Villa Menafoglio Litta Panza, a delightful mansion house on the hill of Biumo Superiore in Varese, today houses the celebrated collection of contemporary art assembled by Giuseppe Panza di Biumo.

The Villa was built in 1748 by Marquis Paolo Antonio Menafoglio, and was extended in the neo-classical period by Duke Pompeo Litta Visconti Arese, who purchased it in 1823. In 1996 Count Giuseppe Panza presented the Villa to the Italian Fund for the Environment (FAI), along with its furnishings and the art collections. The modern art collection boasts works by over a hundred artists.

The building has a central body and two wings facing the magnificent Italian-style garden of 33,000 square metres. The gardens consist of a symmetrical central area interspersed by hedges and flower beds, and an outer part with broad lawns, a small lake, a grotto, fountains and a balustrade with a view over the city.

The furnishings in the house are the original ones. The most striking room is the “Empire Salon”, a large salon with mirrors and lamps from the period when the villa was built, as is the fireplace that dominates the room. This part of the Villa houses the collection of pre-Colombian and African art, while the “rustic” rooms, once used as the servants’ quarters, now contain the collection of environmental art. The former stables have been converted into exhibition spaces.

Parking, book shop and restaurant.