As much as Milan Design Week is about the discovery of the industry’s latest ideas, it also offers an opportunity to explore unknown corners of the city itself. Known for hiding its architectural treasures behind unassuming façades, Milan opens its doors once a year and invites visitors inside. Many of these locations are familiar by now — favourite exhibition places include the Rationalist Villa Necchi Campiglio and Palazzo Litta, a Baroque palace — but there are still surprises to be found.
This year, a number of organisers have secured access to spaces that the Design Week-going public will be experiencing for the first time. From public swimming complexes to richly decorated private apartments, here is a selection of never-before-used locations to discover this week.
Fuorisalone 2026: new locations to discover at Milan Design Week this year
Villa Pestarini - Alcova
The Modernist-style villa by the Italian architect Franco Albini has remained a private family home since its completion in 1939, so it’s a rare opportunity that the founders of Alcova have secured its use as one of the fair’s two locations (the other is at the nearby Baggio military hospital). From the outside, it appears as a pure rectangular volume: the street façade is defined by a large glass block panel punctuated by vertical windows, while the garden side opens into broader glazed surfaces. Originally conceived across two floors, the villa was expanded in 1949 with a third level clad in white corrugated metal. Visitors will find Albini’s interiors reanimated through installations by Patricia Urquiola for Haworth and Cassina, alongside projects by Luisa Castiglioni, Kiki Goti, Sophie Dries and others.
Via Mogadiscio, 2/4
Casa Rossa - Convey
Following their takeover of an entire street in Porta Venezia for their annual design showcase, Convey — led by Riccardo Crenna and Simona Flacco of the creative agency Simple Flair — will occupy the entirety of a Modernist apartment building from 1958 by Ottavio Cabiati and Luigi Brambilla as it awaits redevelopment. Set over five storeys and crowned by a 360-degree rooftop terrace, the building is a quintessential Milanese apartment block, with a ceppo di Gré façade at street level, terrazzo flooring and a monumental entranceway. The building will host brands, events and activations throughout Milan Design Week.
Via San Senatore 10
Palazzo Acerbi - Kelly Wearstler x H&M
Scandinavian retail giant H&M is making its Design Week debut with a new collaboration with the LA-based designer Kelly Wearstler — and has chosen a suitably historic setting. The 17th-century Palazzo Acerbi will open during Design Week for the first time, offering visitors a chance to experience its baroque frescoes and richly decorated interiors up close. Located on Corso di Porta Romana, the palazzo is defined by a sober exterior that gives way to an ornate internal courtyard and elaborately frescoed rooms, typical of Milanese baroque architecture.
Corso di Porta Romana, 3
Piscina Romano - 6:AM glass
Set in the leafy Città Studi district, named for its concentration of faculties of the Politecnico di Milano, the Piscina Romano swimming complex directly neighbours a cluster of university buildings designed by Gio Ponti in the 1950s. Built by Luigi Secchi in 1937, the exhibition will be installed within a Rationalist-style pavilion that is still used as the complex’s changing rooms. Defined by a soaring barrel-vaulted ceiling, 6:AM plan to take advantage of the vertical volume to build architectural-scale, site-specific glass works within the space.
Via Giuseppe Zanoia, 2
Palazzo Olivazzi - Interni Venosta
Originally constructed in the 18th century, the neoclassical Palazzo Olivazzi on via Bigli remains home to some of Milan’s oldest and most established families, meaning its private apartments are as lavish as they are discreet. Britt Moran and Emiliano Salci — co-founders of the Milan-based Dimorestudio — have managed to briefly crack open the doors of one of the building’s most prestigious spaces to present their latest collection for Interni Venosta. Set within a residential apartment designed in 1936 by a young Osvaldo Borsani, the largely intact space was conceived as a Gesamtkunstwerk, with Borsani designing the architecture, furniture and fittings, including built-in cabinetry, seating and lighting.
Via Bigli 21
Crespi Bonsai Museum - Kengo Kuma x Jaipur Rugs
Founded in 1991, the Crespi Bonsai Museum houses one of the world’s most extensive bonsai collections outside Japan, with around 200 specimens exhibited in seasonal rotation. The collection includes rare and historic trees, some over a century old, alongside a reconstructed tokonoma, antique Japanese furnishings and a Zen garden. For Milan Design Week, Jaipur Rugs presents Faces, a 16-piece collection by Kengo Kuma inspired by the layered façades of his architecture, translated into handwoven rugs in natural tones and graphic patterns, shown in dialogue with the living collection.
SS33 del Sempione, 37, San Lorenzo di Parabiago, MI