Hidden Italy: Villa Panza and Varese the garden-city

If you are fond of gardens and contemporary art, you cannot miss to visit Villa Panza, one of the best examples of house-museum, where you can appreciate both the huge villa with its collection and its beautiful garden. Then on to Varese, the garden-city, an unknown destination close to Como, Lugano and Milan. This destination will struck you for the beauty of its historical centre and its public gardens.
At the end of your tour, you will enjoy a typical local aperitif!

You will meet your local, private and licensed tour guide at Villa Panza, Varese. Dated back to XVIII century, built for Marquis Paolo Antonio Menafoglio and enlarged in the neoclassic period, the big noble mansion house is U-shaped. In the 30ies of last century, it was bought by Panza; the villa is well-known for the contemporary art collection Count Giuseppe Panza gathered there.
In so doing, he, boldly, placed Renaissance furniture and XIX-Century armchairs near some African and Pre-columbian works of art, stuccoes and neo-rococo consoles close to monochrome paintings by American artists, up to the big site-specific installations by Dan Flavin, Robert Irwin and James Turrell.

At the end of the tour you will reach Varese city centre in ten minutes. Here you will “live” the atmosphere of the cute historical core, thanks to spare time for shopping and an individual lunch.

In the afternoon guided visit to the city and its landmarks. Its visit links up the most representative civil and religious places, stopping at suggestive courtyards and hidden corners, up to Varese election as the “garden city”, when it became the seat of the Court of Francis III of Este Duke of Modena and also the selected area to build villas of pleasures, surrounded by big and luxuriant parks.

At the end a “pink aperitif” based on the well-known alcoholic “Apollo” aperitif in a historical café.

Book now your private experience!