The Achille Castiglioni studio after hours

Why it is on the list

Achille Castiglioni (1918–2002) won eight Compasso d'Oro awards and the Compasso d'Oro for his career, and the Museum of Modern Art in New York gave him a retrospective in 1997.¹ He worked in these rooms at Piazza Castello 27 for more than forty years, and his family has kept them open since 2006.² The visit goes through four rooms: the prototypes and models, the drafting tables, the anonymous objects he collected and used in his lectures at the Politecnico in Turin and Milan, and the meeting room, with pieces from across the history of design.² The archive behind them holds some 11,500 drawings and sketches and 130 models from 191 architectural, 484 installation and 290 industrial design projects.¹ It is looked after by Antonella Gornati, who worked with Castiglioni for more than twenty years.²

It is the wrong choice for painting or a grand interior: the rooms are a working office. For a single masterpiece seen alone, take the after-hours Last Supper; for the scale of a theatre, the Ansaldo Workshops of La Scala.

How to get it

Every visit is booked in advance and led by a guide; there is no walk-in entry.³ The set visits run Tuesday to Friday at 10, 11 and 12, and on one Saturday a month, for about an hour and no more than 20 to 25 people.³ For a visit on other days or at other hours, write to info@achillecastiglioni.it and ask for a special guided visit outside the timetable; the rooms can also hold an event by agreement.³ Tickets include the guide and are paid in advance when the booking is confirmed: EUR 15, EUR 10 under 25 and over 65, EUR 7 under 18.³ The foundation answers on +39 02 805 3606.⁴ It closes for the summer from 1 to 29 August 2026.³

Discretion

The studio admits visitors only by booking and with a guide, in groups of at most 20 to 25; a visit outside the set days and hours is arranged directly with the foundation.³ The nearest metro stop is Cadorna – Triennale, on lines 1 and 2.³