MILAN — A family’s estate in the town of Mira, Italy, near Venice, has been turned into the area’s latest arts hub by design creative director Riccardo Corò and luxury communications director Leonardo Tiezzi.
Spanning two villas along the Brenta River, Ca’ Riviera is gearing up for its debut exhibition “The Shape of the Self / La forma del Sé,” which celebrates avant-garde figures of the 20th century and the present. Artists include bygone, established and emerging ones such as Argentine painter and designer Leonor Fini, who died in 1997, flanked by living names Cecilia Granara, Yves Scherer, Chiara Capellini and Sedef Gali.
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Fini’s surrealist work between 1945 and 1969 will be on display, highlighting her exploration of the unconscious. Works by Granara, for example, recall elements of spirituality and stream of consciousness.
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The name Ca’ Riviera is derived from the Venetian dialect. Ca’ is Venetian for “house” or “home” and refers to the noble homes and grand palaces that surround the Lagoon. Riviera refers to its proximity to the seashore, specifically the Riviera del Brenta.
The complex includes Villa Contarini, which was built around 1550, and Villa Valier, also from the 16th century, associated with the Venetian noble Valier family which includes two heads of state, or doges, of the Venetian Republic.
Villa Contarini was acquired by the Corò family, owners of the eponymous upscale design furniture firm, in 1962, followed by Villa Valier in 1982, marking the beginning of a new chapter for both estates.
In recent years, both spaces have hosted events, and design and editorial shoots, allowing the Corò family to engage with contemporary visual culture in a historic context and within the confines of their estate.
“The villas offered more than a setting; they suggested a way of thinking. Their layered history and spatial complexity allowed us to imagine a place where contemporary practices could unfold in dialogue with a deeply rooted architectural and cultural context,” Corò told WWD.
Tiezzi is a fashion veteran and Corò is creative director of Corò Arredamenti, his family’s furniture firm. Corò and Tiezzi met while working in luxury fashion and the pair had an epiphany while in Paris. “From the outset, we did not conceive Ca’ Riviera as a container, but as a condition, where architecture, landscape, and temporality converge to shape an experience,” said Tiezzi, who began engaging with the art world in 2023, organizing exhibitions in both Milan and Istanbul.
In search of an established partner with similar taste, the duo reached out to Cassina Projects, which is Milan-based but was originally founded in New York in 2016. Founded by siblings Irene and Marco Cassina, the firm specializes in fostering cross-generational dialogue between established figures with wide critical recognition, as well as mid-career and emerging artists.
Ca’ Riviera will open its doors alongside the 2026 Venice Art Biennale, which will run Saturday to Nov. 22, and will launch its inaugural artist residency program in summer 2026.