Surrounded by splendid grounds extending over 33,000 square metres, Villa Menafoglio Litta Panza looks out over the city of Varese from the hillside of Biumo Superiore. Over the decades, this 18th century residence changed hands several times, until finally being transformed, in the early fifties, by the Milanese industrialist Giuseppe Panza,
who amassed one of the world’s largest collections of postwar American art and began filling it with his famous modern art collection, now partially distributed among leading international museums. Between 1973 and 1976, several of these works were created specially for Count Giuseppe Panza di Biumo, by the same artists. In 1996, Giuseppe Panza decided to donate the entire property to the FAI, Fondo per l’Ambiente Italiano, with the intention of preserving not just his home, but also his vast art collection for posterity. Of particular interest is the rustic wing, which houses a site-specific art gallery with works by Dan Flavin, James Turrell and Robert Irwin.
