Villa della Porta Bozzolo - FAI

Nestling in the peaceful landscape of the Valcuvia, not far from Lake Maggiore, the elegant complex of Villa Della Porta Bozzolo has been extended on several occasions since the original core was built in the 16th century.

In the late 17th century, the Della Porta family transformed the residence into a ''villa-cum-farm'', adding a new building arranged around a court of honor and facing out across a garden.
In the first half of the 18th century, the villa was transformed into a refined showpiece mansion, enriched with impressive grounds and precious internal fresco decorations. Once the lineage came to an end, the villa changed hands a number of times until the entire estate was inherited in 1877 by Senator Camillo Bozzolo, who commissioned a number of works and enhancements.

The delightful parkland was designed in the very early 18th century, taking its inspiration from the many templates of baroque landscaping to be found at that time. The task of coming up with the design was entrusted to the ''painter and engineer'' Antonio Maria Porani, who was already working on other aspects of the villa. Due to the limited amount of space in front of the building, Porani elected to arrange the grounds lengthwise from the bottom to the top, in parallel with the villa's facade, thus contravening the established design norms according to which the garden should have been in line with the main reception rooms.
As such, four large terraces were created, on different levels, connected by a majestic staircase with balustrades, statues and fountains made using Viggiù marble. Later years saw the addition of the ''theatre'', perhaps the most innovative element of the gardens: a large sloping lawn closed off by a sizeable fish pond and a steep path (perhaps once flanked by cypresses), surrounded by woodland and stretching out on the Belvedere hill right to the edge of the estate.