Casa Museo Boschi Di Stefano: Milan art apartment
Explore the former Milanese home of Antonio Boschi and Marieda Di Stefano, transformed into a museum housing thousands of 20th-century masterpieces.
Stock photo for illustration only, not from the actual event
- The former Milan residence of Antonio Boschi and Marieda Di Stefano is now an art museum.
- It houses a collection of thousands of 20th-century masterpieces collected throughout their lives.
- The multi-story building was designed by Piero Portaluppi and renovated to showcase the collection.
- 1982 photographs by Gabriele Basilico capture the home stacked wall-to-wall with artworks.
When exploring the intersection of domestic living and art galleries, the former residence of Antonio Boschi and Marieda Di Stefano in Milan, Italy, stands out as a prime example. This space now welcomes visitors to experience a vast collection of thousands of 20th-century masterworks meticulously gathered by the couple throughout their lifetimes.
Greeting visitors in the entrance hall are two distinct portraits of the couple: I coniugi Boschi from 1951 and 1947, depicting the pair holding their cats. Created four years apart by Italian painter Remo Brindisi, these works nod to the artist's own house museum outside of Bologna, which was designed by renowned Italian architect Nanda Vigo. Further inside, guest rooms house notable paintings such as Arturo Tosi's 1925 Songavazzo and Achille Funi's 1933 Trieste, alongside ceramic pieces crafted by Marieda Di Stefano herself.
Transforming a private residence into a house museum offers a unique preservation of context that traditional white-cube galleries cannot replicate. Visitors get to experience the artworks within the exact domestic atmosphere they once inhabited, reinforcing the idea that art was woven directly into the collectors' daily lives rather than merely kept as isolated exhibits.
Regarding their background, Antonio Boschi worked for a long time as an engineer for Pirelli, the high-end tire manufacturer known for its involvement in Formula 1 racing, while Marieda Di Stefano pursued her passion for ceramics. Following their passing, the collections were entrusted to the Municipality of Milan in Italy. The art was initially exhibited at Palazzo Reale in 1974 while a permanent home was established at Via Giorgio Jan, 15, inside a multi-story building in Milan designed by Piero Portaluppi and originally commissioned by Marieda's father for his children to live side by side.
Stock photo for illustration only, not from the actual event
Before the house museum officially opened to the public in 2003 and underwent pristine renovations to accommodate the works in filtered natural light, the apartment looked vastly different. Photographs taken in 1982 by Gabriele Basilico—commissioned by Italian Radical design figure and Domus editor Alessandro Mendini, who was also Marieda's grandson—captured the densely packed interior. Floors were layered with patchwork Persian carpets, massive canvases leaned against each other, and framed paintings were puzzle-pieced across every vertical surface from floor to ceiling.
Navigating through an otherwise ordinary Milan apartment made extraordinary by a fraction of the collection evokes a deep sense of awe regarding the multiple functions a home can fulfill: a shelter, a meeting ground, a museum, and a treasure chest for artistic marvels. Before opening as a public space, the couple kept enormous canvases stacked vertically because their collection simply outgrew the available wall space. Today, the museum remains a celebrated part of designboom's MODES OF HABITATION chapter, exploring how residential spaces reshape shared domestic life.
Source: designboom
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