A fashion tour through the Italian locations behind the sequel
Miranda Has a New City to Conquer
It has been twenty years since Andy Sachs entered Runway wearing a pair of boots and discovered that fashion had almost nothing to do with what she believed she was wearing. Miranda Priestly on the other hand stayed immaculate and always one step ahead of everyone else.
This time their world goes beyond New York and Paris. The Devil Wears Prada 2 takes the story to Milan and Lake Como where fashion shows, old palaces and big Italian houses become part of the story.
Milan becomes one of the places in the movie with scenes shot around the city’s fashion area, old streets and big hotels before the story moves towards Lake Como.
The Italian shoot was relatively concentrated. According to Italy’s national film-location database, the production spent 10 days filming in Milan in October 2025, with additional scenes shot at Villa del Balbiano on Lake Como.
The locations are particularly satisfying for anyone who remembers the first film’s Paris sequence. This time, the fashion pilgrimage leads to Italy, with Milan’s streets, courtyards and palazzi providing the backdrop.
Milan, Runway and a very good excuse to walk everywhere
Source: Milan Fashion Walking Tour
If Miranda Priestly were going to spend a few days in Milan, the Quadrilatero della Moda would be the obvious place to start.
Via Montenapoleone (4.5 stars from 1,634 Google Reviews) sits at the heart of the city’s luxury fashion district. The production filmed here, including night scenes, before moving towards Piazza della Scala. Italy for Movies also lists the Ottagono, Via Filodrammatici and the Istituto Lombardo Academy of Sciences and Letters on Via Borgonuovo among the Milan locations.
It is easy to see why Milan works for The Devil Wears Prada 2. The fashion houses are already part of the streetscape. You hardly need to dress the city for the camera.
And then there is the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II (4.7 stars from 116k)
The nineteenth-century arcade appears in the film during shopping scenes, with its glass roof, mosaic floor and monumental architecture doing much of the cinematic work for free. From here, Piazza del Duomo (4.8 stars from 143k) is right outside, and the cathedral appears in aerial footage.
The Duomo had another role during production, too. A major Runway fashion show was originally planned here before the production moved it to the Accademia di Brera, partly to protect a cameo from being revealed.
So Milan gives the film both versions of itself, the postcard city and the working fashion capital behind it.
“Runway Italy helped establish Milan…”
Nigel gives perhaps the neatest explanation of why the city belongs in the film.
“Runway Italy helped establish Milan as one of fashion’s most important bases of operation.”
The line comes as he introduces the Brera Academy show, and it does some of the work for us. Milan isn’t simply a beautiful European stop added to the itinerary. It has a history with the fictional magazine itself.
That makes the next stop especially fitting.
Brera takes centre stage
Source: Wikipedia
The Accademia di Brera (4.2 stars from 365) is one of the sequel’s most interesting locations because it was transformed for the film rather than simply appearing as itself.
The academy’s courtyard became the setting for a major Runway fashion show. A local company specialising in real fashion events built the catwalk for the production, turning the historic space into a working fashion venue.
The choice came after the original plan for the show changed. Piazza del Duomo would have been the obvious spectacle, but Brera offered something the production needed even more, “privacy”.
If you are going to Milan you should stay in Brera after you have checked all the camera‑ready spots. Brera has galleries, cafés, old façades and quiet streets and Brera gives you a view of Milan that’s different from the polished stretch of Via Montenapoleone. Brera also makes the film’s fashion show feel more connected to Milan’s art world.
A hotel fit for Miranda Priestly
Source: Tripadvisor
Palazzo Parigi (4.7 stars from 1.8k) sits close to the fashion district and was used for scenes in the protagonists’ hotel, including its lobby and entrance. The cast also stayed at the hotel during the Milan shoot.
It is the sort of location that needs very little introduction in a Devil Wears Prada itinerary. If the film’s idea of work involves flying to Milan, attending fashion shows and walking through rooms filled with people who know exactly what they are wearing, this is the appropriate address.
One useful production detail, while Palazzo Parigi provided the real-world hotel exterior and lobby, some hotel-room interiors were filmed elsewhere in New York.
Lunch with Emily
Source: Tripadvisor
For a smaller location, head to Il Salumaio di Montenapoleone (4.3 stars from 1.9k)
The restaurant sits within a historic courtyard near the fashion district and appears in a scene involving Emily and Donatella Versace. It is the kind of Milanese setting that feels quietly extravagant rather than staged for extravagance.
That makes it a particularly good stop between the larger locations. You can have lunch, look around the courtyard, then carry on through Brera without feeling as though you are following a theme-park map.
The Last Supper, with a Hollywood-sized detour
The Devil Wears Prada world has always mixed real fashion with a little movie magic. Milan takes that idea somewhere else entirely.
Source: Cenacolovinciano
The film includes Leonardo da Vinci’s The Last Supper, housed at the Museo del Cenacolo Vinciano (4.6 stars from 13k) at Santa Maria delle Grazie. But the production could not simply light the original mural and film around it.
Instead, the room was recreated on a soundstage at approximately three-quarters of the original size. Italian scenic artists studied Leonardos work. Made a painted copy for the movie.
The actual courtyard of Santa Maria delle Grazie (4.6 stars from 20k) was used for filming. The site is still very much part of a Milan itinerary.
It is worth keeping the two things separate when you visit. You can see the Last Supper in Milan; the room shown in the film was a careful recreation.
That is one of those behind-the-scenes details that makes the location more interesting, than less.
“Florals? For spring? Groundbreaking.”
There is a reason that line from the first film has survived as shorthand for Miranda’s particular brand of judgement.
It is also a useful reminder of what made The Devil Wears Prada work in the first place. The fashion was spectacular, but the humour came from people taking an apparently ordinary working day extremely seriously.
The sequel carries that same sensibility into Milan.
The city supplies the clothes, the buildings, the restaurants and the grand entrances. The characters supply the pressure.
And if you have watched the first film enough times to know exactly what Miranda means before she has finished a sentence, walking through these places adds another layer. The Galleria becomes more than a shopping arcade. Brera becomes a Runway venue. A hotel lobby becomes somewhere Miranda might plausibly sweep through without slowing down.
That is the fun of a film-location trip.
Villa Arconati and the Milan beyond the fashion district
The sequel’s Italian locations extend beyond central Milan.
Source: Tripadvisor
Villa Arconati (4.5 stars from 3k), in Castellazzo di Bollate, appears on Italy for Movies‘ official list of locations.
The historic villa and its formal gardens offer a very different setting from the Quadrilatero. It is a worthwhile addition if you have another day in the area and want to see a quieter piece of Lombardy.
It also fits the visual language of the sequel. After the polished streets and fashion-show interiors, the film has somewhere grander and more secluded to go.
You can think of it as the Milan itinerary’s change of shoes.
Then comes Lake Como
Source: Conde Nast Traveler
Eventually, even Runway needs to leave the city.
The Italian story moves north to Lake Como, where Villa del Balbiano (4.6 stars from 567)becomes the home of Justin Theroux’s Benji Barnes.
Production designer Jess Gonchor travelled around the lake looking for the right property. Villa del Balbiano was chosen partly because the production could show Villa del Balbiano from the water allowing Emily and Benji to arrive by boat and reveal Villa del Balbiano and its setting together.
Villa del Balbiano is located in Ossuccio on the shore of Lake Como. For filming the production altered parts of the grounds of Villa del Balbiano adding a lawn and a garden of statues.
This is where the mood changes.
Milan is a city that moves all the time. Cars, fashion shows, meetings, shopping streets and people arriving somewhere in a hurry make Milan lively.
Lake Como is the opposite.
Water. Gardens. Boats. Mountains in the distance.
The villa already had the kind of grand setting the production wanted. The camera simply had to arrive.
See Villa del Balbiano from the water
If the film has convinced you to make the journey, approaching the villa by boat makes the most sense visually.
Villa del Balbiano is the confirmed Devil Wears Prada 2 filming location on Lake Como. Como, Menaggio and Varenna are excellent additions to a wider lake itinerary, but they should be treated as places to visit nearby rather than automatically labelled as filming locations. Italy for Movies specifically confirms Villa del Balbiano.
That distinction is worth keeping in a movie-location guide. There is something satisfying about knowing which places you are following from the screen and which ones you have chosen simply because they make a good day on Lake Como.
“That’s all.”
Miranda’s two-word sign-off from the original film has become one of the character’s most recognisable habits.
It also feels strangely appropriate here.
Because after Milan’s fashion district, Brera’s courtyard, the Galleria, Santa Maria delle Grazie, Villa Arconati and Lake Como, there is a point where you can stop adding things to the itinerary.
Milan already gives you plenty.
Start around Via Montenapoleone and Piazza della Scala. Walk through the Galleria and across Piazza del Duomo. Continue towards Brera, where the Accademia becomes Runway for a few scenes. Make time for Santa Maria delle Grazie. If you have another day, go out to Villa Arconati.
Then leave the city behind.
Head towards Lake Como and see Villa del Balbiano from the water.
The first Devil Wears Prada gave fans Paris. The sequel gives them Milan, with a little Lake Como thrown in for good measure.
And perhaps that is why these locations work so well.
They already belong to the world the film is trying to portray. Milan has the fashion houses. Brera has the art. The grand hotels have the entrances. Lake Como has the villa.
The film simply steps into them.
For anyone who still remembers Andy Sachs being told that her choices have consequences, Emily’s perfectly timed put-downs, Nigel’s fashion wisdom and Miranda’s ability to silence an entire room with a look, following The Devil Wears Prada 2 through Italy is a rather good excuse to revisit the world.
Only this time, bring comfortable (designer) shoes.
You may have to walk, or strut, a lot.
