Villa Carlotta is a
villa
A villa is a type of house that was originally an ancient Roman upper class country house. Since its origins in the Roman villa, the idea and function of a villa have evolved considerably. After the fall of the Roman Republic, villas became s ...
and botanical garden in
Tremezzo
Tremezzo is a ''comune'' (or municipality) of some 1,300 people in the Province of Como, in the Italian region Lombardy.
It is located on the western shore of Lake Como between Mezzegra to the southwest and Griante to the northeast, and about ...
on
Lake Como
Lake Como ( it, Lago di Como , ; lmo, label=Western Lombard, Lagh de Còmm , ''Cómm'' or ''Cùmm'' ), also known as Lario (; after the la, Larius Lacus), is a lake of glacial origin in Lombardy, Italy. It has an area of , making it the thir ...
in
Northern Italy
Northern Italy ( it, Italia settentrionale, it, Nord Italia, label=none, it, Alta Italia, label=none or just it, Nord, label=none) is a geographical and cultural region in the northern part of Italy. It consists of eight administrative regions ...
. Today the villa is a museum, whose collection includes works by sculptors such as Antonio Canova, Bertel Thorvaldsen, and Giovanni Migliara; painters such as Francesco Hayez; and furniture pieces of previous owners. The villa, whose architect is unknown, was completed in 1745.
History
Clerici family
The Clerici family rose from rural origins in the northern region of Lake Como to become successful silk merchants due to the efforts of Giorgio (1575-1660) and his sons Pietro Antonio (1599-1675), who was made a Marquis, and Carlo (1615-1677) who became owner of numerous palaces in
Milan
Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city h ...
and
Brianza
Brianza (, , lmo, label=Brianzöö dialect, Briànsa) is a geographical, historical and cultural area of Italy, at the foot of the Alps, in the northwest of Lombardy, between Milan and Lake Como.
Geography
Brianza extends from th ...
.
Carlo's son, the
Milan
Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city h ...
ese
marquis
A marquess (; french: marquis ), es, marqués, pt, marquês. is a nobleman of high hereditary rank in various European peerages and in those of some of their former colonies. The German language equivalent is Markgraf (margrave). A woman wi ...
Giorgio Clerici, became a senator in 1684 was nominated in 1717 to be President of the Senate. In 1690, he decided to establish a country estate on ancestral lakeside land at Tremezzo. The estate was complete in its initial form by 1695, and the garden was first mentioned in 1699.
Upon the death of Giorgio Clerici, his great-grandson Anton Giorgio Clerici (1715-1768) inherited the family fortune, and completed the villa in 1745. He died after having dissipated nearly all of his fortune building the Palazzo Clerici in Milan, forcing his heirs to sell their Lake Como property.
Sommariva
In 1801, Anton Giorgio's only daughter, Claudia Caterina Clerici (the wife of Count Vitaliano Bigli), sold the property to
Giovanni Battista Sommariva
Giovanni or Gian Battista Sommariva (died 6 January 1826, Milan) was an Italian politician of the Cisalpine Republic and a notable arts patron.
Born in Milan, he practiced as a lawyer in Lombardy when he was recruited to become secretary general ...
, a banker and politician who had risen from barber's apprentice to a position of power in Napoleon Bonaparte's government in Northern Italy. In 1802, he was a candidate for vice president of the Republic of Italy, but Napoleon selected Francesco Melzi d'Eril for the post instead. With his political career thwarted, Sommariva retired from public life and devoted his time to collecting art.
Sommariva modified the villa to bring it in line with early 19th-century taste, adding balconies to take in the lake view and installing a large clock on the facade, He commissioned works from artists, including the sculptors Antonio Canova and Bertel Thorwaldsen, and the painter Francesco Fidanza, whose works feature in the villa today. He built a domed family chapel and a mausoleum near the lake shore, and transformed part of the park into a romantic garden in the English style. For a time the house was known as ''Villa Sommariva''.
Because Sommariva's eldest son, Emilio, had died fighting in Spain in 1811, Sommariva's fortune was left to his second son, Luigi. After Luigi's death in 1838, the fortune (by then much diminished) was divided between his wife, Emilia Sommariva (a French noblewoman née Seillère) and numerous relatives.
Sachsen Meiningen
In 1843,
Princess Marianna, the wife of Prince Albert of Prussia, bought the property for 780,000 lira, ten times the amount paid by Giovanni Sommariva forty years earlier. Emilia Sommariva relocated to a smaller house in Tremezzo, while reserving for herself ownership of the Sommariva family chapel and mausoleum on the grounds of the villa.
In 1847, Princess Marianne gave the property to her daughter
Charlotte
Charlotte ( ) is the List of municipalities in North Carolina, most populous city in the U.S. state of North Carolina. Located in the Piedmont (United States), Piedmont region, it is the county seat of Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, Meckl ...
as a wedding present upon her marriage to Georg II,
Duke of Saxe-Meiningen
Saxe-Meiningen (; german: Sachsen-Meiningen ) was one of the Saxon duchies held by the Ernestine duchies, Ernestine line of the House of Wettin, Wettin dynasty, located in the southwest of the present-day Germany, German state of Thuringia.
Esta ...
(1826-1914). The house was re-named ''Villa Carlotta'', however Charlotte enjoyed the villa for only a few years before she died in 1855 at the age of twenty-three of complications from childbirth.
In 1857, the author
Ludwig Bechstein
Ludwig Bechstein (24 November 1801 – 14 May 1860) was a German writer and collector of folk fairy tales.
He was born in Weimar, the illegitimate child of Johanna Carolina Dorothea Bechstein and Hubert Dupontreau, a French emigrant who disappe ...
wrote a description of the villa which was published as ''Villa Carlotta. Poetische Reisebilder vom Comersee und aus den lombardisch-venetianischen Landen.''
The Sachsen-Meiningens used the property as a private holiday home. While they didn't make substantial changes to the building, they sold part of the art collection that came with the property. Duke Georg, who had a passion for botany, dedicated himself to the development and enrichment of the garden, introducing a great variety of rare and exotic species. The Duke was a patron of the composer
Johannes Brahms
Johannes Brahms (; 7 May 1833 – 3 April 1897) was a German composer, pianist, and conductor of the mid- Romantic period. Born in Hamburg into a Lutheran family, he spent much of his professional life in Vienna. He is sometimes grouped wit ...
, who visited the villa at the Duke's invitation several times in the 1880s. Duke Georg died in 1914 at the outbreak of World War I.
Public ownership
After Italy entered
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
in May 1915 on the side of the Allies, the Italian state declined to
confiscate
Confiscation (from the Latin ''confiscatio'' "to consign to the ''fiscus'', i.e. transfer to the treasury") is a legal form of seizure by a government or other public authority. The word is also used, popularly, of spoliation under legal forms, o ...
the villa, as it had other properties of enemy aliens in Italy, but rather placed it, on 15 August 1915, under the management of an administrator.
During the war, the interest of the owners was exercised by the Swiss Consulate.
In 1921, the financial administrator of Como Province informed the owners that the entire property was now the property of the Italian state arguing that the villa was of eminent national significance.
[Thüringisches Staatsarchiv Meiningen, Hofmarschallamt: Sachdarstellung zu der Schadensmeldung. in: ''Villa Carlotta 1852–1930''. (HMA 304)] It was proposed in 1922 that the villa would be sold at auction. However local enthusiasts lead by Senator Giuseppe Bianchini and the Rotary Club of Milan opposed this, which lead to the villa being entrusted to the care of the Ente Villa Carlotta, a charitable foundation constituted by royal decree on 12 May 1927. This foundation is still responsible for the villa.
Description
The villa and surrounding grounds are located on the lakeshore at
Tremezzo
Tremezzo is a ''comune'' (or municipality) of some 1,300 people in the Province of Como, in the Italian region Lombardy.
It is located on the western shore of Lake Como between Mezzegra to the southwest and Griante to the northeast, and about ...
, facing the
Bellagio Bellagio may refer to:
* Bellagio, Lombardy, an Italian town
* Bellagio (resort), a luxury resort and casino in Las Vegas
* Bellagio (Hong Kong), a private housing building
* Bellagio declaration, an intellectual copyright resolution
* 79271 Bellag ...
peninsula. An
Italian garden
The Italian garden (or giardino all'italiana () is best known for a number of large Italian Renaissance gardens which have survived in something like their original form. In the history of gardening, during the Renaissance, Italy had the most ...
with steps, fountains and sculptures was laid out at the same time.
The villa
The villa is located at the top of a terraced garden, from which there are views of
Bellagio Bellagio may refer to:
* Bellagio, Lombardy, an Italian town
* Bellagio (resort), a luxury resort and casino in Las Vegas
* Bellagio (Hong Kong), a private housing building
* Bellagio declaration, an intellectual copyright resolution
* 79271 Bellag ...
and also the mountains surrounding the lake.
It consists of three floors (two of which are open to the public). The works of art on display are mainly located on the lower floor, while the upper one, which has an elegant gallery, provides views over the lake.
Among the sculptures on display in the villa are:
* ''Eros and Psyche'' by
Adamo Tadolini
Adamo Tadolini (21 December 1788 – 16 February 1863) was an Italian sculptor. One of a family of sculptors, he studied in Rome with the neo-classical sculptor Antonio Canova and is linked to him in style.
Life
Adamo was born in Bologna ...
. This is a marble copy taken from the original model used by Antonio Canova for the sculpture commissioned by Prince
Nikolay Yusupov
Prince Nikolai Borisovich Yusupov (russian: Князь Никола́й Бори́сович Юсу́пов; – 15 July 1831) was a Russian nobleman and art collector of the House of Yusupov.
Biography
He was the eldest son of Prince Boris Grig ...
(and today at the Hermitage museum in St. Petersburg). This copy arrived at the villa in 1834.
* ''Mars and Venus'' by
Luigi Acquisti
Luigi Acquisti (1745–1823) was an Italian sculptor mainly known for his works in the neoclassical style.
He was born in Forlì the 29 March 1747 and died in Bologna in 1823. His works are distributed throughout Italy. Among them are reliefs ...
. Dating from 1805 this is considered to be his masterpiece.
* The original plaster model of ''The Muse Terpsichore'' by
Antonio Canova
Antonio Canova (; 1 November 1757 – 13 October 1822) was an Italian Neoclassical sculptor, famous for his marble sculptures. Often regarded as the greatest of the Neoclassical artists,. his sculpture was inspired by the Baroque and the cl ...
. The sculpture was commissioned by Sommariva in 1811.
* ''Palamedes'' by Antonio Canova. Sommariva commissioned this sculpture from Canova, but in 1805, when it was still in the Canova's atelier in Rome, when the Tevere River flooded the workshop and broke it into several pieces. Canova personally restored it, between 1806 and 1808. The sculpture arrived at the villa in 1819.
* ''Repentant Magdalene''. This is a copy produced by Canova's school of the original sculpture by Canova. Sommariva was also the owner of the original work.
* ''The Entrance of Alexander the Great in Babylonia'' by
Bertel Thorvaldsen
Bertel Thorvaldsen (; 19 November 1770 – 24 March 1844) was a Danes, Danish and Icelanders, Icelandic Sculpture, sculptor medallist, medalist of international fame, who spent most of his life (1797–1838) in Italy. Thorvaldsen was born in ...
. This work was originally designed in stucco for the Quirinale Palace in Rome to mark the occasion of Napoleon's visit. Completed in June 1812, it was so admired that Napoleon ordered a marble replica for the Pantheon in Paris. Napoleon's fall from power caused work to stop until in 1818 Sommariva decided to have it completed. The 33 marble slabs of the frieze arrived in the villa between 1818 and 1828. The last two characters at the end of the frieze are a self-portrait of Thorvaldsen and a portrait of Sommariva.
As well as paintings by
Andrea Appiani
Andrea Appiani (31 May 17548 November 1817) was an Italian neoclassical painter.
Life
Born in Milan, it had been intended that he follow his father's career in medicine but instead entered the private academy of the painter Carlo Maria Giud ...
and
Giovanni Migliara
Giovanni Migliara (October 15, 1785 in Alessandria – April 18, 1837 in Milan), was a nobleman and Italian painter active at the beginning of the 19th century, painting vedute and history paintings.
Biography
Born to artisan parents of limit ...
there are also:
* ''The Last Adieu of Romeo and Juliet'' by
Francesco Hayez
Francesco Hayez (; 10 February 1791 – 12 February 1882) was an Italian painter. He is considered one of the leading artists of Romanticism in mid-19th-century Milan, and is renowned for his grand historical paintings, political allegories, and ...
. This painting was commissioned by Sommariva in 1823.
* ''The Reading of the VIth Book of the Aeneid'' by
Jean-Baptiste Wicar
Jean-Baptiste Wicar (22 January 1762 – 27 February 1834) was a French Neoclassical painter and art collector.
Life
The son of a carpenter, Wicar was born in Lille. He studied drawing at the free school in Lille before further honing his t ...
. This large oil painting was commissioned by Sommariva in 1818. Before arriving at the villa it was exhibited with great success in Milan in 1821.
In addition the villa is home to a collection of more than 470 plaster cameos created by the Roman artist Giovanni Liberotti and a large silk and wool tapestry by François Var der Borght.
The garden
The botanical garden covers an area of about and consists of several different sections. Immediately around the villa, towards the lake, the Italian garden with cut hedges and pergolas with orange and camellia trees. The rhododendron and 150 varieties of azalea spread up the slope. The property is also home to cedars, palms, redwoods, plane trees and other exotic plants. there is also a bamboo garden, covering 3000 m² which is home to over 25 different bamboo species.
A greenhouse which had been used in the past to house citrus fruits during winter has been converted into a museum of old farm tools.
File:Villa Carlotta Signage.JPG
File:Villa Carlotta Main Entrance.JPG
File:Carlotta 006.jpg
Notes
References
*
*
External links
The villa's official website.*
Digitalised version in German at the British Library
{{Authority control
Gardens in Lombardy
Carlotta
Province of Como
1745 establishments in Europe
Tremezzina