Alcova at Milan Design Week 2025: four locations
Alcova, founded in 2018 by Valentina Ciuffi (Studio Vedèt) and Joseph Grima (Space Caviar), is an itinerant platform that brings together designers, companies, institutions and researchers each year during Milan Design Week to investigate the future of living and making.
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The characteristics of Alcova’s events are the locations. The Alcova team searches for old, abandoned, or otherwise little-used buildings and brings them back to life, even temporarily. The first edition, in Milan in 2028, revitalized an old, abandoned confectionery factory, Cova. Later, Alcova set up exhibitions in an abandoned wing of Milan Military Hospital and in Milan former and abandoned public Slaughterhouse.
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House of Lyria at Alcova 2021
In 2024, in a strange choice that turned out to be very successful, Alcova set up two exhibitions, in two locations outside Milan, in the city of Varedo.
Villa Borsani, Alcova 2024, photo Piergiorgio Sorgetti, courtesy Alcova
The second feature of Alcova’s events is the selection of emerging design and designers, from all over the world. In 2023, Alcova also debuted with an American edition, during Design Miami.
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Alcova at Milan Design Week 2025
The ninth edition of Alcova returns to Varedo April 7-13, for Milan Design Week 2025. In the wake of last year’s success, Alcova expands its presence with four distinct venues: the former SNIA factory and Pasino greenhouses, in addition to Villa Bagatti Valsecchi and Villa Borsani from the previous edition.
Alcova Milan Design Week 2025, photo Piergiorgio Sorgetti, courtesy Alcova
These new locations define the interaction between domestic environments and industrial spaces, equally recovered from abandonment. The Pasino greenhouses, once home to one of Europe’s most extensive white orchid cultivations, present a spectacular natural setting. The former SNIA factory, a key site in Italy’s industrial history, stands out as a forgotten gem in the Milan suburbs. The factory’s smokestack and the clean, geometric lines of its glass facades tell the story of another era. Its large spaces will host installations dedicated to innovative production techniques, winking at Italian industrial history.
Alcova Milan Design Week 2025, photo Piergiorgio Sorgetti, courtesy Alcova
Mosca Partners: two locations
MoscaPartners, with Design Variations, also returns to Milan Design Week 2025 with two locations. Design Variations, formerly Litta Variations, the event organized by MoscaPartners, has always stood out both for its historic locations in the center of Milan and for selecting designers and architects particularly active in the search for sustainability. As of 2024, Design Variations will feature the Garage on Viale Gorizia.
The Garage by Mosca Partners at Milan Design Week 2025
It is a unique example of industrial architecture in downtown Milan, built in 1938 by builder Giovanni Comisasca. Later, Marco Zanuso designed an extension, between 1946 and 1950, with artistic facades by Gianni Dova. Design Variations selects innovative materials and products based on sustainability.
MoscaPartners’ new location for Fuorisalone 2025 is Palazzo Stampa di Soncino, a 16th-century building in the center of Milan, which has never hosted public events until now. This unique space offers indoor, covered, and outdoor spaces, creating a perfect setting for an event during Milan Design Week 2025.
Palazzo Stampa di Soncino, photo Giovanni Dall’Orto, Creative Commons
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