The design platform ALCOVA opens new spaces at Baggio Military Hospital and grants first-ever public access to Franco Albini’s Villa Pestarini
From April 20 to 26, 2026, Alcova returns to Milan for its eleventh edition, occupying two sites that embody the city’s layered architectural identity. The groundbreaking design platform, founded by curators Valentina Ciuffi and Joseph Grima in 2018, will transform the Baggio Military Hospital and the never-before-accessible Villa Pestarini into temporary stages for contemporary design, architecture, and technology.
A Renewed Encounter at Baggio Military Hospital
Those who attended Alcova’s 2021 and 2022 editions will recognize the Baggio Military Hospital, a sprawling complex in the Primaticcio district originally constructed in the post-World War I era. This year, however, the experience deepens considerably. Alcova 2026 is opening previously inaccessible spaces within the complex, including a church with its former rectory and a historic archive, each carrying its own weight of institutional memory.
The site has continued its quiet evolution since Alcova’s last occupation. The built environment and natural landscape have grown increasingly intertwined, creating an ecosystem where the boundary between architecture and nature dissolves into something more poetic. Overgrown courtyards, weathered facades, and verdant corridors offer a backdrop that feels simultaneously abandoned and alive, a quality that has made Baggio a compelling canvas for design interventions.
Villa Pestarini Opens to the Public for the First Time
A few kilometres from Baggio, Villa Pestarini represents an entirely different kind of revelation. Designed by Franco Albini in 1938 to 1939, when the architect was just 33 years old, this private residence has remained closed to the public throughout its existence. Alcova 2026 changes that.
The villa stands as one of the clearest expressions of Italian rationalism. Its geometry is deliberate and restrained: a white rectangular shell punctuated by glass-block facades and large windows that frame the surrounding garden. The interior reveals Albini’s signature vocabulary, including shallow marble staircases, sliding partitions, and bespoke furniture that balance discipline with an unmistakable sense of poetry.
What makes Villa Pestarini particularly remarkable is its state of preservation. Successive owners have maintained the house with devotion, keeping it almost miraculously intact. Walking through its rooms feels like stepping into a space suspended in time, a direct encounter with the principles that would define Albini’s career and influence generations of Italian designers.
An Architectural Dialogue
Together, these two locations create a conversation between preservation and reinvention. The Baggio Military Hospital, with its evolving relationship between structure and nature, speaks to architecture’s capacity for transformation. Villa Pestarini, frozen in its original clarity, demonstrates the enduring power of disciplined design thinking.
DSCENE DESIGN STORIES
Within this framework, Alcova will host its characteristic constellation of designers, studios, companies, and institutions. The platform has earned its reputation as a key fixture of Milan Design Week precisely because of its ability to place emerging talents alongside established names in settings that challenge conventional exhibition formats.
Since its founding, Alcova has consistently sought out locations that carry their own narrative weight, from abandoned factories to forgotten institutional buildings. The 2026 edition continues this tradition while raising the stakes: one site offers new discoveries within familiar territory, while the other grants access to a space that has remained private for nearly nine decades.
Discover more in our gallery:
Visiting Alcova Milano 2026
Dates: April 20 to 26, 2026
Locations:
- Baggio Military Hospital Complex
- Villa Pestarini
Website: alcova.xyz
