The crisis in the Middle East does not stop the Show. Kicking off today with 1,900 companies

The signs are encouraging: some defections - among visitors arriving from the Gulf area or from other countries whose flights pass through that area - will be inevitable. But according to ticket sales, hotel bookings and flight bookings, the Milan Furniture Fair that opens today in Rho, on the Fiera Milano premises, promises to have positive numbers that confirm the importance of this event not only for the Italian design industry, but also for the design and project community on a global level.

Further confirmation of the importance of this event is provided by the large number of political institutions present. In fact, today the President of the Senate, Ignazio La Russa, and the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs, Antonio Tajani, are expected at the ribbon-cutting ceremony. In the late morning Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni is also expected to attend, while in the early afternoon Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Infrastructure Matteo Salvini will also arrive.

A 'still point in an unstable time'. This is, in the words of President Maria Porro, the Milan Furniture Fair. And never as in recent years has being a fixed point - albeit in continuous transformation and evolution - become a fundamental value for furniture and design companies and professionals, overwhelmed by unpredictable and uncontrollable events.

The Covid 19 pandemic, the war between Russia and Ukraine, the energy and supply chain crisis, US tariffs, the slowdown in China's promise. And now the war in Iran, which puts global growth at risk, impacting in particular on an area - the Gulf region - in which the furniture industry has been investing for years with conviction, as demonstrated by the pilot event organised last November in Riyadh by the show itself ("Red in Progress"), in view of the launch, next November, of the first edition of a real spin-off of the event in the Saudi capital.

The impact of the war on the exhibition was almost nil as far as exhibitors are concerned: only two companies, one Lebanese and one Indian, cancelled their participation because they were unable to ship their goods, as well as two Emirates galleries. Any defections on the part of visitors, however, will only be quantifiable from today, the opening day of the 64th edition of the event, which will be open until Sunday at the Fiera Milano premises in Rho.