Villa Clea: A Home and Artist Residency in Milan
Villa Clea is a private home, art space and artist residency in Milan, founded by architect Matteo Corbellini and Allina (Alessandra Pelizzari Corbellini). It brings domestic life and exhibitions into the same setting, with spaces that can accommodate different uses.
A home that can become an exhibition space
In a November 2023 interview with C41 Magazine, the founders described a project on the site of a former car workshop. Corbellini designed the architecture; Allina developed the interiors. Three independent lofts can connect to create a route through the house. Curtains and mirrored doors help mediate between its spaces.
This arrangement makes the relationship between privacy and access an architectural question: opening a home to visitors changes how its rooms are used and experienced.
Relic: the inaugural exhibition in 2023
Villa Clea’s official exhibition archive dates Andrea Smith’s Relic to 21 October 2023. The project brought personal objects and multimedia work into the domestic setting, exploring memory, attachment and the relationship between an individual and a wider community. It is a past exhibition, rather than a current visitor listing.
How the residency works
The project’s website identifies Villa Clea as an art space and residency at Via d’Agrate 25–27, Milan. Its published programme describes invited artists, exhibitions and opportunities announced through open calls. Readers considering a visit or application should consult the organisers’ current information for availability and access.
✦ ArchUp Editorial Insight
Villa Clea raises a practical question: how can a home welcome an audience while protecting the everyday life within it? Connecting rooms can support an exhibition route, but spatial flexibility alone does not establish public accessibility. Visiting arrangements, selection criteria and the relationship between residents and guests also shape who can participate. These are useful questions for assessing a domestic art space beyond its photographs. The project can be read as an experiment in sharing space; understanding its longer-term value would require evidence about how artists, residents and visitors actually use it. This is an architectural interpretation, not a report of a site visit.
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