Villa Cantoni, 19th century residential villa in Arona, Italy.
Villa Cantoni is a three-level residential building in Arona with a U-shaped layout, a viewing tower, and a central section facing Lake Maggiore. The property features artificial caves beneath a semicircular terrace, two pavilions connected to a private dock, and a separate chalet with a pitched roof.
Villa Cantoni was designed by engineer Vittorio Cantoni for his family in the 1880s, on land ceded to him by the Borromeo family in 1873. His son Tullo, born in 1866, converted to Christianity, was mayor of Arona from 1914 to 1919 and in 1911 was adopted by Giulio Cesare Mamiani della Rovere, inheriting the title of count. In September 1943 Tullo's son Victor and his wife Irma were taken in the Lake Maggiore roundup; the villa was then looted and stripped, and stood abandoned for over thirty years until restoration began in 2016.
The interior frescoes are attributed to the Venetian painter Giacomo Casa. At its height the villa was furnished in Renaissance and neoclassical styles, but the contents were looted after the September 1943 raid, so the furnishings described in older accounts are no longer in place.
The villa stands above the level of Lake Maggiore, below the limestone cliff of the rocca, not on the shore. Its lake facade rises over a semicircular platform hiding artificial grottoes, so the building is best seen from below or from the water. The former park, now crossed by the road, ended at two pavilions giving access to the private darsena.
Victor Cantoni and his mother Irma were taken on 15 September 1943 in the Lake Maggiore roundup; Victor's wife Rosy Gattico and their five-year-old daughter escaped, and twin sons Andrea and Gianluca were born two months later. The villa was then looted and stripped, standing abandoned for over thirty years until restoration began in 2016.
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