Villa Sommi Picenardi
Villa Sommi Picenardi rises in Olgiate Molgora, on the basis of a watchtower already existing in the fifteenth century.
In 1678 the noble Sala family decided to turn it into a typical country manor house. Unfortunately, despite countless researches, it has not been possible to trace any evidence on the name of the architect who built the house in the classic Barocchetto Lombardo style. It is assumed only that the complex was finished in 1702.
In 1730 the spectacular Italian-style baroque garden was built in the rear zone, consisting of a staircase decorated with statues and balustrades, a nymphaeum with mosaics leading to a viewpoint surrounded by cypress trees.
This garden offers a perfect example of terrace arrangement of the hillside, divided in the center by a perspective line of ramps and staircases proportioned to a landscape of small and green hills that hide the “secret garden” behind the Villa.
The church of Sant’Ambrogio is from that period, while the English-style garden in front of the villa, adorned with statues, small ponds and trees declared monumental, including a plane tree with a circumference at the base of nine meters and a crown of about thirty meters, it is from the late nineteenth century. In the 1920s the Villa was inherited by the Marquis Paolo Sommi Picenardi of Calvatone, who, as a great lover and expert in gardening, continued to improve both the famous Secret Garden and the English park. The grandchildren, with love and a lot of commitment, continue the work.
