Palazzo Estense, Baroque palace in Varese, Italy.

Palazzo Estense is a long, symmetrical palace in Varese built of pale pink and salmon stucco with white stone trim. Its central block rises higher, crowned by a curved pediment topped with a small cross, with a bell-cote to its right; rows of shuttered rectangular windows run across the facades and lower wings, and arched openings line the ground level facing a broad gravel forecourt with clipped shrubs.

Construction of the palace was completed in the mid-18th century under architect Giuseppe Bianchi and subsequently came under the control of the Este family. The building later underwent changes in use and eventually became the seat of the city's municipal government.

The Salone Estense on the ground floor keeps its 18th-century illusionistic painted architecture by Bosellini (1768–69) and a central fresco by Giovan Battista Ronchelli showing Jupiter, Venus and Cupid, possibly alluding to the marriage of Francesco III d'Este and Renata Teresa d'Harrach. The upper-floor ballroom, decorated with 16th- and 17th-century canvases, is now used for weddings, and its gilded wrought-iron balcony was originally reserved for musicians playing during palace festivities.

The palace now houses Varese's municipal administration, so the historic rooms are seen mainly during conferences, concerts and events such as the May 2010 meeting of G6 interior ministers. The entrance front faces a broad gravel forecourt with clipped shrubs; the garden side, with its parterres and hilltop nymphaeum, lies behind the building.

The garden's central feature is a nymphaeum on a rise, made of three niches clad in tufa concretions and statues. Part of the park was also adapted as a roccolo, a hunting device for catching birds, planted with oaks, elms and chestnuts for Duke Francesco III's passion for hunting.