The province of Varese is located in a setting of undoubted beauty. The splendid natural landscape has contributed to the development of numerous artistic testimonies including Liberty architecture which has found fertile ground in the dynamics of the environment, rich in magical effects combined between mountain, lake and plain lights. In the first decade of the 1900s, the Liberty experience of the province of Varese represents a significant testimony to the well-being that the bourgeoisie of the time was able to foster thanks to its innate industrial and cultural connotation. The civilian homes, factories, workers' villages, large hotels, kursaals and cemetery chapels testify to a creative choice that the architects of the time adopted, designing for the future without reworking the forms of the past.
Estense Palace
Symbol of the city and seat of the Municipality of Varese, Palazzo Estense, built starting from 1766, is the excellent example of those Varese villas with annexed parks that have made the city famous throughout the world as the "Garden City".
A residence commissioned by Duke Francesco III d'Este, it passed through the hands of various owners until it was purchased by the Municipality from the Verratti family in 1882. Learn more...
Basilica of San Vittore
The Basilica of San Vittore, together with the Bell Tower of Bernascone and the Baptistery of San Giovanni , is the most important place of worship in the city of Varese. Dedicated to the patron saint, it has an imposing façade, flanked by the Baroque bell tower, 77.91 meters high, erected from 1617 to 1773 by the important Lombard architect Giuseppe Bernascone . Learn more...
Birrificio Poretti
Il birrificio Poretti, al confine della Valganna, costituisce uno straordinario esempio di architettura industriale ispirata all'estetica dello Jugenstil tedesco. L'estetica liberty caratterizza i prospetti degli edifici, con la presenza di mascheroni, grottesche, medaglioni, monumentali lesene e motivi decorativi ispirati al tema della produzione della birra, come festoni di fiori di luppoli e tini di ferro battuto.
Alla fabbrica si aggiunge anche Villa Magnani, voluta da Angelo Magnani, nipote di Angelo Poretti, che domina il complesso. Edificio di grande pregio progettata dall'architetto Ulisse Stacchini, uno dei protagonisti della scena liberty italiana del novecento. Per saperne di più...
Per una visita guidata