Milan's former Albergo Diurno Venezia to host Italy's first National Museum of Digital Art by 2026

Milan will open Italy's first National Museum of Digital Art (possibly called MAD) by 2026 in the former Albergo Diurno Venezia, an Art Nouveau underground space beneath Piazza Oberdan in Porta Venezia. The proposal came from Culture Minister Dario Franceschini, with €6 million in state funding for initial renovation. The museum will integrate with MEET, the International Center for Digital Culture founded by Fondazione Cariplo and opened in October 2020 in the former Spazio Oberdan. MEET director Maria Grazia Mattei praised the initiative as a vital step for contemporary art and digital culture, noting that the museum will be diffused across multiple areas rather than a single site. The new institution joins a cultural district including PAC, the Planetarium, GAM, and the private Museo di Arte Etrusca (designed by Mario Cucinella). Mayor Beppe Sala called it "another step forward towards the Milan of the future" and emphasized that the museum will feature works born digital, not digital reproductions. The €6 million budget is far less than the €14 million for the Museo Nazionale della Resistenza (by Herzog & de Meuron) or the €100 million for the Biblioteca Europea di Informazione e Cultura (Beic) in Porta Vittoria. The Albergo Diurno Venezia, owned by the city, has occasionally been opened by FAI and previously hosted contemporary art exhibitions. Mattei confirmed the budget covers only initial restructuring and consolidation, with the full project still to be defined.