VILLA MAGNANI [IT]
Exploration #129 Villa Magnani. Villa Magnani, aka “Villa delle ali nere” was built in 1850 by the great impresario Giovanni Pietro Magnani (1812-1893). The complex, which also includes a stable and an ice-house, is built on an artificial terrace supported by massive stone arches. An enormous park full of century-old plants, fountains and artificial caves surrounds the entire villa. The building consists of three floors connected by an elegant Carrara marble staircase.
Villa Magnani has been emptied of all its furnishings, but all the rooms are decorated with frescoes of exceptional quality, still in good condition during our visit. Many of the frescoes depict well-known views of the area. In most of the rooms the wallpaper has come off, showing the background that used to be made from newspapers (many newspapers overlapping each other smoothed out the roughness of the old walls and allowed wallpaper to be laid without folds).
