Two of the most beautiful historic villas in the Milan metropolitan area have been chosen by Alcova as spaces for the next, seventh edition. An independent platform for design launched in 2018 by Valentina Ciuffi and Joseph Grima, Alcova brings together independent brands, galleries, emerging designers every year, rediscovering abandoned and almost unknown places in Milan during Design Week. After launching an e-shop and the first edition in Miami, in the United States, on the occasion of Miami/Basel, the most awaited off-fair of the design season has presented the two locations that will be the stage of the seventh edition, leaving us open-mouthed.
No longer the post-industrial scenario we were used to – which was the backdrop for the first editions in the former Panettoni Cova factory, on Viale Monza, at the ex military hospital of Baggio and also last year at the former slaughterhouse – but two places of decidedly different character: two prestigious historical contexts in the municipality of Varedo, in Brianza, where Alcova’s curated selection of experimental designers, institutions, and companies investigating the future of living and making will be set up – as well as an ambitious program of conferences and performances.
On the one hand, Villa Borsani, a masterpiece of modernist residential architecture completed in 1945 by the architect Osvaldo Borsani as a family home adjacent to the production plants of the Borsani ABV furniture atelier (Arredamenti Borsani Varedo). Surrounded by a lush garden, it is a rare and perfectly preserved example of the architect’s richly layered modernist style, which incorporates unique and distinctive artistic elements – such as a fireplace by Lucio Fontana. Today it is preserved as a private residence by the descendants of the family and as the headquarters of the Osvaldo Borsani Archive.
On the other hand, Villa Bagatti Valsecchi, one of the most significant examples of nineteenth-century villa architecture in Lombardy, built for a noble Milanese family, who used it as a summer retreat to escape the city heat and to entertain guests and friends. The architecture of the villa is characterized by a massive central block flanked by two lower wings with terraced roofing. A notable feature of the villa is its portico, supported by fifteenth-century columns from the Lazzaretto of Milan (the historic plague hospital) when it was demolished. The villa is surrounded by extensive gardens, divided into two distinct styles: formal Italian garden at the back, along the picturesque avenue, and English gardens in the side areas. The Villa is today preserved and managed by the La Versiera 1718 Foundation.
