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Visit Villa Olmo, Lake Como
Villa Olmo was built in 1782, on a project by the neoclassical architect Simone Cantoni (1736 -1818), for Innocenzo Odescalchi, who wished to have a dwelling as beautiful as the roman aristocrats’ ones. To build this villa there worked the most famous local painters and stuccoes, such as Carabelli, Rizzi and Lomelli for the frescoes, and Cattori and Pozzi for the stuccoes.
In the medallion on the vault of the imposing flight of stairs are painted Apollo riding the Sun cart and a group of figures on the background representing Time, Death and Eternity. In the room at the right-hand side there is a fresco, depicting Anfione that moves some stones for building the wall of Thebes while playing his citer. In the room at the left hand-side there are two frescoes; one depicting Neptune, who makes a horse coming out from the earth and Minerva crowned by a Genii while making an olive tree rise; while the other one depicts Apollo together with the Muses. Between the firs and the second floor there is an imposing Ionic gallery crowned with a number of busts set into niches.
What has been written about Villa Olmo, Lake Como
The 19th century's writer pier Anmbrogio Curti, in his Lake Como and the Plain of Erba wrote about it:
" ... now we land at villa Olmo. This mansion, a very royal one, prevails the others both for beauty and majesty. And for sure also the one that at Pliny's times stood on this spot, or not far from it, and which belonged to Caninio Rufo, had not to be less beautiful than this but for its modern grandiosity. And because I intend to remember the historical events and the legends bound to the larian mansions. I here translate a letter that Pliny the Young wrote to his friend Caninio Rufo about that antique villa:
"C. Pliny to Caninio Rufo.
What is the news from Como, your and my delight? What about your most beautiful villa? and that arcade where it is always Springtime? What of that shadowed plane trees grove? and that green and polished canal? What about the useful lake below? and that easy and yet sure gestatorial alley? What about that swimming pool filled with Sunshine? and those dining-rooms, one for many and the other for only a few people? What about those rooms, some for the day and some other for the night? Do you enjoy them all, now these ones and now those others? or, as usual, you leave them for attending to your business at the end of September? If you are enjoying them all, then you are happy; but you are nothing but a commoner if you do not".
No one knows when or why Caninio Rufo's villa was destroyed, but now there stands this greater one that is called Olmo.
It was built for Marquis Innocenzo Odescalchi from Como, on a project by the famous Swiss architect Simone Cantoni, who their bestowed stuccoes, gildings, mirrors, and paintings.
In a room there is a large sculptured band by Thorwaldsen, a Canova's follower, and in the villa there are a thousand more valuable art items.
The marriage repudiated by Giuseppe Garibaldi
At Villa Olmo it was also signed the wedding contract between the fifty years old Garibaldi and Giuseppina, Marquis Giorgio's young daughter, but as soon as the ceremony at the Parish Church of Fino Mornasco was over, the hero was given a letter and, without uttering a word, he mounted on his horse and left his bride and guests not to come back anymore.
Some years after this episode, Garibaldi asked and obtained the cancelling of his matrimony, but this event had always remained a mystery for everybody.
When Raimondi's fortune declined, the villa was bought by Duke Guido Visconti, who had as his guests Emperor Ferdinand 1st of Austria, Maria Adelaide of Savoy, wife to Vittorio Emanuele 2nd King of Italy, and many other important people enjoyed his and his descendants' hospitality.
At that time, the boat races were held before the elm tree garden that gave the mane to the villa, and an elm tree was once sculptured in the coat of arms, which is still set on top of the front facing the lake, although it was later substituted with the ducal crowned snake of the Viscontis.
In 1926, the wide romantic garden was crossed and divided by the new provincial road that leads to Cernobbio, but in the thick of the green one can still see a graceful little temple with Greek columns.
In 1927, the Municipality of Como acquired Villa Olmo to host the Alessandro Volta memorial exhibition, and since then it is the seat for artistic, cultural and theatrical events.
What to visit at Villa Olmo
In addition to the many citations of classical gods, it offers a marvellous view of Como.
Inside, don't miss a real gem, the small private theatre.
