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Casalzuigno (Varese) Villa della Porta Bozzolo
Casalzuigno (Varese) Villa della Porta Bozzolo
Built in the 1500s as a country villa, it later became a
representative noble residence and was embellished, in the first half of the
XVIII century, with an imposing Italian garden, one of the most majestic and
harmonious landscape creations today surviving in Italy. The interiors
preserve one of the most sophisticated and unitary decorative cycles of the
Lombard 1700s, essentially attributable to Varese workshop of Magatti. The
body of the villa is flanked by interesting farm buildings, including cattle
sheds, stables, cellars, hay lofts and a monumental wine press.
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The Baroque garden
The scenic Baroque
garden is unusually laid out along a main axis parallel to the
facade of the villa and links in surprising succession, from
bottom to top, the long access avenue, the main "parterre" with
flower beds, four terraces linked by a grandiose staircase, a
huge, sloping lawn named "the theatre", closed by the large
fountain at one end, and the steep avenue of cypress trees
leading into the wood as far as the top of the hill that
overlooks the valley and the estate.
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The secret garden
An elegant gate, surmounted by
four statues depicting the seasons, separates the main "parterre" from the
secret garden, where a shady oak-lined avenue leads to an impressive
aedicule with pronaos, with a fresco portraying Apollo and the Muses.
A
secluded and private place for solitary thoughts in the company of the god
of poetry and music, far from the magnificence of the main garden.
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The ballroom
The huge central hall on the ground
floor of the villa was probably used as a ballroom; it is embellished with a
large marble fireplace and trompe-l'oeil frescoes imitating architecture,
trabeations, cornices, niches and gates opening onto landscape views; the
ceiling of the vault relinquishes every aspect of materiality to become a
sky where mythological figures flutter and putti support medallions.
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The library
A singularly secluded place far from the high-society
frenzy of the large garden and the other rooms close to it, the dark and
silent library was undoubtedly intended for solitary intimacy.
The splendid
1700s wall-mounted walnut bookcases were home to the ancient papers of the
family, social and economic history of the villa, from the 1500s onwards, as
well as important works by Italian and international authors.
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The long gallery
Leading to the apartments on the noble floor was intended
to welcome guests visiting the villa by anticipating through a profusion of
decorations the splendor of its owners. In this setting, the walls, ceilings
and the doors themselves are transformed to give life to a fantastical
scenography in typically Rococò taste, rich with flowers and garlands, that
overcomes - through the illusion of the tromp l'oeil architecture,
perspective views and the profusion of colors - the constructional
simplicity of the environment.
MORE INFO ON VILLA DELLA PORTA BOZZOLO...>>> Courtesy of
FAI Fondo Ambiente Italiano |
(c) 1997-2008 E. Massetti
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