Historical residences and palaces: from Villa Pestarini to Casa Borsani exclusive openings for Design Week

Villas, historical palaces, buildings never open to the city. Fuorisalone 2026 is not only a showcase for contemporary creativity, but also an opportunity to cross the threshold of places often closed to the public. This edition marks a profound investigation into Milan's architectural heritage, transforming residences and complexes into stages where history dialogues with design and experimentation.

Alcova's narrative is split into two radically different contexts, hosting a panorama of 120 international exhibitors. For the first time in its history, Villa Pestarini opens: a rationalist masterpiece by Franco Albini. The villa - the only private residence conceived in Milan by one of the key figures of the period - invites designers to confront the master's legacy. Here Patricia Urquiola for Haworth and Cassina reinterprets the entrance and living room spaces, while with the Boccamonte project (based in Liguria), the work of Luisa Castiglioni - who began her career as Albini's assistant - is repositioned within the broader history of modernism in Italia. Alcova also enters the Ospedale Militare di Baggio, a city within a city where academies such as the AA School of Architecture in London, the Design Academy Eindhoven and the Umprum in Prague fill streets, courtyards and former service buildings with experimental installations and pavilions. Projects by students reflecting on new ways of living and producing.

A residence not to be missed during the Fuorisalone is located at no. 21 Via Bigli. In the heart of Palazzo Olivazzi, the flat designed by Osvaldo Borsani opens to the public for the first time. Here the interiors will be the subject of a takeover signed by Interni Venosta, the project by Emiliano Salci and Britt Moran that establishes a dialogue between the historical architecture and the contemporary works on display.

At Porta Venezia, Artemest returns to Palazzo Donizetti to present the fourth edition of L'Appartamento, an exhibition project that each year celebrates the best of contemporary Italian craftsmanship and design. The project inaugurates a new curatorial chapter dedicated to the theme of Italian Grandeur: a tribute to Italia's artistic heritage. Here, five international design studios reinterpret rooms through a selection of furniture, lighting and objects made by Italian master craftsmen.

Urban verticality finds expression in the Convey Building, an entire five-storey building located in the area between Missori and the Torre Velasca. Here, more than 20 international brands come together to narrate contemporary design through an exhibition itinerary culminating in a panoramic terrace overlooking the city. The journey continues in the 5VIE at Residenza Vignale, an early 20th-century residence that exceptionally reopens its doors with Piloto Milano and Echoes of Elsewhere, an exhibition that brings together 20 designers from Brazil, Italia and Argentina, whose focus is the idea of resonance: each object on display retains traces of its own elsewhere.