent: therefore well above the national average of +20 per cent. Evident, in these terms, is the response that Milan has given to the first year free of restrictions after the pandemic, confirming its position as the leading city in terms of cultural consumption: 13% of national spending is therefore concentrated in the Ambrosian city (excluding from the count the spending on the purchase of recorded music and cinema, video games, and admissions to non-municipal museums), while the resident population is 2.3% of the national one. And Milanese citizens generated 8% of the national audience for cultural events.
Reading, sport and music
.Analysing the main items of cultural consumption, it is clear that the Milanese invest a lot in books, sport and music. The purchase of books, particularly fiction and non-fiction, is the second largest item of expenditure after football, worth 170 million euros. There are 180 bookshops in the city, a growing number in 2019, and they represent 7% of Italian bookshops, confirming the centrality of book consumption in Milan.
The biggest slice of expenditure concerns football with 191 million, while on the third step of the podium there are pop, rock, jazz and light music concerts with 168 million, followed by discotheques (62 million), exhibitions (48), opera theatre (33), drama theatre (29), theatres (26), other forms of entertainment (14), revue theatre and musicals (12 million), classical music concerts (7), ballet (6), trade fairs (4), other sports (3) and amusement parks (2 million).
