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Villa Delavo, in Spinetta Marengo, was built in the mid-XIX century by the pharmacist Giovanni Antonio Delavo from Alessandria. He wanted to celebrate the battle of Marengo and the victory achieved by General Bonaparte, of whom he was extremely fond of. In fact, Antonio also created a museum dedicated to his hero, with several items and relics of the time.

The villa has many external decorations created by architect Gabetta from Lombardy, and internal embellishments by Paolo Maggi and, supposedly, the painter Sperati from Lomellina. Other artists, such as Francesco Mensi, created a large painting with the Apotheosis of Napoleon I: unfortunately, only the draft drawing is still visible today; Benedetto Cacciatori, on the other hand, sculpted the statue of Bonaparte in the courtyard of the palace. In 1857, the villa passed to the Cataldi brothers from Genoa.

In 2010, a new exhibition facility was created, the Marengo Museum, with state-of-the-art multimedia installations, interactive technologies and several works of art by contemporary artists depicting, for example, the story of the battle of Marengo and the Italian countryside in 1800.

The symbol of the Marengo Museum is the pyramid built in 2009: it was made with triangular cast iron tiles by Alex Donadio, in memory of the similar structure built by Napoleon and to commemorate the victory and the soldiers who fell in battle, especially General Desaix.

In front of the museum, there is a column with a bronze eagle, installed by the administration of Alexandria in 1801; it was stolen by the Austrians after the fall of Napoleon and brought back here in 1918. The park extends outside the museum.

The Park

The park of Villa Delavo, overlooking the surrounding landscape, is an imposing area full of plants, including secular plane trees and horse chestnuts; it also features several memorials to the battle of Marengo, inserted in a highly scenographic context.
Not to mention the chapel-ossuary, erected to collect the remains of the fallen soldiers, and the bust of General Louis Charles Desaix de Veygoux, a true hero of that famous battle.

This post is also available in: Italiano (Italian)