Like a precious “matryoshka” Russian doll, this garden encompasses many centuries of history: the English-style gardens contains 18th-century hornbeam galleries and a Renaissance nymphaeum with unexpected water features that enchanted Stendhal himself.
In the late 16th century, Pirro Visconti Borromeo improved his farm estate by adding a “villa di delizia” and commissioning the finest Lombard artists of the time, including Camillo Procaccini and Morazzone, to create an Italian-style garden dominated by a majestic Nymphaeum with rich décor and spectacular water features (the Palazzo delle acque) around the 16th-century palazzo (the “Riposteria”). The complex was later acquired by Count Visconti Borromeo Arese (responsible for the “Quarto nuovo” apartments), and, after him, by Marquis Litta, who in 1745 funded extension of the gardens to create an ideal setting for parties and receptions. Today as in the past, visitors arrive in the rustic courtyard and formal garden via the Mercury Rotunda. To the west, a hornbeam gallery connects the open-air theatre and the Garden of Hesperides, passing by the Triton Fountain. To the north is the Fountain of Galatea and an exedra featuring the Rape of Proserpine. Not far off, just past the foliage of a monumental Ginkgo biloba is a Garden of Medicinal Plants with its seasonal scents. In the 19th century, architect Luigi Canonica and botanist Linneo Tagliabue adapted a portion of the complex to new tastes for wilder-looking English-style gardens, planting more than 800 trees and 56 different species of shrub. The Litta family modified the nymphaeum’s facades, adding limestone concretions to harmonize the building and landscaped gardens. After a spell of ownership by the Weill Weiss family, in 1932 the Toselli family became owners and commissioned architect Giuseppe Tramajoni to restore the property. Since 1971, the site has belonged to the Municipality of Lainate, which has carried out major restorations and enhancement works.
Highlights
The Fountain of Galatea
Designed by architect and painter Giuseppe Levati for the Litta family, this majestic, multi-level fountain fires its jets into a basin decorated with numerous statues by Francesco and Donato Carabelli, including a standout veiled female figure, the Allegory of Silence.
The Nymphaeum
Arranged around the Atrio dei Quattro Venti and the Galleria delle Romane, this extraordinary “cool house” was designed by Martino Bassi and fountain-maker Agostino Ramelli, with pebble, tuff rock and shell decorations by Camillo Procaccini and Francesco Brambilla the Younger. Restoration of the complex waterworks system in the 1990s breathed new life into the villa’s stunning and exceptional water features.
Sixteenth-century Palazzo
On the far side of a portico supported by double granite columns, the central portion of the villa boasts numerous frescoed rooms, including the Hall of Aeneas, the Hall of Hunting, and the Hall of Fire. Throughout, the Visconti family’s coats of arms alternate with St. Charles Borromeo’s motto of “Humilitas”.
Greenhouses and Orchid Collection
Iron and glass greenhouses were built in the 19th century to house a fine collection of tropical plants, including orchids, pineapples, coffee and date palms. Meticulous restoration returned them to their original function after half a century of neglect. Today, they house over 2,000 orchids.
L'Iconographie des Orchidées
Seventeen volumes of Lindenia. Iconographie des orchidées , illustrated with 420 chromolithographic prints, are conserved in the villa’s corridor of statues. This work was printed in the late 1800s by Lucien Linden, son of famous botanist and explorer Jean Linden, to whom we owe the earliest detailed studies of the growing conditions of orchids in their natural habitat, and initial experiments to cultivate orchids in Europe.