THE VILLA AND ITS SPACES
The Villa might be approached through a striking avenue of Celtis australis, that leads up to the monumental doric three-arched gateway. Ignazio Cantù, in his Guida per la Brianza e per le terre circomvicine (“Guide to Brianza and the sorrounding territories”) described it as being “splendid…, Roman, the entrance being borrowed from Vienna’s Imperial Palace.”
From the entrance, you end up to the main courtyard, bounded by the imposing three floors mainblock, where a striking loggia with three openings resembles the structure of the entrance. On the two sides, the low-rise blocks are used as service rooms and passing them through you can reach the two secondary courtyards.
In opposition to the chasteness and the rigour of the open air spaces, the interiors are fully decorated, with illusive mouldings, grotesques, grisaille and medallions of romantic landscapes.
On the south side, the main block looks out over the park-garden, hosting some monumental specimens of trees.
INTERIORS
The central loggia-entrance
Size 55 m2
A room with great scenic effect given by the big three-arched window, overlooking the main coutyard.
The room is softened by flower decorations adorning the walls and the ceiling.
It has an admirable marble floor, played with the tones of black and white.
The loggia-entrance is placed next to the main drawing-room, reachable through a wide french window.
The main Drawing-Room
Size 75 m2
Big room overlooking, the Veranda of the park-garden through three French windows.
On the inside, on a wide fireplace dominates an ancient tapestry with the family crest.
Walls and doors present neo-classical decorations. The floor is in terrazzo, with perimetral cornice.
The wide ceiling, soberly decorated, is adorned by stuccos.
From the main drawing-room you can reach two secondary rooms, the Music room (on the right) and the Green room (on the left).
The Music Room
Size 40 m2
The room looks out over the garden through two big windows.
The room is peculiar for its wall decorations in neo-classical style, with grisaille and medallions played with shades of yellow and blue, and false doors whose sizes and colours evoke the real ones. The ceiling presents a trompe-l’oeil, with an illusive view of a window facing the sky.
The floor is made of terrazzo, with perimetral cornice.
The Green Room
Size 40 m2
The room looks out over the garden through two big windows.
The room is characterized by its wall decorations in neo-classical style, with grotesques evoking mythological figures and animals.
On the left wall a big mirror with painted wooden frame is set on a large fireplace.
The ceiling is characterized by a floral panelled trompe-l’oeil in tones of light green and four darker lunettes, presenting some grisailles on top.
The floor is in terrazzo, with perimetral cornice.
From the Green Room you have access to the Dining-Room
The Dining-Room
Size 40 m2
Wide room overlooking the garden on two sides, with an entrance from the outside through two large French windows.
The room is characterized by wall- and ceiling decorations in neo-classical style, with grisaille and floreal frames in shades of grey and pink.
It has a terrazzo floor, with perimetral cornice.
EXTERIORS
The main Courtyard
The square-shaped space is bounded by the loggia-entrance, the main façade and the two rustic wings. The Virginia creeper frames the walls of the four sides and the colour of its leaves creates always different atmospheres and feelings, in every season.
The rustic Courtyards
On both right and left sides of the main courtyard there are two rustic courtyards, bounded by service rooms. They are both built according to the rustic taste and characterized by peculiar views.
The Garden
The garden is placed on the opposite side of the south façade of the Villa. It has been realized according to the rules of the English park, with few decorative flowerbeds in Italian style. Impressive the view on the broad lawn that, by sloping softly, bring the eye untill the underlying forest and the magnificent monumental trees, including a plane-tree and a beech tree. The south front of the Villa is surronded by rose gardens that frame the façade and the Veranda. On the left side of the house, opposite to the Greenhouse, the imposing shape of a wonderful centuries-old Lebanese cedar creates a breezy striking corner.
The Veranda
Size 24 m2
Heart of the south façade of the Villa, the Veranda is surrounded by two rose gardens wings.
It is positioned on a higher level compared with the garden and it is covered by an iron structure, with columns and balustrade.
5 steps further you can access to the big gravel parterre – on a flat surface – that faces the whole façade. The parterre is bounded by some flowerbeds in Italian style, with boxes and rose gardens. Further on, the broad lawn slopes soflty towards the wood and it is bounded by paths.
The Greenhouse
Size 120 m2 (34 of which are raised – agricultural tools exposition)
Next to the Villa, the neoclassical Greenhouse is aligned to the main block of the house. Inside, a collection of old fashioned tools used for garden maintenance and silkworm breeding is shown. The wide windows have a wonderful view over the garden and the monumental Lebanese cedar tree in foreground.
The vegetable Garden with the big Greenhouse
At the bottom of the garden, on the sunny side, the vegetable garden offers bucolic atmospheres.
OTHER SPACES
The big Cellar (under renovation)
Size 255 m2 (18 of those on a 1 m higher floor – former area for grape treading)
Perfect for custom-made settings: practically a “studio”.
Big rustic open-space, L-shaped, subdivisible according to the required surface, fitting to video showing and videoconferences. It presents pebble floor and ceiling partially vaulted and partially wooden panelled.
It might be approached from the right rustic court through a majestic staircase. The big cellar leads to the garden through a big wooden door.
On the inside, the raised area (1,50 m) of about 25 m2, where once grapes were trodden in vats, today might be used as a “stage” or a private area. Peculiar the small staircase that leads to the raised area and the mouth frieze, wherefrom wine gushed out and was collected from the bottom.
The Barrel Cellar (under renovation)
Size 150 m2
The ancient barrel storage is connected to the big cellar.
The little Red House
The little red house is an apartment with a great atmosphere and suggestive views over the Villa and the lower roofs of the complex. It might be used for particular settings.