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Villa Ponti is a two-storey XVIII century mansion located in the historic center of Arona, a few miles from Lake Maggiore. It was built in 1760 on the remains of the Rocca Borromea, by Bartolomeo Pertossi, a wealthy merchant of Flemish origin.
It was subsequently remodelled, until the last major intervention in the 1920s by the architect A.T. Rocca: he dramatically transformed the main facade on the street.

Today, the villa has two different facades: the one facing via San Carlo has a XIX century set of decorations, while the other facing the garden retains many classical details, emphasized by the imposing pediment and the long staircase that connects to the outside.
The villa features richly decorated halls and rooms, with floors and wall ornaments of remarkable value.

In one of the two internal, square-planned courtyards, there is an elegant parterre of pebbles, decorated in the centre by an equestrian statue surrounded by pruned yews ( Taxus baccata ).

In front of the main facade, there is a large garden which includes a Baroque-inspired fountain, groups of magnolias ( Magnolia grandiflora ), azaleas, beeches ( Fagus sylvatica ), and silver cedars ( Cedrus atlantica “Glauca”).

Villa Ponti was the birthplace of Gian Giacomo Ponti, professor of electronics at the Polytechnic of Turin and a pupil of Thomas Edison. In 1925, he founded S.T.I.P.E.L. (the Piedmont and Lombardy telephone company), thus spearheading modern Italian telecommunications.

Today, the villa hosts art exhibitions, including works by Picasso and Kandinsky, as well as conferences, receptions and classical music concerts.

This post is also available in: Italiano (Italian)