300px, Street façade of Villa Tittoni Traversi. 300px, Garden facade. The Villa Traversi Tittoni, or Villa Cusani Traversi Tittoni is a rural palace in

Desio Desio () is a (municipality) in the province of Monza and Brianza, in the Italian region of Lombardy. History In 1277 it was the location of the battle between the Visconti and della Torre families for the rule of Milan. On 24 February 1924, ...

, northern

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

. An original palace at the site was built by the aristocratic Cusani family. The structure was rebuilt and redesigned first in 1776 by

Giuseppe Piermarini Giuseppe Piermarini (; 18 July 1734 – 18 February 1808) was an Italian architect who trained with Luigi Vanvitelli in Naples and designed the Teatro alla Scala in Milan (1776–78), which remains the work by which he is chiefly remembered. I ...

in a Neoclassical style. In 1817, the villa was sold to the lawyer Giovanni Traversi; beginning in 1840, the interiors were refurbished and the façade was added by

Pelagio Palagi Pelagio Palagi (25 May 1775 – 6 March 1860) was an Italian painter, sculptor and interior decorator. Biography Early life Pelagi was born in Bologna. Starting at a very young age the study of perspective, architecture, figurative and p ...

. The palace has extensive gardens, designed in a free nineteenth-century "English style". In 1900, the Villa became the property of Tommaso Tittoni, a statesman and diplomat. After World War II, the house functioned as a seminary, until, in 1975, it was acquired by the ''comune'' of

. The villa now hosts a library and museum, named after Giuseppe Scalvini.

Sources

LombardiaBeniCulturali: La Villa Traversi Tittoni a Desio
{{coord, 45.6173, N, 9.2151, E, source:wikidata, display=title Tittoni Traversi, Desio Houses completed in the 18th century Giuseppe Piermarini buildings