A quiet pink villa above the water. This watercolour captures Villa Pizzo from the lake, where its simple geometric volumes rise above one of the longest private gardens on Lake Como.
The estate began in 1435, when the wealthy Como merchant Giovanni Muggiasca acquired vineyards and olive groves stretching from the shore up the hillside. Over the following centuries, the family developed the property into a noble lakeside residence, adding terraces, Italian gardens, fountains, an orangery, an oratory, and long avenues descending towards the water.
Unlike the grand theatrical facades of some neighbouring villas, Villa Pizzo is deliberately restrained. The formal Italian garden around the main house is joined to a more informal English landscape park, creating a sequence of hedged walks, rose gardens, exotic planting, stone bridges, grottoes, and Baroque water features.
In the early 19th century, the last Muggiasca owner, Giovanni Battista, Bishop of Como, introduced neoclassical furnishings and a marble monument dedicated to Alessandro Volta.
After the family line ended, Archduke Rainer of Austria, Viceroy of Lombardy–Venetia, acquired the estate and commissioned landscape architect Luigi Villoresi, designer of the Royal Villa at Monza, to reshape the gardens.
Villa Pizzo remains a private historic estate extending for more than a kilometre along the shore between Cernobbio and Moltrasio.
Interesting facts...
During the plague of 1630, the Muggiasca family fled from Como to Villa Pizzo, turning the estate into a refuge for fellow citizens. People who helped reclaim and cultivate the land were given hospitality there, an extraordinary example of a villa functioning as a community sanctuary during an epidemic.
Alessandro Volta was given a marble vase engraved with an electric battery, and a later fountain in the park became a memorial to the scientist. The monument stands among artificial ruins designed to resemble a classical temple, making the garden a kind of outdoor theatre dedicated to both electricity and antiquity.
Its lakeside setting was chosen for the wedding of John Legend and Chrissy Teigen in 2013.
Location: Via Regina 48–50, Cernobbio, Lake Como, Italy
