The experimental fair arrived in Milan, overlapping with miart and Design Week, to tap a growing scene. Sebastiano Pellion di Persano
In Milan, miart’s multi-decade existence was joined this year by a new compatriot, Paris Internationale Milano, which brings the French experimental fair into an Italian setting. It marks the first time the fair has staged an event outside of France. Hosted at Palazzo Galbani, a 1950s modernist building on Via Fabio Filzi that was quite literally under construction (the drilling was not a sound piece), the fair sits just a short walk from Centrale station.
Strategically timed, it overlaps with Milan Art Week and Milan Design Week, attracting collectors from both spheres. Its VIP opening day was the day after miart’s. Running from April 18 to 21, the fair is free to attend with registration, as has always been the case in France.
Paris Internationale Milano gathers a selection of 34 international galleries and three non-profit spaces, including long-standing participants in the French edition alongside first-time exhibitors. Its inaugural edition preserved not only the spirit of the original but also codified its signature pillars: an unexpected venue, an adaptable mise-en-scène, a brut/déconstruit aesthetic, an assemblage of interesting galleries and a general cool-kid vibe. The spatial design was overseen by the Swiss architecture studio Christ & Gantenbein, which has been working with Paris Internationale since 2022; they collaborated with Milan-based designers NM3. Each gallery had freestanding walls, designed for reuse in future editions, and spread across four floors connected by two, unfortunately unreliable, elevators.
The Milanese fair so convincingly replicated the atmosphere of the French one that: “I’m still a little bit confused if we are in Milan or in Paris,” Michal Lasota from Stereo gallery in Warsaw admitted with a laugh. “I have this analogy with a ship: we are just somewhere else, on the same ship… Most times, editions are in a new place, even in Paris, but somehow it’s always the same. We like it here a lot.”
Lasota continued, “We have a long relationship with Paris Internationale—we took part in the first edition in Paris in 2015. We know they know what they are doing, so we should join the party.” Stereo did a site-specific painting presentation featuring a desk chair, trash bin and power strip: “all the paintings refer to an office because of the character of the building.” The token objects were executed in a simple neutral style but with a “sense of humor.” The works ranged from € 8,000 to €30,000; one painting sold within hours on the preview day for €28,000.
Paris Internationale’s first edition in Milan brought its signature aesthetic—and its ambitions—into a city already in motion. Courtesy Stereo
Across town, miart fair director Nicola Ricciardi noted that the team behind Paris Internationale Milano was transparent about their presence and goals. “We were the only city with just one fair—you go to London, there are seven fairs,” Ricciardi reasoned. “We were an anomaly.” He added: “If a fair like Paris Internationale decides to show up here, it means that they noticed there is potential and opportunity—which is good news.”
At miart, galleries had mixed feelings about the new arrival. Ludovica Barbieri, a partner at MASSIMODECARLO, was waiting for both fairs to be over to make up her mind about the incoming event. “I think that two fairs for Milano are too many—but maybe I’m wrong,” she speculated. Others felt that having more events always adds to a city’s appeal. The new fair was proof that “the city is growing up,” said Matteo Graniti, co-founder and director of Milanese galleries IPERCUBO. “It’s not a cannibalization.”
Some Milanese galleries had booths at both miart and Paris Internationale Milano, including Vistamare, zaza’, Luisa Delle Piane and kaufmann repetto. “I’m telling a lot of people that I do Paris Internationale—they don’t know,” Francesca Kaufmann of kaufmann repetto said, but confidently added: “They will.”
She recounts how her gallery couldn’t participate in Art Basel in the early 2000s and that having LISTE was a perfect way to be in the mix. Paris Internationale, in both cities, is a comparable initiative. “These dealers are working 24 hours a day—besides their gallery job—to make this fair sustainable without having any income themselves. It’s an incredible project,” Kaufmann praised. kaufmann repetto is spotlighting one piece, by Anthea Hamilton, a sculptural table that sits between art and design. Kaufmann noted that Paris Internationale, “having an overlap of two days with the Salone is really important—it’s a good experiment.”
The fair drew a mix of curiosity and confidence, with early sales and strong participation suggesting opportunity, even as galleries weighed what a second fair might mean for Milan’s evolving ecosystem. Sebastiano Pellion di Persano
Francesca Minini gallery from Milan is double-dipping too. “We always do miart,” said gallery representative Francesca Fattori, but countered: “We wanted to be present on this occasion. It’s an international breadth, in terms of approach and location.” The gallery is showcasing a special project by 31-year-old artist Ambra Castagnetti, who created three works exclusively for the fair, plus one pre-existing piece. Fattori noted that she recognized people from miart but also saw faces she didn’t, and was happy to encounter “a new public.” Two sales, one in marble and one in copper cast, were made within the first hours of the preview day, with prices ranging from €12,000 to €23,000.
The co-founders of Paris Internationale include a cohort of gallerist duos, at Galerie Gregor Staiger (in Zurich/Milan), Galerie Ciaccia Levi (in Paris/Milan) and Galerie Crèvecoeur (in Paris), all of whom were part of the selection committee—plus Silvia Ammon, Director of Paris Internationale since its inception in 2015.
Marie Lusa of Gregor Staiger describes the fair as “quite punk.” Of Milan as a locus, she said: “There is trend, but the result is not there yet,” indicating the scene is on the up but still in its ascendancy. “There is a projection.” She has full faith in the city’s growth, reminding us that “Paris of ten years ago was not where Paris is today. Paris Internationale really created a new energy—so maybe we will also create this excitement.” She noted there are great private institutions locally, but no government support; engagement has to come from other areas.
As for her booth, Gregor Staiger is presenting “exhibition copy” Polaroids based on the too-sensitive originals by 80-year-old photographer Walter Pfeiffer. The originals were photographed between 1972 and 2020 (starting at 4,800 Swiss francs). Pfeiffer is scheduled to open a show at Pinacoteca Agnelli on April 30.
Ciaccia Levi. Photo by Sebastiano Pellion Di Persano/Courtesy the Artist and Ciaccia Levi, Paris / Milan
Ciaccia Levi presents a debut solo show of oil on canvas paintings by 23-year-old Japanese artist Ibuki Inoue, influenced by both manga and Japanese engraving. His works on the booth range from €2,200 to €8,000, most of which sold during the preview day.
Antoine Levi noted the fair is “not about name-dropping; it’s about projects. This philosophy, which has served us for a decade, is now applicable elsewhere.” He described Paris Internationale as a fair created “by gallerists made for gallerists” that is “modular and multifunctional, but also open onto the world.”
The original fair, he explains, was founded in 2015 “out of necessity, out of complementarity.” Although not a fan of l’enfilade—the rows upon rows that define classical art fairs—Levi readily admitted: “one [fair] without the other wouldn’t function. We are in Milan because of miart—that’s very important. We created Paris Internationale because there was FIAC too [the former Paris fair that is now Art Basel Paris]… There’s no invasion or theft or appropriation of intellectual or structural value. We succeed because there is potential.”
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