MAIN VILLA – VILLA PLINIANA

• Anguissola Suite 3 Bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, living room, dining room, kitchen,
• Visconti Suite 4 Bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, living room, dining room, kitchen
•  Belgiojoso Suite 2 Bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, living room, kitchen
•  Berthier de Wagram 1 Bedroom, 2 bathrooms, living room, kitchen
•  Halls, Garden & Loggia 2 large ball rooms, dining room, reception, billiard room

ANNEX

• Casa Shelley: 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, kitchen, dining room, laundry room, living room
• Casa dei Plini: 4 bedrooms, 4 bathrooms, kitchen, living room, fireplace, laundry room
• Spa and swimming pool 

OUTDOOR

Historical loggia (60m2) and gardens overlooking the Lake (Main Villa)

Villa Pliniana was built in 1573 around the spring that carries the same name. The name “Pliniana” is inspired by the famous naturalists native to Como, Plinio the Elder and Plinio the Younger who first described the spring and its peculiar intermittence in the first century A.D.  Through time other distinguished scientists, including Leonardo Da Vinci and Benedetto Giovio, studied the spring as well.

The construction of the villa is due to the will of Count Giovanni Anguissola, governor of Como, who decided to transform the spring and the surrounding land into a place of delight. Through the centuries the villa went through alternated periods of great splendor and abandonment. The Visconti, the Canarisi and the Belgiojoso are among the families who contributed to the époques splendor of the Villa. Many famous guests over the years visited the Pliniana: among them the poet Percy Shelley, who left a wonderful description of the villa, Gioacchino Rossini who composed Tancredi there, Napoleon who “is said” to have played on the still existing billiard table, Antonio Fogazzaro who adopted the villa as the set of his novel Malombra, later transformed by Mario Soldati into an homonymous movie in 1942 set in the villa itself. The villa has been visited by many famous writers (Byron, Foscolo, Berchet, Stendhal), musicians (Liszt and Bellini), scientists (Volta, Spallanzani and Ghezzi) and monarchs (Joseph II of Austria and Margherita of Savoy). After a long and meticulous restoration work, today the villa has been returned to its former splendor.

Due to its severe appearance and its fascinating history, “La Pliniana” is known throughout the world as a “place of mystery”. For example, I am among those who like to remember the historical episodes – often tinged with legend – related to this villa.

First of all, the one about the first owner of the villa, Giovanni Anguissola governor of Como,  who was assassinated here after killing the Duke of Parma.

However, the most interesting story is linked to the clandestine love story between Emilio Barbiano di Belgiojoso and Princess Anne-Marie Berthier who lived eight years of almost total isolation at the Pliniana. It seems that the two – to appease “their hot spirits” – used to dive into the lake wrapped together in a sheet. On the other side of the bank, this sightgenerated among the villagersthe legend of the ghost of Villa Pliniana.

And I cannot forget that “Malombra”, a famous novel by Antonio Fogazzaro which deals with occult matters, was inspired by this place which later became the set of the film of the same name in 1942.

Certainly all this contributes to giving Villa Pliniana even more charm, but let’s not forget that, as Shelley says, this scenario is unique in the world for its  beauty, romance and poetry. Just try to contemplate the villa from the lakeon a sunny day: you will grasp all the poetry and you will experience a feeling of peace and the desire to be there to be part of so much beauty. When you look out from the colonnade to see the lake you will understand why poets and writers – such as Foscolo, Manzoni and Stendhal – or musicians – such as Rossini, Liszt, and Puccini – and even princes and emperors – such as Joseph II of Habsburg and Napoleon Bonaparte – were so bewitched by Villa Pliniana.

Whether you decide to be a guest of the Villa for your holidays or to organize your special event here, your experience will be rich in history, art and beauty like nowhere else.

 MAIN VILLA – VILLA PLINIANA

• Anguissola Suite 3 Bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, living room, dining room, kitchen,
• Visconti Suite 4 Bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, living room, dining room, kitchen
• BelgiojosoSuite 2 Bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, living room, kitchen
• Berthier de Wagram 1 Bedroom, 2 bathrooms, living room, kitchen
• Halls, Garden & Loggia 2 large ball rooms, dining room, reception, billiard room

ANNEX

• Casa Shelley: 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, kitchen, dining room, laundry room, living room
• Casa dei Plini: 4 bedrooms, 4 bathrooms, kitchen, living room, fireplace, laundry room
• Spa and swimming pool 

OUTDOOR

Historical loggia (60m2) and gardens overlooking the Lake (Main Villa)

Villa Erba, an architectural jewel built in the late nineteenth century, was the holiday residence of the Erba family. Here, the great film director Luchino Visconti spent many summers, and the rooms of the villa inspired the scenery of some of his famous masterpieces.
The villa, with its frescoes, preciously carved ceilings and mannerist-inspired rooms, is nowadays the perfect venue to host unique events.

Originally a monastery, Villa Erba was bought by the Peluso family, who already owned the neighbouring Villa d’Este.
On November 1893 the ownership passed to Luigi Erba, Carlo Erba’s brother and heir, one of the major pharmaceutical manufacturers of that period, who had a villa built to represent his family’s status and prestige.
The project was entrusted to the two most popular architects of the moment: Angelo Savoldi and Giambattista Borsani. In those years, the Erba family hosted great artists, and life in the villa was culturally and socially intense.
In 1922, the ownership passed to Carla Erba, Luigi’s daughter. Donna Carla Erba married Giuseppe Visconti di Modrone: for several years, in an apartment of the Villa, the noble and generous woman hosted some nuns who used to teach the art of embroidery and sewing to the girls. Donna Carla loved to spend the summer months on the lake with her seven children, of which the best known is the film director Luchino Visconti.

The heart of Villa Erba preserves a piece of the Italian cinema history: Luchino Visconti’s rooms.
In this environment, the profound bond between the film director and his Villa lives on. Here, the film Director spent the long, happy summers of his childhood, with his mother and brothers.
The museum can be visited by appointment, and this can become a special present for your guests. The director’s most profound experience permeates his films. Echoes, visual fragments, suggestions of Villa Erba are recurrent in Visconti’s masterpieces: the ballroom in “The Leopard”, or the dock in “The Fall of the Gods”, while furniture, spaces and decoration are also mentioned in “Death in Venice”.
In 1972, Luchino Visconti decided to retire to the Villa where he completed the editing of “Ludwig”, one of his greatest masterpieces.

When Carla Erba died in 1939, she left her assets to her son, the Duke Guido Visconti di Modrone, who died in Libya in 1942 because of the injuries sustained in the war, leaving his siblings as heirs: Count Edoardo Visconti for the part comprising the new Villa and portion of the large park, and his sister Donna Ida Visconti married to Gastel for the part of the old Villa where the monastery was, and a part of the park.
In 1986 the Visconti heirs (in particular Edoardo Visconti di Modrone Erba), sold the nineteenth-century Villa and part of the land to an investee company that purchased it with the intention of creating the exhibition and convention complex that we see today.

The famous architect Mario Bellini designed the Le Serre exhibition centre project, built in 1988 as a modern greenhouse overlooking the park; the structure, all built on the same level, extends over an area of 11,000 square meters within the centuries-old park.