Franco Albini's Villa Pestarini Opens to Public for First Time During Milan Design Week 2026

Villa Pestarini, the only private residence designed by architect Franco Albini, is exceptionally opening to the public for the first time in 87 years during Milan Design Week 2026. Located on Via Mogadiscio in the Piazzale Tripoli area of Milan, this key example of Milanese rationalism was commissioned by the Pestarini family in 1938 when Albini was 33. The original two-story house with a private garden was later expanded by Albini himself with a controversial new volume clad in white corrugated sheet metal, completed in 1949, allowing the house to function as two separate units. Now, the current owners—still the same family—have decided to open the villa as part of the itinerant design platform Alcova, which is holding its eleventh edition at this location and the Military Hospital complex in Baggio. Visitors can tour the rigorously designed building, characterized by white parallelepiped volumes with irregular openings and a glass concrete wall, from April 20 to 26, 2026, by reservation. The interior features sliding walls for reconfigurable spaces, a large marble staircase, and custom furnishings also designed by Albini.