Villa Borromeo
Villa Borromeo has the charm and prestige of one of the most beautiful neoclassical villas of the Lombard eighteenth century, declared a national monument, built by Piermarini. As a whole, the Villa, which hosted important personalities such as Napoleon I and Joachim Murat, is characterised by a higher central body, connected to the lower bodies of the arcades.
The Villa was built in 1765 by the architect Francesco Croce (designer of the highest spire of the Duomo of Milan), on the instruction of the Marquises D'Adda family.
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In 1781, Marquis Gianbattista D’Adda entrusted the task of restructuring the villa to Giuseppe Piermarini, the royal imperial architect who designed the "La Scala" theater in Milan and the "Royal Palace of Caserta" near Naples.
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Piermarini borrowed the scheme from the late-baroque tradition and combined it with neo-classical touch.
An example of late-baroque style can be founded in the public courtyard, the fencing, the court of honor, the U shaped floor plan, the rear garden.
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The villa comprises 142 rooms, including storerooms and stables. It exceeds 5,000 s.m. in covered floor space and is surrounded by 70,000 s.m. of park area, decorated by avenues lined with venerable hornbeams and lindens.
A local historian, Milani, in his “Annals of the Town and Parish of Cassano “, recalls that on 25 november 1807 Napoleon I and Jaochim Murat were guests at the villa.
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Villa Borromeo passed by inheritance from the D’Addas to the Borromeos at the end of the 19th century and was used until World War II for vacationing and receptions, which often included royal guests among the invited.
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