Who are we, and what do we stand for?
It all began with a pilot project during the 2015 World Expo in Milan—we regenerated a 150,000 sq.ft. disused railway station to develop the very first Mercato Metropolitano. Our purpose? To create an Italian market experience connecting people with independent Italian food producers and craftspeople. Through careful planning, we retained the site’s original appearance, revitalising the neighbourhood and nurturing the local community’s affection for a special part of their urban history. Over a four-month period, we saw well over two million visitors and this convinced us to take our concept to other cities. We opened our first site in Elephant & Castle in London in 2016. Since then, we've opened a further two sites and continue to bring together natural, unadulterated food, quality products, artisan producers and, most importantly, the local community. During the recent pandemic, we contributed 26k free meals to support the community through growing food insecurity.