Eataly Milan Smeraldo Celebrates its 10th Anniversary with a Complete Makeover

Ten days of celebrations featuring over 50 culinary and cultural events in the 4,500 square meters of space in the heart of Milan.

Photographies: Ian Art Photo @ian.art.photo

After an extensive renovation led by Eataly's in-house team of architects, responsible for designing all of the Group’s stores, Eataly Smeraldo marks its tenth anniversary with a refreshed design and a brand-new way to experience the space. Located in the former Smeraldo Theater, renovated and reopened to the public as Eataly Smeraldo in the spring of 2014, the flagship store spans three levels, covering a total of 4,500 square meters. The venue has undergone a profound transformation, reinterpreting the space and upgrading the building's systems, earning LEED certification.

"Eataly is experiencing a significant growth phase worldwide, and the renovation of the Milan flagship store reaffirms the importance of the Italian market for our brand," comments Andrea Cipolloni, Group CEO of Eataly. "The new Eataly Smeraldo reflects the meeting of Eataly's DNA with the international experiences we've gained through our global store network. This renovation has given us an increasingly multifunctional space, oriented towards the future, where shopping, dining, and learning experiences are even more immersive. It offers new opportunities to enjoy spaces and services, with a special focus on the work of our artisans. Eataly Smeraldo today is an even more iconic destination where guests can experience rewarding and unique moments through the culture of good food."

At the new Eataly Smeraldo, the market remains the centerpiece on the ground floor, now designed more efficiently to accommodate different shopping approaches. It features 12 dining options, including the completely revamped Food & Pizza Theatre, a large restaurant covering over 750 square meters, more than 500 quick service options for food and beverages, and an informal yet accessible approach to excellence. Among the novelties are a new café with 30 seats, a corner dedicated to vegetarian dishes, new fried food and charcuterie counters for quick bites or shopping, the renowned Plin artisanal fresh pasta lab, the Miracolo a Milano dairy where guests can enjoy fresh mozzarella, and the fish market, where in addition to shopping, customers can enjoy oysters and fresh seafood, depending on the season. The new Eataly School has moved to the third floor, offering an even more versatile space for cooking classes and events.

Seeing agnolotti being prepared by pasta makers and eating them cooked on the spot, watching cheesemakers at work crafting mozzarella and choosing them for an aperitivo, or having a charcuterie and cheese board prepared to accompany cocktails or cold drinks—these are just a few of the elements that make Eataly Smeraldo a unique destination. The combination of the three pillars—shopping, dining, and education—continues to define its identity.

Innovation and SustainabilityThe renovation of Eataly Smeraldo has introduced new services that enhance Eataly's innovative approach. Among them is the new Nexi SoftPOS PRO payment system, allowing Eataly staff to use company devices (smartphones or handhelds) to accept contactless payments from major card circuits, speeding up transactions.

Additionally, to offer an even more distinctive and exclusive experience, the store features the preview of "Eataly Inspire," a solution developed in collaboration with Accenture Song. Through a tablet, customers can receive personalized suggestions on pairings and gastronomic delights to purchase, using innovative technologies that will be expanded in the coming months.

On the sustainability front, Eataly Smeraldo followed a path toward LEED certification (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design), an international protocol developed by the U.S. Green Building Council that certifies compliance with the highest standards of indoor comfort and resource efficiency, particularly energy and water.

In the dining areas, all packaging is recyclable and compostable, primarily using FSC-certified paper from responsibly managed supply chains and biodegradable and compostable biopolymers like PLA and Mater-Bi.

On the second floor, Fondazione Cometa, an organization dedicated to creating opportunities for people facing challenges to rediscover themselves, is creating a decorative wall made from reclaimed materials, demonstrating how beauty can be created by giving new life to objects.

Scheduled EventsFrom October 3rd to 13th, a rich program of special events celebrated the new Eataly Smeraldo, with over 50 different occasions, including dinners, meetings with authors, interviews, and musical performances, starting with the Opening Party on October 3rd, featuring a DJ set by Radio Deejay.Connections with the cultural and gastronomic scene were ensured through collaborations with prominent names in the Italian landscape: La Cucina Italiana for a series of talks with key figures from the culinary world, LifeGate for reflections with leading scientists on food and sustainability topics, GialloZafferano, Mondadori Media's food media brand, for show cooking events with top food creators, RCS Sport for a special event combining food and sports, and MAGENTAbureau and Identità Golose for a series of dinners and meetings promoting young culinary talents, running through 2025.

Special GuestsThe first 10 days of the celebration featured special guests including, in order of appearance: Marisa Passera, Matteo Curti, Pier Bergonzi, Gianni Bugno, Eva Andrini aka Eva’s Food Addiction, Filippo Caccamo, Rosy Chin, Lucake, Special Sound Design by Emx, Diego Vitagliano, Maddalena Fossati Dondero, Antonia Klugmann, Carlo Cracco, Pier Luigi Petrillo, Attilio Speciani, Daniel Lumera, Antonio Zambrini, Sorelle Marinetti, Viviana Varese, Fratelli Cerea, Alessandro Negrini and Fabio Pisani, Marco Pedron, Effe String Quartet, Dany Resconi, Laura Formenti, Pierluca Mariti, Sonja Collini, Fabrizio Biggio, Francesco Gungui, Daniele Rossi (pictured), Fabrizio Bosso, Vincenzo Schettini aka La fisica che ci piace, Claudio Bisio, DJ Flower, Missin Red… and many more.

LAYOUT OF THE NEW EATALY SMERALDO

The new design of Eataly Smeraldo reinterprets the brand’s identity in a contemporary key: a material style through wood, marble, fabrics, and plants, with a strong emphasis on lighting, both during the day and in the evening, to highlight the different functions of the various areas. The spaces are now more accessible thanks to fluid pathways, allowing for a more effective exploration for shopping, fresh food counters, and informal dining, all the way to the large dining room on the second floor.

Ground floor The entrance now opens onto the café area, which, with tables and 30 seats, offers customers the opportunity to enjoy comfortable moments of conviviality from breakfast to aperitivo. The market remains at the center of the ground floor, redesigned to better support different approaches to shopping, from daily needs to emotional purchases tied to gifts and the search for excellence from the best Italian producers and artisans with whom Eataly shares a passion for gastronomic tradition and biodiversity.

On the left, there is the pastry shop, the Lavazza café with the new Caffè Eataly featuring fresh cream from Valtellina, and the artisanal ice cream shop by Felice Milano, offering an ever-wider selection, including vegan, lactose-free, and gluten-free options. Next is the new “Artisti del Vegetariano” corner, offering ready-to-eat vegetarian specialties for on-site dining or takeaway. This is followed by a new fried food corner with a selection of arancini, supplì, mondeghili (Milanese meatballs), and the iconic Eataly potato in a street food version. Then comes the new deli counter with cold cuts and cheeses, where customers can choose from the displayed products or have freshly baked bread rolls filled. They can also enjoy a charcuterie board paired with a glass of wine for an aperitivo celebrating high-quality ingredients. The bakery’s location remains unchanged, where daily organic bread baked in a wood-fired oven is prepared and served along with pizza by the slice, panzerotti, and savory pies, perfect for a breakfast of bread, butter, and jam or a quick meal. For the evening, the aperitivo offering has expanded with freshly made cocktails or trendy tap cocktails, thanks to a partnership with the Italian brand The Perfect Cocktail, accompanied by live music events featuring an ever-changing program. Among the new features, a wall near the checkout area is dedicated to fresh “ready-to-go” meals in Eataly style, with salads and dishes prepared on-site, ready for consumption. Another wall is dedicated to Eataly-branded products, which will feature over 100 items by the end of the year, including pasta, chocolate, extra virgin olive oil, balsamic vinegar, coffee, and holiday-themed products.

First floor As you ascend to the first floor, the offerings become more refined and the service more tailored. Here, the renowned artisanal pasta laboratory Plin makes its Milan debut, with expert sfogline (pasta makers) preparing fresh pasta on-site, following the recipe of Lidia Alciati from the Langhe hills. At Plin, customers can purchase handmade pasta or enjoy it on-site, with the option of adding a sprinkle of white or black truffle, depending on the season, from the adjacent Savini Tartufi corner. The “Miracolo a Milano” dairy remains the place to watch the daily production of mozzarella and other stretched-curd cheeses, which are also available for purchase. New to the offering, customers can now enjoy freshly made mozzarella or a cheesemaker’s board right in front of the dairy. The seafood counter retains its prime location, offering the best Mediterranean catch, and now also serves raw fish tastings, seafood salads, and selections of caviar and oysters to be enjoyed on-site. Eataly’s Gastronomy section maintains its privileged position, with tables on the stage of the former theater overlooking the market below, but its menu has been updated with new regional specialties and dishes designed to simplify meal preparation and enhance holiday feasts. Eataly’s large wine cellar, with its selection of over 1,000 labels of wine and spirits, boasts a stunning view over Piazza XXV Aprile: all wines on the shelves can be chosen and enjoyed at the table for dinner or aperitivo.

Second floor Eataly Food & Pizza Theatre is the new restaurant at Eataly Smeraldo, offering a completely new way of utilizing the space, with a modular design that can adapt to different needs. The restaurant covers an area of 750 square meters with over 300 seats, designed to be divided for private or corporate events or used as a single space for large events. The restaurant’s menu includes pizza, Eataly’s iconic dishes, grilled meat and fish, and the unique “Banco Tavola” concept: “In a restaurant, you usually find the chef,” explains Enrico Panero, Head of R&D EMEA, “but at Eataly, in addition to the chef, there’s the butcher, the charcuterie expert, the cheesemaker, the pasta maker…” This blend of market and restaurant allows customers to not only choose from the menu but also select ingredients directly from the counters and have them prepared at the table or cooked to perfection.

Third floor The new Eataly School moves to the third floor, featuring a modern, modular space designed to host Eataly’s educational programming, including cooking classes, tastings, and meetings with experts from the world of food and wine. The cooking stations, where participants can follow step-by-step instructions from the chef, have been expanded to 20, ensuring a more comprehensive learning experience for everyone.

Eataly Eataly is a unique entity with a mission to promote Italian gastronomic excellence worldwide. Active in the distribution and sale of high-quality products, integrating production, retail, dining, and education, Eataly is the only Italian food retailer truly operating on a global scale, symbolizing Italian cuisine and, more broadly, the Made in Italy brand. Since 2023, the Group is 52% owned by Investindustrial, a leading independent investment company in Europe. Eataly currently employs over 5,000 people and operates more than 50 stores across 15 countries, including Italy, the United States, Canada, the UAE, Japan, Germany, the UK, France, Sweden, Brazil, Turkey, South Korea, and Saudi Arabia. The company is implementing an ambitious plan for new openings in some of the world’s major cities.For more information, visit www.eataly.it