Description of the attraction
Villas Ponti is a 19th century residential complex built on a hill in the city of Varese in Lombardy for the entrepreneur Andrea Ponti. The complex, consisting of three buildings, occupies a whole plateau with an area of several square kilometers. In 1961, the Marquis Gian Felice Ponti sold it to the local Chamber of Commerce.
The main villa of the complex - Villa Andrea Ponti - was built between 1858 and 1859 by the Milanese architect Giuseppe Balzaretto. Designed in a neo-Gothic style, it is notable for its contrasting red and white façade and the cubic shape of the building itself. The villa stands on the highest point of the hill. The interiors are located around an octagonal hall and are richly decorated with frescoes and stucco. For each room, its own decorative theme was chosen, for example, one of the rooms is dedicated to the great Italians - Galileo Galilei, Dante Alighieri, Alessandro Volta, Christopher Columbus, etc. Also in the villa you can see bronze statues depicting famous figures of culture, art and science. Villa Andrea Ponti is surrounded by an English garden with a small lake, cedars, yews, magnolias, maples and cypresses.
The Napoleonic Villa, also known as Villa Fabio Ponti, was built at the end of the 17th century and is the oldest building in the complex. Between 1820 and 1830, it was rebuilt in the neoclassical style. The Ponti family made it their summer residence in 1838, and later the villa was added to the complex. Interestingly, the Villa Fabio Ponti in 1859 housed the headquarters of Giuseppe Garibaldi during the so-called Battle of Varese.
Adjacent to the Napoleonic Villa is a building known as the Sellerie, a gable-roofed structure that once housed a stable. It consisted of the stall itself, a garage for carriages and living quarters for grooms and cabbies, which are now converted into conference rooms.
