- Art & Culture
Ville Ponti
An ancient residential complex owned by a Ponti’s family and now an efficient Congress Centre, property of Varese Chamber of Commerce.
An ancient residential complex owned by a Ponti’s family and now an efficient Congress Centre, property of Varese Chamber of Commerce.
Ville Ponti is a complex of three historical mansions edified between Seventeenth and Nineteenth Century on the hill of Biumo Superiore, in Varese.
The buildings are surrounded by a centuries-old park of 56.000 square meters, from which it’s possible to have a panoramic view of the town and the mountains.
Villa Andrea
The central Villa takes the name from Andrea Ponti, an industrial man who bought the park in 1838 and built the Villa twenty years later, based on a project of the architect Giuseppe Balzaretto.
The cubic-form building surprising visitors with monumental interiors harmoniously arranged around a large 33 metre high octagonal atrium.
The rooms are large, light filled and splendidly decorated with big windows affording superb views over the park and the town of Varese.
The bronze statues of Dante Alighieri and Michelangelo Buonarroti and the marvellous Giuseppe Bertini’s frescoes give the spaces a magic mood.
Villa Napoleonica
Built against the backdrop of luxuriant vegetation, Villa Napoleonica is a 17th century building.
It was a witness of important historical events: in 1859 hosted Giuseppe Garibaldi during the Varese battle.
Important renovation works have generated an elegant 400 seat auditorium on the ground floor complete with all congress facilities. On the upper floors, a modular open space and meeting rooms of various kinds and sizes.
Le Sellerie
Close to the villas, the old stables are a structure with a special feature: the “tetto a neve”, a particular kind of roof which is an example of rural architecture to sustain heavy snowfalls.