A saraband of meetings - finally in attendance - workshops and seminars, cooking shows and demonstrations. Also in this edition, the hundreds of HostMilano events brought attention and high-profile content, with great success with the public.

On the front of technology, innovation and new approaches, all eyes were on the products that have obtained the SMART Label - Host Innovation Award, promoted in collaboration with POLI.design. Carimali, Iberital, T&S and Unox the companies awarded with the Innovation SMART Label. Castelmac, DIHR-Ali Group, Epta, Skymsen, Moretti Forni and Pedrali have received the Green SMART Label. The "classic" SMART Label went to Blupura, Dalla Corte, Dystform/Mychef, Eureka-Conti Valerio, EVCO, Evoca, Echtermann, Fiorenzato, Italynnova, Loelsberg, Meiko, Qualityfry, Rational Italia, RCR Cristalleria Italiana and Vito AG.

The international competitions gave value and the right dose of adrenaline. There was an air of internationality in the arena where the WCC, the SCA World Coffee Championships, were held. Colombian Diego Campos was awarded the title of 2021 World Barista Champion. "Silver medal" for Andrea Allen, United States, and bronze for Australian Hugh Kelly.

The 2021 World Brewers Cup went to Swiss Matt Winton, accompanied on the podium by Daiki Hatakeyama (Japan) and Elika Liftee (USA).

Finally, the 2021 World Cup Tasters Champion is the Australian Charlie Chu, in second place Germany with Dénes Rajmond and in third South Korea with Sang Min Ju.

Also in the coffee area, the competitions coordinated by Altoga and Aicaf brought Francesco Masala to the podium, as the Best Master of the 7th Italian Coffee Grand Prix.

The WLAGS was the great event of the Coffee Village: the second world championship of latte art grading, where the matches between the best of the Lags system at an international level were held. On the highest step of the podium ,Salvatore Riunno (Italy) in the green category; Nejc Knez (Slovenia) in the red category; Fabio Colicchia  (Italy) in the black category and Fabio Scacciaferro (Switzerland) in the gold category.

A real triumph at the FIPGC World Pastry Awards for Japan which, with masters Yosuke Otsuka, Yusaku Shibata and Kazuhiro Nakayama, won in three of the four categories present.

The winner of the first edition of The World Trophy of Professional Tiramisù FIPGC is France. In second place is Japan, which also wins the special Tiramisù Innovative prize, and in third place Switzerland, which wins the special Tiramisù Classico prize.

As in the first, also in the second edition of the Panettone World Championship the South wins, with one of its great masters, Sal De Riso, from the Sal De Riso Costa d'Amalfi pastry shop in Minori: his is the best leavened product.

If the championships attracted a large group of fans and enthusiasts from all over the world, interesting contents came also from the rich calendar of events held in the "hot" areas of Fipe and ANIMA, but also with the Design Talks of Poli.design, Iginio Massari's “Luxury pastry in the world” format, FCSI seminars and APCI's Horeca Digital Academy, Bakery Academy and events dedicated to pizza and pasta, the bulwarks of Made in Italy.