Christmas in Villa Balbianello
Christmas in Villa Balbianello
2 DECEMBER 2018
Perched on the suggestive peninsula of Lavedo in a unique landscape setting, Villa Balbianello is a house of unique charm, surrounded by lush vegetation that leaves room for spectacular cliffs that plunge, steep, into the placid waters of Lake Como. It was cardinal Angelo Maria Durini, in the eighteenth century, to choose this scenic promontory to realize what would become his residence of holiday and literary leisure, endowing it with a magnificent park set in the beautiful natural setting of the peninsula. The complex then passed to the patriot Luigi Porro Lambertenghi, a grandson of Durini, to then be bought by the American general Butler Ames, who made it his own holiday home. At his death the heirs sold the Villa to the Milanese entrepreneur Guido Monzino.
The pride of this eighteenth-century home is the park that surrounds it, absolutely unique in its kind. The garden, of great visual impact, is crossed by picturesque tree-lined avenues and flower beds and is dotted with picturesque vantage points from which to admire wonderful views of the surrounding landscape. To make the park of Villa Balbianello so special is its shape, the result of the complex morphology of the promontory on which it stands. The impervious and steep terrain, rocky and poor of earth, made the construction of the garden complex. Therefore it is difficult to classify it on the basis of the classic canons that identify the different landscape styles. In fact, the park is rather a mixture of different styles in which typical elements of the Italian garden, the English park and the French garden can be found. There are magnificent climbing plants that adorn several areas of the garden, as well as the spectacular umbrella pruning in the area in front of the villa and a candelabra in the area of the loggia.
A frame of great charm, therefore, that, on the occasion of Christmas, is preparing to welcome a nice event that will thrill adults and children and will allow you to admire the Villa in a new look. On Saturday 8 December, in fact, from 8.30 pm to 10.30 pm, the Night of Cribs will take place, with a delicious accompaniment of mulled wine and panettone, inaugurating the exhibition of the Nativity representations exhibited in Loggia Segrè and Loggia Durini. The cribs are made by the Italian Association Amici del Presepe respecting the dictates of the traditional Neapolitan presepial art with works from important private collections. It will also be possible to admire a nativity scene set in Tremezzina with a representation of Villa del Balbianello and an exhibition of cribs in paper from the first prints of the early nineteenth century to the last half of the last century. The exhibition, the garden and some rooms of the Villa (library and cartographer) will be open until 6 January from 11.00 to 17.00 with last entrance to the gardens at 16.00. The interior of the Villa will remain, however, closed.
The pride of this eighteenth-century home is the park that surrounds it, absolutely unique in its kind. The garden, of great visual impact, is crossed by picturesque tree-lined avenues and flower beds and is dotted with picturesque vantage points from which to admire wonderful views of the surrounding landscape. To make the park of Villa Balbianello so special is its shape, the result of the complex morphology of the promontory on which it stands. The impervious and steep terrain, rocky and poor of earth, made the construction of the garden complex. Therefore it is difficult to classify it on the basis of the classic canons that identify the different landscape styles. In fact, the park is rather a mixture of different styles in which typical elements of the Italian garden, the English park and the French garden can be found. There are magnificent climbing plants that adorn several areas of the garden, as well as the spectacular umbrella pruning in the area in front of the villa and a candelabra in the area of the loggia.
A frame of great charm, therefore, that, on the occasion of Christmas, is preparing to welcome a nice event that will thrill adults and children and will allow you to admire the Villa in a new look. On Saturday 8 December, in fact, from 8.30 pm to 10.30 pm, the Night of Cribs will take place, with a delicious accompaniment of mulled wine and panettone, inaugurating the exhibition of the Nativity representations exhibited in Loggia Segrè and Loggia Durini. The cribs are made by the Italian Association Amici del Presepe respecting the dictates of the traditional Neapolitan presepial art with works from important private collections. It will also be possible to admire a nativity scene set in Tremezzina with a representation of Villa del Balbianello and an exhibition of cribs in paper from the first prints of the early nineteenth century to the last half of the last century. The exhibition, the garden and some rooms of the Villa (library and cartographer) will be open until 6 January from 11.00 to 17.00 with last entrance to the gardens at 16.00. The interior of the Villa will remain, however, closed.