Alcova’s Guide to Hidden Milan During Design Week

Words Valentina Ciuffi and Joseph GrimaDate 15 April 2026

Discover Milan’s hidden gems with Valentina Ciuffi and Joseph Grima of Alcova—unconventional, historically rich, and often overlooked spaces that reveal the city’s creative heartbeat.

Since its founding in 2018, Alcova has become known for transforming unexpected locations into stages for emerging talents, established designers, and forward-thinking brands. During Milan Design Week 2026, Alcova transforms the city with a new itinerant showcase, turning Villa Pestarini and the sprawling Baggio Military Hospital into immersive destinations for rediscovery, experimentation, and contemporary material culture.

Villa Pestarini by Franco Albini, Milan’s only residential work by the Rationalist master

Images: Luigi Fiano

The once-private residence will be open to the public for the first time

Image: Piergiorgio Sorgetti

“Many of Milan’s most fascinating places don’t reveal themselves immediately. They lie behind courtyards, doorways, enclosed spaces—unostentatious, almost always private or protected—and only tell their story once you’re inside.”

Grissinificio Edelweiss, a Milan institution known for its classic artisanal grissini

Milan’s M1 line, a Rationalist work reflecting Franco Albini’s modernist approach

Valentina & Joseph's Guide to Milan

Places to be inspired and experience the city's creative culture.

Brera Botanical Garden

Via Brera 28, 20121

Tucked behind the Brera Academy, the botanical garden remains a corner of magic in the heart of the city.

Grissinificio Edelweiss

Via Teodosio 27, 20131

On Via Teodosio for more than 70 years, this is where you’ll find the best breadsticks in the world. Their grissini, individually hand-pulled with care, are perfectly crisp and golden, reflecting a tradition of quality and precision.

M1 line of the Milan Metro

Step into any station on the red line to discover interiors designed by Franco Albini.

Parco Trotter

Via Giacosa / Via Padova, 20127

A beautiful park conceived as a vast open-air classroom, born from an educational vision of the last century—a radical model of learning immersed in nature.

Natural History Museum

Corso Venezia 55, 20121

This museum preserves the patina of time, with its old display cases, taxidermy animals, and rooms that tell the story of both the city and the natural world.

Silvestri Luigia Liviana

Via Francesco Hayez 14, 20129

Simply “Liviana” to its regulars, this old café has remained unchanged inside, with a loyal clientele. It’s beautiful and seems frozen in time.

The Park on Via Morgagni

Via Plinio / Via Giovanni Battista Morgagni, 20129

Where elderly men play bocce, this is a simple, everyday place, yet full of life and stories—a perfect example of how Milan hides small wonders even in the most ordinary gestures.