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Villa Panza stands on the hill of Biumo Superiore, inside a park of 8.15 acres. From its elevated position, it overlooks the whole city of Varese.
In 1748, the Marquis Paolo Antonio Menafoglio bought the land on the hill of Biumo Superiore, where he built this impressive three-story building, U-shaped and enriched with a large garden almost suspended above the city. This green area was connected to the neighboring park of Ville Ponti by a bridge. The villa was not designed as a private, most beautiful abode, rather as the perfect venue for public receptions and social events.
After the Marquis demise in 1769, the villa underwent several changes of ownership and, in 1823 it was purchased by Duke Pompeo Litta Visconti Arese, who built a new reception hall, the stables, and other service structures.

The villa was then temporarily abandoned, but in 1935 it was purchased by Ernesto Panza di Biumo, who tasked the architect Piero Portaluppi with an important renovation project: the courtyard towards Piazza Litta and a second parterre were thus created, along with several other upgrades.

When Ernesto Panza died, the villa was inherited by his four children: one of them, Giuseppe, took particularly great care of this estate and lived there until 1996. He then donated it to the National Trust of Italy (FAI).

THE GARDENS

The Italian gardens overlooked by the villa feature a symmetrical central part made of hedges and flower beds, and surrounded by large lawns; the latter are decorated with a pond, a cave, some fountains and a balustrade which offers great views of the city.

THE ART COLLECTION

The villa is now home to a contemporary art collection, with more than one hundred works that Giuseppe Panza di Biumo started collecting in the mid-XX century.

This post is also available in: Italiano (Italian)