Villa Cagnola, Art museum in Gazzada Schianno, Italy

Villa Cagnola is an art museum in the villa Perabò-Melzi-Cagnola in Gazzada Schianno, made up of two two-storey blocks joined by an open first-floor wing with a portico of paired columns over two bays. The east block faces Lake Varese, the west block faces the entrance. The collection holds gold-ground panels by Tuscan, Venetian and Lombard painters, plus 21 Flemish and French tapestries, majolica, porcelain, bronzes and furniture.

The Perabò family built the villa, and in the 18th century brothers Gabrio and Giuseppe Perabò added the eastern wing. In 1838 Ludovico Melzi d'Eril acquired it, and in 1850 Giuseppe Cagnola bought it; his son Carlo had Luigi Clerichetti remodel it in the 1850s with an English-style park. Guido Cagnola donated it to the Holy See, formalized by notarial deed on 2 May 1946.

The collection reflects how wealthy Italian families lived and decorated their homes, with artworks and furnishings chosen to display their taste and status. Walking through the rooms, you see the objects and paintings they surrounded themselves with in daily life.

The site provides parking, a cloakroom, and a cafe for visitors planning a longer visit. Since the museum is located in a rural area, allow enough time for your visit and plan your transportation in advance.

The park was laid out in the English style by architect Luigi Clerichetti in the 1850s for senator Carlo Cagnola, who had inherited the villa in 1856. The 1744 views of the villa painted by Bernardo Bellotto, now at the Pinacoteca di Brera, record the earlier appearance of the buildings before that remodelling.