If it’s been a few years since you last visited Milan (our top choice for 52 Places to Go in 2015), you’re in for a pleasant shock. Yes, the preparations for the World Expo being held here this year (May through October) turned large swaths of the city into construction zones, many of which are still in progress. But alongside these urban development projects, a more organic wave of rejuvenation has swept through the city. Old structures of various stripes — among them a sawmill, a foundry, a bank and a farmhouse — have recently been repurposed as bars, shops, restaurants and cultural centers worthy of this most international of Italian cities. Put simply, there’s new energy coursing through cosmopolitan Milan, and it’s likely to last long after the Expo.

Friday

1. Future of Fashion | 4 p.m.

Beyond the flashy downtown fashion district, a new hub of creative shops has sprouted in and around Zona Tortona, a former industrial district southwest of the city center. The area’s compelling coolness is best exemplified by Nonostante Marras, the spellbinding shop of the Sardinian designer Antonio Marras. Hidden from the street behind a residential building, past a locked gate and through an overgrown courtyard, the airy boutique has a mesmerizing interior: trees strung with fairy lights, artworks and antique furniture, a cylindrical wooden bookshelf with unusual titles, and a cluster of hanging lamps inside long white dresses painted with geometric patterns. Equally captivating is the clothing for sale, ranging from pleated lace skirts and prim pastel coats to statement-making runway dresses printed with howling wolves.

2. ­Poolside Aperitivo | 6:30 p.m.

Aperitivo is a sacred rite in Milan, and there’s no finer place to carry on the tradition than around the rooftop pool of Ceresio 7, a new bar and restaurant that oozes sophistication. The elegant spot opened in the fall of 2013 on the top floor of a Fascist-era office building that’s the headquarters of the fashion house Dsquared2. The glamorous interior (blood-red lacquered tables, peacock-blue lounge chairs, Art Deco brass bar) is the work of the local Dimore Studio design firm. But there’s also substance beneath this beauty. For proof, order the Ceresio Spritz (sparkling wine, soda and Solerno, a Sicilian blood-orange liqueur; 15 euros, or about $18, at $1.20 to the euro), which will arrive with a series of snacks from flatbread stuffed with mortadella to a salad of prosciutto and pickled beets. Savor the spread from a poolside perch, where the dazzling view of blinking-light skyscrapers feels more like Tokyo than Italy.