Villa Ottolenghi

TYPOLOGY:  HISTORICAL VILLA

BUILDING PERIOD: 1920

SURFACES: LOT OF 26 HECTARES

INTENDED USE: RESIDENTIAL

COMPOSITION: 

REAL ESTATE COMPENDIUM COMPOSED BY TWO MAIN BUILDINGS, A MAUSOLEUM, TWO GUARDIAN’S VILLAS, 5 HECTARES OF VINEYARDS, 21 HECTARES OF GARDENS AND WOODS.

ASSET: Near Acqui Terme, drawn on the soft profile of the Monferrato hills, wonderful Villa made by Marcello Piacentini and other rationalist architects. There are two main buildings, around which is articulated one of the most extraordinary modern gardens in Italy, created by Pietro Porcinai and surrounded by 26 hectares of vineyards and owned woods. The spectacular Italian garden, masterpiece of the well-known landscape architect, was awarded the most beautiful garden in Europe at the prestigious “European Garden Award” in 2011. The only example in Italy of close collaboration between architects, painters, sculptors and patrons to give life to the creation of a manor abode, the real estate compendium is spread over two main bodies, two guardian’s villas and a spectacular mausoleum and is characterized by the presence of important artworks. In 1920 the Ottolenghi Counts, Arturo and Herta von Wedekind zu Horst, entrusted the design of  Villa Ottolenghi first to Federico d’Amato and later to the famous architect Marcello Piacentini. Ottolenghi’s patronage brought a good number of artists to Monterosso: Ferruccio Ferrazzi, Fortunato Depero, Adolfo Wildt, Libero Andreotti, Fiore Martelli, Arturo Martini, Rosario Murabito, Venanzo Crocetti. It was precisely at Villa Ottolenghi that Arturo Martini produced and brought some of his most important works including “Il Tobiolo, Adamo ed Eva, i Leoni di Monterosso…”. Not far from the villa the Mausoleum, today the “Temple of Herta” with its evergreen park obtained from a precise scenographic design which takes the name of “Earthly Paradise”. The enormous portal of the Temple, in engraved bronze, nickel and copper, a monumental work by the masters Ernesto and Mario Ferrari, is the prelude to the beauty of the frescoes by Ferruccio Ferrazzi and the mosaics created by the Vaticano’s  and Ravenna’s mosaic school. Then, around the villa, in addition to the aforementioned formal garden, the shaft, the studies, the cistern and the promenade that runs along the perimeter of the complex, the graffiti, the wisteria pergola, the swimming pool, the cellar… stages of a journey of discovery that surprises for the  detail’s attention.

LOCATION: The high Monferrato is located south of the province of Alessandria, on the border with Liguria and the province of Asti. The green and hilly area is famous for its vineyards and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The center of Acqui Terme, one of the most important cities of Monferrato, is 2.5 km away.