Edicola Italiana: nss edicola and Xiaomi at Milan Design Week 2026

nss edicola was launched in 2023 as an urban regeneration project, with its very first physical newsstand opening in Naples, in Piazza San Pasquale. Today, nss edicola evolves into a new media within the nss ecosystem, an editorial platform that explores cities, people, and places, focusing on travel, food & beverage, urban life, and italian-ness. During the Milano Design Week, this transition takes shape through nss edicola’s first editorial project, the free press Edicola Italiana, created in collaboration with Xiaomi.

Over time, the newsstand has shifted from being one of the most immediate symbols of Italian identity and information to becoming, almost silently, a sign of a broader cultural decline. Where newspapers and magazines once stood, today there are often gadgets, magnets, objects that reflect a deeper transformation in our relationship with the city. The return to print and the return to the newsstand are not nostalgic gestures but political choices, because now more than ever the future of newsstands aligns with that of our cities, with how we choose to inhabit and move through them.

Cities, however, must first be observed, scanned, and photographed before they can be reimagined. This is where the collaboration with Xiaomi comes in, not as a mere technical support but as a tool to read the present. To imagine the future of the newsstand, it must be moved beyond a purely analog dimension and placed within a hyper-technological ecosystem, which is the real challenge of contemporary publishing. Within the printed free press, L’edicola nella notte takes shape, the editorial created in collaboration with Xiaomi. A photographic reportage that shifts the perspective, moving beyond the daytime and almost ritualistic image of the newsstand to question what happens when the city changes pace. At night, when everything becomes denser and less filtered.

The images are entirely shot on Xiaomi 17 Ultra, using the Leica ultra-wide lens to capture the breadth of urban space and the Leica telephoto lens to isolate details and fragments of life. The lens, designed with Leica to be «Master of the Night», precisely renders the dynamism of urban nights, transforming light and movement into narrative material. These images shape the editorial, the back cover, and the exhibition L’edicola nella notte, opening on April 20 and accessible to the public throughout Milano Design Week. A physical extension of the editorial project, bringing the narrative beyond the page and back into the urban space it originates from.