Hotel Varese, Locanda Mai Intees, Charme Hotel, Romantic Hotel

Il Sacro Monte
Campo dei Fiori and Star Observatory
Basilica of San Vittore
Palazzo Estense
Villa Menafoglio Litta Panza


Il Sacro Monte
Just a short distance from the Locanda dei Mai Intees on a nearby hill stand thirteen seventeenth-century chapels symbolizing the thirteen mysteries of the Rosary. Groups of terracotta statues stand in front of imposing frescoes by artists such as Pietro Gilardi, Antonio Busca, Francesco Nuvolone and Renato Guttuso. On the hill’s summit is the sanctuary of Santa Maria del Monte, containing an image of the Holy Virgin that dates from the sixteenth century and important fourteenth-century paintings. Nearby is the splendid villa of Ludovico Pogliaghi, who designed the main door of Milan Cathedral. The villa’s museum houses some of the artist’s greatest masterpieces as well as antiques and works from the Renaissance and Baroque periods.

Campo dei Fiori and Star Observatory
Just 11km from Varese, at about 1,000 meters above sea level on the mountain ridge between the lake and the Valcuvia valley, is Campo dei Fiori. This is a lush green area located within a wooded regional nature park full of birch, beech, chestnut and fir trees: the ideal place for trekkers, cyclists or horse-riders. Here, hidden among the luxuriant greenery is the Schiapparelli Star Observatory and the fascinating ruin of the Grand Hotel, a fine example of Art Nouveau architecture, designed by Giovanni Sommaruga.

Basilica of San Vittore
Varese itself has a wealth of artistic gems such as the Basilica of San Vittore, built between 1580 and 1615 and designed by Pellegrino Tibaldi, which is a harmonious blend of Renaissance and Neo-Classical styles. Inside, visitors can admire paintings from the Milanese seventeenth-century school by Cerano and Francesco Cairo. Beside it is St. John’s Baptistery that contains a baptismal font dating from the seventh century and an octagonal one from the eighth century.

Palazzo Estense
The most important building in Varese is the Palazzo Estense, known also as the Ducal Palace, which nowadays is the headquarters of the City Council and Civic Museums. Baroque in style, the palace was built in the mid eighteenth century by Francesco III d’Este, Duke of Modena and Prince of Varese. Its most impressive room, where the City Council now holds its meetings, is the Salone Estense with frescoes by Ronchelli. The Civic Museums house archaeological finds from pre-historic times up to the Roman era, as well as a precious collection of lepidoptera in the natural science wing. Villa Recalcati is a fine eighteenth-century building, which became the Grand Hotel Excelsior in the nineteenth century and is now the Provincial Council’s headquarters.

Villa Menafoglio Litta Panza
Villa Menafoglio Litta Panza is located on Biumo Hill, on the outskirts of the town of the same name. It houses Giuseppe Panza di Biumo’s important collection of modern art. Built in the mid eighteenth century by Marquis Paolo Antonio Menafoglio, this magnificent villa with its Italianate garden was shaped by the ideas and taste of its three successive owners over two centuries. Marquis Menafoglio worked extensively on the 35,000sq m park that dominates the hill. Pompeo Litta Visconti Arese commissioned the architect Canova to rebuild the lower floor and to design an entire wing for entertaining guests.
But it was Giuseppe Panza di Biumo, the last owner, who transformed the building into his own personal contemporary art museum while retaining its eighteenth-century elegance and period furnishings. A world famous collector with a passion for American art, in the fifties he began to acquire works by those artists destined to dominate the twentieth-century art scene: from exponents of Pop Art such as Claes Oldenburg to Minimalists like Richard Serra and Dan Flavin. He hung the paintings tastefully among antique mirrors and eighteenth-century furniture. What is more, Panza di Biumo invited several artists to Varese and put at their disposal the outhouses which they transformed through installations that were indissolubly linked to the estate. In 2000 Panza di Biumo donated his villa to the Italian National Trust Fund (FAI) and several interesting exhibitions were organized there. Villa Menafoglio Litta Panza, Biumo Superiore (Varese), tel. 0332.283960