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If the names Fendi, Dior and Valentino were rubbed from the shop fronts, Milan’s Via Monte Napoleone could pass for a slightly fancier than average street in the northern Italian style capital, with the typical jostle of vans and Vespas alongside Porsches, tourists and residents.
But the 350 metre-long street has just been named the world’s most expensive shopping street, beating New York’s Fifth Avenue, London’s New Bond Street and Paris’s Champs-Élysées, and becoming the first European city to top the list in 34 years.
According to the latest Main Streets Across the World report, by the real estate group Cushman & Wakefield, the change “reflects robust rental growth on the Italian street, exceeding 30% in the last two years, further bolstered this year by the euro’s appreciation against the US dollar”.
Rent on the street, which ranked second last year behind Fifth Avenue, can reach as high as €20,000 (£17,000) a square metre annually and business is booming: in Europe’s biggest property deal for two years, the luxury conglomerate Kering, which owns Gucci, bought a prime spot on the street earlier this year. Rents on Fifth Avenue, by comparison, can hit €19,537 a square metre annually, but growth has plateaued. Tsim Sha Tsui in Hong Kong came in at number four, with annual rent per square metre reaching €15,697.
Via Monte Napoleone, which is far smaller than the other global luxury hotspots, is home to the world’s biggest high-end names. Italian heritage brands Loro Piana and Tod’s rub shoulders with buzzy Bottega Veneta, as well as perhaps the most on-the-nose Milanese of them all, Versace. Gucci sits opposite Prada in an Italian luxury face-off. All of them choose to show at Milan fashion week, rather than any of the other Big Four, which periodically injects more high-fashion buzz to the city.
The street is more low-key than nearby Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II, the 19th-century glass-topped shopping mall containing many of the same names; it may be more more Instagram-worthy, but it seems the compact Via Monte Napoleone is where the real money is spent.
“Prices are exceptionally high, not only because of its prestige but also due to the lack of supply,” says Diletta Giorgolo, the head of residential at Italy Sotheby’s International Realty. “With no availability for rent or purchase, whenever a property becomes available, its price often skyrockets to incalculable levels.” In her experience, “property values have consistently risen, even during the pandemic”.
Other streets might not be in the running for the top spot just yet, but are nevertheless doing well when judged by rental growth, from Váci utca in Budapest, Omotesando in Tokyo and Midosuji in Osaka to the Design District in Miami and Indiranagar 100 Feet Road in Bengaluru.
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Milan’s position does not track with overall tourist numbers, given Paris had about 50 million tourist arrivals last year, New York 60 million, Hong Kong 34 million, London 16 million and Milan 8.5 million. One explanation might be that Milan has been attracting more global big spenders since offering tax-free luxury shopping for people from outside the EU. Global-centric events have also been luring people in. “Since the Milan Expo in 2015, Milan has seen a resurgence of creativity, both homegrown and from international arrivals, and the energy it brings is palpable,” says the British journalist Scarlett Conlon, who works in the city.
Milan design week, anchored by Salone del Mobile, has been rising in popularity in recent years and brings hundreds of thousands of well-heeled design lovers to the city.
JJ Martin was born in LA but over the past 20 years has become synonymous with Milanese luxury thanks to her lifestyle brand La DoubleJ, which has a shop just off Via Monte Napoleone. “I’m thrilled for Milan for being in the news and being the centre of fashion, because it’s so deserved in terms of all the know-how, the quality, the artisans, the factories, the hundreds of, and even combined thousands of, years of experience that this country has, and the radical beauty and the passion for the highest quality possible,” she says.
Martin says she knows what makes the Milanese street so special compared with other global luxury hubs: “You get a much better plate of pasta and glass of wine nearby.”