The café is part of Milanese culture, from first thing in the morning (the traditional counter-top espresso) until apertivo hour at night (spritzes and negronis, alongside the requisite platter of accompanying snacks). In between, it serves as a stop-off for sandwiches, pastries and chatter – the perfect distillation of the rituals and rhythms of Milanese life.
For Milan Design Week 2026, which arrives in the city later this month, Italian fashion house Marni will take over one of these institutions for a three-month-long pop-up staged in collaboration with RedDuo Studio, a Milan-based interiors studio. The café in question is Pasticceria Cucchi, which was founded in 1936 by Luigi and Vittorina Cucchi and attracted a fashionable coterie of guests – from poets to artists and socialites – with jazz music and live performances. Now, it is being re-established as a gathering spot once again, by the Monti family, heirs to the late Giacomo Bulleri, one of Milan’s best-known gastronomic names.
Titled Marni x Cucchi, the takeover is a celebration of the café as a ‘stage for gestures and habits’, something captured in the event’s sceneography, which centres on a series of co-branded ephemera and objects – from sugar packets and takeaway coffee cups to plates, milk jugs and textiles, even staff uniforms (the cappuccino and coffee cups will be available from Marni’s Via Montenapoleone boutique). Bold, graphic motifs, reminiscent of midcentury design, are set to run throughout – from stripes to polka dots – while a joint logo features both Marni and Pasticceria Cucchi’s distinctive branding.
A look from Meryll Rogge’s first collection for Marni, shown earlier this year. Featuring a set by Formafantasma, the Belgian designer looks to be forging close links with the design world
Throughout the three months, the café is set to become a stylish watering hole. While it will be open from 7.30am for morning coffee, through to 9.30pm, aperitivo hour is set to be the focus, with a special ‘Spritz Menu’ curated by Martini (Bianco and Bitter Spritzes promise ‘a contemporary expression of Italy’s aperitivo culture’). Meanwhile, a line-up of live musical performances each Thursday evening will nod to Pasticceria Cucchi’s origins as a caffé-concerto.
This project will also mark the first Design Week happening from Marni under current creative director Meryll Rogge, who showed her first collection for the house earlier this year at Milan Fashion Week. It’s clear that forging connections with the design world will be a big part of her tenure: her first show, for A/W 2026, comprised a set by research-based design agency Formafantasma (Wallpaper* Designers of the Year in 2021, and the creators of the 2026 Design Awards trophy).
The ‘familiar yer unsettled’ set – which recalled the anonymous entranceway to an office or apartment block, with paintings of quotidien objects decorating the space – served as a reflection of the Belgian designer’s approach to Marni. ‘I have a very personal connection to Marni. It’s a brand that shaped my design sensibility during my formative years, and through the show I wanted to acknowledge that sense of familiarity,’ she told Wallpaper* at the time. ‘Something real, unpretentious, open – but without suggesting a specific place.’
Marni x Cucchi runs from 20 April – 15 July 2026, 7.30am – 9.30pm, at Pasticceria Cucchi, Milan