Villa Panza is a place with a magical atmosphere, is now known throughout the world as a centre for contemporary art, thanks to the magnificent collection assembled since the 1950s by Giuseppe Panza di Biumo, and the important exhibitions it hosts.
The permanent collection draws inspiration from the themes of light and colour, from the spiritual and perceptive dimension of the relationship between architecture and nature, and includes over 150 works by American artists, including installations by Dan Flavin, site-specific works by Robert Irwin Varese Portal Room, Varese Scrim and Varese Window Room, and James Turrell’s Sky Window I, Sky Space I and Virga.
There are 33,000 square metres of parkland surrounding the Villa, and in addition to the Italian and English-style gardens and contemporary Land Art works, the park also includes evocative 19th- and 20th-century interventions, such as the geometric parterres with the hornbeam tunnel overlooking the city of Varese and the Alps, the holm-oak groves, and the great naturalistic wealth of the collection of rare and valuable tree species.
Villa Panza and its Collection are preserved and valued by FAI since 1996, same year when Giuseppe Panza donated the Villa and its Collection to FAI.
