The Villa Ghirlanda Silva is a 17th-century rural palace and park located in Cinisello Balsamo, just north of Milan, in the

Province of Milan The Province of Milan ( it, Provincia di Milano) was a province in the Lombardy region, Italy. Its capital was the city of Milan. The area of the former province is highly urbanized, with more than 2,000 inhabitants/km2, the third highest populati ...

Lombardy Lombardy ( it, Lombardia, Lombard language, Lombard: ''Lombardia'' or ''Lumbardia' '') is an administrative regions of Italy, region of Italy that covers ; it is located in the northern-central part of the country and has a population of about 10 ...

, Italy.

History

A residence at the site was originally commissioned by Donato I Silva, Count of Biandrate, from the architect Francesco Maria Richino (died 1658), who was aided by his son Domenico in completion of the project which began circa 1660. An engraving of the building by Marc'Antonio Dal Re (1726) and Karl Remshart (before 1735) document the structure. Donato Silva (1607-1675) had begun an expansive array of palaces in Rovescala (1656), Cinisello (1660) and Biandrate (1667). In the villa of Cinisello, Donato and later his son Gerardo (1646-1714) had the villa both frescoed and with a prominent picture gallery. Donato I's nephew, Count Donato II Silva (1690-1779) and his great-grandson, Count Ercole Silva (1756-1840) completed the construction and landscaped the surroundings. Ercole, had an interest in natural history and law, and traveled in 1785 to England and France with Archduke Ferdinand. He expanded the villa's collections, and commissioned further decorations from Giuseppe Lavelli and

Giuseppe Levati Giuseppe Levati (1739–1828) was an Italian painter and designer of the late-Baroque and Neoclassicism period. He was born at Concorezzo, near Milan. After initially working as a decorator, he specialized as an architectural landscape painter, a ...

in the Sala dei Paesaggi and the Sala degli Specchi. After the death of Ercole, the villa passed to his nephew Girolamo Ghirlanda and later to his son Carlo, who also associated Silva with his paternal surname. By 1886 Carlo Ghirlanda Silva sold the villa and the park to Giuseppe Frova. In the 20th century, the property was purchased by Count Giuseppe Cattaneo di Pro, and in 1926, by Emilio Cipelletti. In 1974 Villa Ghirlanda became the property of the municipal administration of Cinisello Balsamo, which started the refurbishment work there to make it the site of some municipal offices and services, to officially open to the public in 1982. Since 2004, the south wing has housed a photography museum. Other portions of the villa are used for ceremonial occasions.https://www.comune.cinisello-balsamo.mi.it/spip.php?article30603 Municipal description of the property] Much of the movable collections have been sold or taken elsewhere. The gardens represent a marvelous array of Romanticism, Romantic structures and architectural ''capricci'' integrated into the landscape.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ghirlanda Silva Villas in Lombardy Gardens in Milan 1660 establishments in Italy