The Devil Wears Prada 2 Lifts Milan Foot Traffic 18%, Says Local Business Study
A fashion sequel has turned into a footfall study. International pedestrian traffic at the main Milan filming locations of The Devil Wears Prada 2 rose 18% over the previous period, according to a Cities Analytics study released by Confcommercio Milano, the local small-business association, and reported by Variety.
The film opened in Italian cinemas on April 29, 2026 and in the United States on May 1, 2026. By mid-August, Confcommercio Milano chief Marco Barbieri said foreign visitors to central Milan had increased by an average of 28,500 per month since the release. The study expects roughly 1.5 million international tourists to visit central Milan during the summer quarter, with more than 451,000 projected for August alone.
The biggest jump in foot traffic ran between Largo Cairoli square and Palazzo Clerici, up 24%. The Galleria Vittorio Emanuele–Duomo stretch followed at +17%, then the Brera Academy area at +14% and via Montenapoleone — Milan's luxury shopping spine — at +13%. Americans led the influx of new visitors, followed by French and British travellers, per the study.
For a film that cost $100 million to produce, the box-office returns gave the tourism story legs. The Devil Wears Prada 2 reached $220.6 million at the US box office (domestic, meaning the United States and Canada) and $691.4 million worldwide. It then moved to streaming, drawing 15.2 million views globally in its first five days on Disney+ and Hulu from July 29 — Disney's biggest live-action movie premiere on those platforms since Deadpool & Wolverine, per Variety.
Some of the Milan locations fans are walking to were never quite what they seemed. The interior of Leonardo da Vinci's Last Supper Museum, which appears in the film, was replicated on a soundstage because production lighting would have damaged the original fresco. Milan's official tourism site, YesMilano, also lists Palazzo Acerbi at Corso Porta Romana 3 as the "Devil Wears Prada" residence in its visitor guides, and notes Stanley Tucci's character Nigel in its fashion-district itinerary.
What makes the numbers interesting is the gap between a film's theatrical run and its real-world ripple. A sequel that wrapped its cinema cycle months ago is still pulling foreigners through Milan's streets in August, with small businesses counting the traffic. The study does not isolate how many visitors came specifically because of the film versus general summer tourism — but the location-by-location spikes, clustered around shooting sites, give the clearest signal that the screen is still doing the work.
