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Villa Tatti-Tallacchini is in Comerio, on Lake Varese. Its park is a small jewel, and a splendid example of an Italian garden with stairways, sculptures, water features, caves and nymphaeums, overlooking the magnificent panorama of the lake and the mountains. It was reopened to the public in 2012, after a 7-year restoration. Today, the villa is home to the Municipality of Comerio, which organizes here concerts and other cultural events. Furthermore, civil marriages are celebrated in this wonderful place, inside the wondrous Music Pavilion with its ceiling frescoed with flowers.

Villa Tatti-Tallachini was built in the early XVIII century by the lawyer Benedetto Tatti and was owned by his family until 1857; then, the great-grandchildren Benedetto and Antonio sold it to the Tallacchini who, in turn, improved the park. When the last member of the Tallacchinis passed away in 1944, the whole estate became a property of Eugenia Suffert, and then of Ada Fontana Ada in Ghizzoni, who, in 1948, sold it to Roberto Berger. In 1954, his sons Tommaso and Enzo inherited it, but eventually sold it to the real estate company “Soc. Co. Imm. Bortolotti” in 1984. The latter turned the villa into a condo, to be sold to several different families.
As previously mentioned, the villa currently houses the offices of the Municipality of Comerio.

Villa Tatti-Tallachini, consisting of three floors, features a protruding central body on the ground terrace and two backward side wings, preceded by spacious flower beds with fountains. The building leans towards the steep tree-lined slope, so the house and the park show a dynamic series of prospective planes – the first of which can be accessed via symmetrical staircases.
Below the latter, there are two pretty ponds of water lilies, layered with polychrome pebbles. From the centre of this very plane begins the “scenic staircase” leading to to the base of the slope; here, there’s a fountain, then a pond decorated with a Faun or Pan, the god of the wild, shepherds and flocks, nature of mountain wilds, rustic music and impromptus, and companion of the nymphs. At the sides of the staircase, there are small waterfalls whose water reaches the lake at the bottom, from which the surrounding walls converge with a nymphaeum on the right and one on the left.

A little further on, there’s the second part of the park, encircled by a second wall: a fountain in the far south and pinnacles on the sides are the most striking features and, on the left, there’s an XVIII century “aedicula” used by Tallacchinis to attend classical music concerts: this open structure on the lake is decorated with floral frescoes.

Worth visiting nearby

Comerio is a quaint village of about 2700 residents, nestled on the slopes of Campo dei Fiori in an enviable position facing south towards Lake Varese and the countryside. It boasts some valuable historical heritage such as the Romanesque church of San Celso, dating back to the XI century, and the parish church dedicated to Saints Ippolito and Cassiano. From Comerio, visitors can easily reach Forte d’Orino, following path no. 12 in Campo dei Fiori Park.

This post is also available in: Italiano (Italian)