This post is also available in: Italiano (Italian)

Originally owned by the Counts Arturo and Herta Ottolenghi, this villa now belongs to Vittorio Invernizzi, who has quickly fixed thirty years of neglect and returned Villa Ottolenghi to its original and renewed splendour.

The park is a true masterpiece by Piero Porcinai, acknowledged with the first prize at the 2011 “European Garden Award” competition.
It extends around the villa on some 2.5 acres, full of peculiar sculptures, such as the elegant revolving benches carved in marble and the wrought-iron decoration by the Ferrari artisans.
The true focal points of the garden are the swimming pool, a large body of water emphasizing the famous “Tobiolo” sculpture by Arturo Martini, the amazing wisteria pergola – that works as a side walkway from the villa to the studios, and the formal garden overlooking the villa.

There are several dozen plant species in green spaces around Villa Ottolenghi; they were created by Astolfo, the son of Arturo and Herta, who completed his parents’ project from the early 1920s.
The available spaces were arranged into five different areas that divide and add movement to their own specific environment. To properly conceive them, starting in 1955, Astolfo contracted Pietro Porcinai: the renowned landscape architect thoroughly worked on the integration of the surrounding rooms by assigning a large part of the surface of the Villa to the “grass carpet”; the latter horizontally embedded the tennis court, the swimming pool, and the fountain with the famous “Tobiolo” sculpture in the centre.

The perimeter of the turf, which separates the two main buildings (the Villa and the Studios of the artists) is the long “Promenade” partially covered by an unusual pergola, decorated with beautiful wisteria, that runs parallel to the road from Acqui to the Villa and then continues along its own path.

In front of the façade which opens on the actual villa, there is the “Rock Garden” designed with a vertical layout: it has a decorative function and also serves as modesty screen for the pool.

The heart of the whole area is the “formal garden”, consisting of a checkerboard structure of stone slabs. At some points of intersection, large terracotta vases, containing lemon plants, boost its vertical layout.

The promenade runs all around the Villa, along the ramparts, and it is next to the cistern of waters: right there, there’s also a beautiful space dedicated to the cultivation of herbs.

This post is also available in: Italiano (Italian)