With Spring now well established and our centralised heating systems about to be turned off, we can definitely sense summer is just around the corner. Use the Como Companion to help plan your summer in Como. Check out our calendar so as not to miss out on key events. The calendar will be updated regularly as details of new events become available.  Leave the cursor over each entry to get details on the event. You may also find more information in either the Culture or Recreation pages.

Vittorio Sgarbi, curator of ‘Incontri d’Arte’

However for now, let me put out a reminder for two immediate events. The first is the ‘Incontri d’Arte’ exhibition of 40 emerging Italian artists organised by the Platinum Collection and curated by the art critic Vittorio Sgarbi. This exhibition opens its doors on Friday 8th April, includes a presentation by Vittorio Sgarbi on Sunday 10th and then leaves doors open until 24th April. It is held in the ex-San Franciscan Church at Largo Spallino 1, (near the covered market) in Como.

The second event has in fact just started and is further afield – in Milan. It is the 21st Triennale di Milano International Design Exhibition whose exhibition and series of activities run from 2nd April until 12th September.

Here is their description of the exhibition:

The XXI Triennale di Milano International Exhibition has a vast program of exhibitions, events, competitions, festivals and meetings throughout the city, in venues ranging from La Triennale (Palazzo della Triennale) to the Fabbrica del Vapore, Pirelli HangarBicocca, the Politecnico di Milano campuses, the IULM campus, MUDEC, the National Museum of Science and Technology “Leonardo da Vinci”, BASE Milano, the Palazzo della Permanente, the Pirelli Tower, the Ex Expo Site, the Museo Diocesano, the Pirelli Foundation, the University of Milan, the Accademia di Belle Arti di Brera, the Triennale Expogate through to the Villa Reale in Monza, the historic site of the first International Exhibitions.

21st Century. Design After Design touches on key questions, such as the new dramatic art of design, which consists mainly in its ability to deal with those anthropological issues that classical modernity has excluded from its brief, such as death, the sacred, eros, destiny, traditions, and history; the issue of gender in design; the impact of globalization on design; the transformations brought about by the dawn of the twenty-first century and the crisis of 2008; the relationship between city and design; the relationship between design and the accessibility of new information technologies; and the relationship between design and craftsmanship.

The Design Museum is in Viale Allemagna 6, Milan. The exhibition is open from 10.30 – 20.30 from Tuesday to Sunday.