Venice Architecture Biennale 2014: a monumental installation of interconnected bicycle frames by Chinese artist Ai Weiwei has been installed in the riverside courtyard of Palazzo Franchetti in Venice. More about Ai Weiwei's Forever Bicycles installed at Palazzo Franchetti in Venice
Hamburg office PFP Architekten has designed a school building with overlapping boxes that jut out towards a piazza in the historic centre of Genoa, Italy (+ slideshow). More about Stone-clad base supports stacked classrooms at PFP Architekten's school in Genoa
News: a pair of skyscrapers by Milan office Boeri Studio are nearing completion in the Italian city, featuring as many trees as could be planted in a hectare of forest. More about Stefano Boeri's "vertical forest" nears completion in Milan
Milan Expo 2015: Italy has become the latest nation to unveil proposals for the Milan Expo 2015, which include a pavilion with an air-cleaning facade designed by Roma studio Nemesi & Partners to resemble tree branches (+ slideshow). More about Italy unveils permanent Milan Expo pavilion that will "purify the atmosphere from smog"
News: Italy's design manufacturing capability is at risk of disappearing, according to Alberto Alessi, president of design brand Alessi. More about Italian design production "could disappear," says Alberto Alessi
Milan 2014: objects made out of lava from Mount Etna in Sicily will be presented by design duo Formafantasma in Milan next week (+ slideshow). More about Formafantasma experiment with lava to create furniture collection
Visitors to a fashion film exhibition in Milan organised by arts website POSTmatter were able to manipulate imagery on giant displays using movement and gestures (+ movie). More about Interactive fashion films at POST exhibition respond to movement of gallery visitors
Wooden boxes on wheels fold open to reveal beds inside this minimal apartment in Bolzano, Italy, by Harry Thaler Studio (+ slideshow). More about Harry Thaler adds mobile furniture and boxy beds to artists' apartment
Italian architect Andrea Dragoni has extended a cemetery in an ancient Italian town by adding rows of monumental travertine walls with public plazas and artworks slotted in between (+ slideshow). More about Cemetery complex by Andrea Dragoni contains public plazas and site-specific artworks
Italian office Studio Galantini has upgraded the wooden structure of a 1970s chapel in north-west Italy so that it can be used for summer services, music recitals and theatrical performances. More about Studio Galantini rebuilds wooden frame of small Italian chapel
Almost everything is pristinely white inside this dental clinic in Sicily by architecture studio Bureauhub, from the walls and floors to furniture, equipment and staff uniforms (photos by Roland Halbe + slideshow). More about White Space orthodontic clinic with Corian walls by Bureauhub
Dezeen and MINI World Tour: in our next movie from Eindhoven, Simone Farresin and Andrea Trimarchi of Formafantasma show us their experiments with unusual materials including fish skin, cow bladders, animal blood and even lava. Update: this interview is featured in Dezeen Book of Interviews, which is on sale now for £12. More about Eindhoven design studio Formafantasma is "experimenting with lava"
Italian architects Scape have modernised an apartment in one of Rome's oldest neighbourhoods by adding faceted ceilings and a boxy wooden staircase. More about Rome apartment modernised with faceted ceilings and minimalist staircase
An iron staircase reminiscent of structural trusses connects the two floors of this house in Milan by Italian architects Roberto Murgia and Valentina Ravara (+ slideshow). More about House with an iron staircase by Roberto Murgia and Valentina Ravara
News: an island in the Venetian Lagoon used as a landfill site could be transformed into a huge theme park under controversial plans by Italian fairground designers Zamperla. More about Venice theme park proposed for abandoned landfill island
Our second story today featuring products presented like model kits is Italian designer Fabio Novembre's window installation for Tommy Hilfiger at La Rinascente department stores. More about I Have a Lifestyle model-kit window installation by Fabio Novembre for Tommy Hilfiger
Japanese architect Tadao Ando has added an auditorium with a curving concrete interior to the Palazzo Grassi - a contemporary arts centre inside an eighteenth-century palace in Venice (+ slideshow). More about The Teatrino of Palazzo Grassi by Tadao Ando
Monolithic limestone totems and cast bronze pedestals punctuate the interior of this Milanese fashion boutique by architect Claudio Silvestrin (+ slideshow). More about Giada Milan flagship store by Claudio Silvestrin
The MuSe Museum by Italian architect Renzo Piano has opened to the public in Trento, Italy, and features angled profiles that echo the shapes of the nearby Dolomites mountains (+ slideshow). More about MuSe Museum by Renzo Piano Building Workshop
Since publishing a residential extension in Italy by architects Plasma Studio earlier this month, we've picked another faceted house from the studio's archives located in the same South Tyrollean village. More about Cube House by Plasma Studio