For me, Villa Necchi Campiglio is the jewel is Milan’s crown. I first saw the grand building in the Italian film I Am Love (Io sono l’amore), which stars the beguiling Tilda Swinton and follows an upper class Milanese family through changing times and fortunes. The house was designed in the early 1930s by architect Piero Portaluppi and perfectly captures the history, worldly pleasures and day-to-day living of Milanese high society in the first half of the twentieth century. In the commentary on the DVD, Swinton says that the villa was perfect setting because they were looking for a house “that was part palace, part museum, and part prison.”
The house on Via Mozart, in the heart of the city, was designed for sisters Nedda and Gigina Necchi and her husband, Angelo Campiglio. Set in a large garden including a tennis court and swimming pool, the home features an Art Deco interior, with marble bathrooms, sculpted ceilings and a collection of 20th century sculpture and paintings. Highlights include the grand walnut staircase with a sculpture of a kneeling woman by Arturo Martini and the conservatory or sunroom, which has a curvaceous green sofa and The Pure Lunatic by Adolf Wildt.
Here are my photos from last week’s visit:
Stills from I Am Love:
Villa Necchi Campiglio
via Mozart, 14 – 20122 Milano, Italia
t +39 02 76340121 – f +39 02 76395526
fainecchi@fondoambiente.it
www.fondoambiente.it
