Villa Cicogna Mozzoni | Grandi Giardini Italiani

History

Villa Cicogna Mozzoni was designed and built during the Renaissance.
The first building was created as a hunting lodge, erected before 1440. Riveting bear hunts took place from the Mozzoni family's Hunting Lodge when brown bears were still to be found in the surrounding mountains. One of these hunts remains memorable when Galeazzo Maria Sforza, Duke of Milan, a guest of the family in 1476, was saved by Agostino Mozzoni and his dog from the jaws of a bear.
Roughly a century later, around 1540, Ascanio Mozzoni decided to enlarge and embellish the Hunting Lodge to transform it into a pleasure villa, adding two wings. The frescoes, dating between 1550 and 1560, are attributed to the school of the Campi brothers from Cremona.

The gardens, which still preserve the original central part unaltered, were planted around 1560 by Ascanio Mozzoni, a cultured man who was certainly attentive to what was being built in and around the Medici and Papal villas during his trips to Florence and Rome.

In 1581 Ascanio's daughter married Gian Pietro Cicogna whose heirs are the present owners.

The most attractive feature of the villa is its symbiosis with the garden. One of the most famous water stairways of the 16th century, featuring two ramps with a rivulet between, descends straight towards the reception halls of the Villa and there is a beautiful view from the upper floors. The walled garden is an example of the formal Italian style, with box hedges, basins, fountains and a grotto with unusual water games.
The formal garden gradually blends into a romantic park as it rises towards the belvedere. A guided tour of the frescoed apartments on the piano nobile reveals furnishings and paintings from various eras.

Podcast Grandi Giardini Italiani. La voce dei protagonisti

Ep. 10 - JACOPO CICOGNA MOZZONI TELLS THE STORY OF VILLA CICOGNA MOZZONI

Judith Wade, CEO of Grandi Giardini Italiani, meets Jacopo Cicogna Mozzoni, owner of Villa Cicogna Mozzoni in Bisuschio, in the province of Varese. What unfolds is a conversation-at times intimate-in which memories of the past intertwine with the challenges facing the future of an estate whose fortune began with a stroke of luck: in 1476, the Duke Galeazzo Maria Sforza, brother of Ludovico il Moro, was saved from a bear attack thanks to the swift intervention of Agostino Mozzoni and his dog.

Today, Jacopo Cicogna Mozzoni is committed to “preserving the beauty of the Villa and its garden and safeguarding them for the future”-a demanding challenge supported by important international collaborations.

Villa Cicogna Mozzoni has been part of the network since its foundation in 1997.

How to get here

By car
From Milano: Highway Milano-Varese exit GAZZADA go straight for at least 5 Km, at the big roundabout at Ponte di Vedano follow the signs to PORTO CERESIO, after 3/4 Km at the stop turn right always following the signs for PORTO CERESIO (you are on the National road n° 344) pass Induno Olona and Arcisate. In Bisuschio 50 mt. after the Church parking place on the right.

From Laveno: follow the signs for Varese keep on the road beside the Lake Varese and follow the signs for the Highway to Milan, do not enter the highway, just follow straight for at least 5 Km, at the big roundabout at Ponte di Vedano follow the signs to PORTO CERESIO, after 3/4 Km at the stop turn right always following the signs for PORTO CERESIO (you are on the National road n° 344) pass Induno Olona and Arcisate. In Bisuschio 50 mt. after the Church parking place on the right.

From Lugano: Follow the signs for PonteTresa and after you pass the Italian border go left for PORTO CERESIO, at Porto Ceresio go right for VARESE, after the Bisuschios' sign go straight and before entering the village, parking place on the left.

Grandi Giardini Italiani Srl

Grandi Giardini Italiani Srl