Bologna's retail landscape features a mix of high-end luxury stores such as Louis Vuitton, Gucci, Giorgio Armani, Bulgari and Dolce & Gabbana coexisting with fast-fashion heavyweights like Hennes & Mauritz, Mango and Zara, and niche, specialty boutiques.

Santandrea admitted the city has had a high turnover of small, independent stores in the past few years, largely due to economic jitters.

"There have been slightly more openings than closures," she said, "but some of these types of shops have proved they can hold their own against bigger retail stores."

Keeping niche retailers buoyant is the city's eclectic fashion sensibility, reckoned Federico Marchetti, who founded e-commerce fashion site Yoox in Bologna in 2000. "On one side, the style here is really bourgeois, but then you'll see some really avant-garde-dressed young art students walking down the street who look amazing."

For its part, BolognaFiere is honing its logistical setup and in the fall will open parking for 7,500 cars and a new 215,000-square-foot pavilion, raising exhibition space to just more than 1 million square feet.