History
Ancient stately home immersed in a large terraced garden that slopes down to the sea, Villa Rezzola overlooks a symbolic panorama of our country: the ''Gulf of Poets''.
The villa was bequeathed to the FAI in 2020 by Pupa Carnevale Miniati ''to be protected, enhanced and made accessible to many visitors''
Villa Rezzola is an ancient manor immersed in a large and luxuriant terraced garden. Already documented in the eighteenth century, it stands on medieval remains of military origin and was progressively enlarged and modernized in the following two centuries. In the XX century it was bought by Helen Lavinia and William Percy Cochrane, who made most of the transformations. The property passed in 1935 to Countess Mara Braida Carnevale and then to her daughter Maria Adele called Pupa, who lived here with her husband Piero Gualberto Miniati and who with him decided to leave Villa Rezzola as an inheritance to FAI ''so that it could be protected, valued and made accessible to many visitors ''.
From the terraces of the house you can enjoy an exceptional view of the Gulf of Poets, which ranges from Lerici to Portovenere and which since the nineteenth century won the hearts of a large group of writers and artists, from Shelley and Byron to Lawrence. Equally exceptional is the English garden: a long pergola of wisteria crosses it, separating groves and cultivated areas - a rose garden, a vegetable garden and an orchard - from a monumental lawn, furrowed by a walkway, bordered by hedges with flower pots and equipped with basins and fountains. Thanks to a solid organization of botanical work, the complex water system and the presence of specific buildings, the plants intended for the garden and the cut flowers are created and grown directly on site. Many and various essences shade the park, rare and precious such as camphor and magnolia trees, but also cypresses, olive trees and a holm oak wood that extends over terraces that descend almost to the sea.
The interiors, perfectly preserved in the furnishings, decorations and family objects, tell the new and fascinating story of those who lived in the villa: from the Ligurian nobles Orazio and Elisa Botti, to the wealthy English spouses Cochrane, to the German captain Rudolf Jacobs during the World War II, up to Pupa Carnevale Miniati, who kept it with love until his death in the winter of 2020.
The FAI, to honor the generous and civil gesture of the donor, has decided to immediately open a part of the house and garden to the public so that its beauty may be of comfort to the community after such a difficult period. Villa Rezzola, however, requires long and demanding restoration and adaptation works, which the FAI will only be able to carry out thanks to your contribution.
