Villa e Collezione Panza – FAI

Villa Panza, known the world over as a centre for contemporary art, has origins dating back to the 18th century, when Marquis Paolo Antonio Menafoglio identified the ideal place for his country house on the top of the Biumo hill in Varese.
Enlarged thanks to subsequent interventions by Luigi Canonica in the early 19th century and Piero Portaluppi in the 1930s, the mansion took on a new purpose when Count Giuseppe Panza began creating a 20th century art collection in the 1950s, which has since become world-famous. More than 150 works by American artists, inspired by the themes of light and colour, coexist in harmony with the antique rooms, the Renaissance furnishings and the precious collection of African and pre-Columbian art. A perfect dialogue that reflects the intuition and sensitivity of Giuseppe Panza, who identified the clear and almost transcendent light of the place as the guiding principle of his artistic choices.

Emblematic in this respect is the rustic wing, which now houses a stunning gallery of site-specific environmental artworks, almost a temple consecrated to the element of light. These include works by Dan Flavin, whose collection boasts the largest concentration of works on permanent display, James Turrell and Robert Irwin.
Home to exhibitions with an international scope, Villa Panza offers a sensory experience, even for children with a dedicated calendar of activities. Here you can spend an entire day immersed in art, among the 33,000 square metres of parkland enriched by Land Art works and the Luce Restaurant.