Villa Ottolenghi (Acqui Terme) - Piemonte Feel

Buildings of historical importance

Villa Ottolenghi (Acqui Terme)

Category: Buildings of historical importance

Acqui Terme

The Monrosso complex is one of the few examples, in recent times, of collaboration between a group of architects, painters, and sculptors and a private enlightened committee. The initial idea of Herta Von Wedekind and her husband Arturo Ottolenghi was to design a residency of inspiration and ideals reminiscent of Renaissance principles. The villa’s design was entrusted to a group made up of Federico D’Amato, Marcello Piacentini, and Ernesto Rapisardi while the design for the garden was handed to Giuseppe Vaccaio and Piero Porcinai. For the interior décor, the eccentric couple chose the painter Ferruccio Ferrazzi who even created cartoons for the mosaics in the mausoleum. Unfortunately, the many sculptures by Arturo Martini no longer exist. The building was created based of the art works which it had to house: for the fresco cycle “Gli amori di Bacco e Selene” (“The Loves of Bacchus and Selene”) attributed to Procaccino, the dining room on the ground floor was enlarged; for “La nascita di Venezia” (“The Birth of Venice”) by Terrazzi, located in the Sala di Herta (Herta’s Room), a number of walls were taken out. Among the artists who worked for the Ottolenghi’s, there was also Arturo Martini, perhaps the greatest sculptor from the last century, who made a series of sculptural groups such as the Leoni di Monterosso, the Tobiolo, and Adamo e Eva, mostly for the villa’s park. The artists involved in the project lived and worked in surrounding farmsteads when the park was closed, in a setting worthy of a De Chirico metaphysical painting. Ottolenghi gave Amerigo Tot the responsibility of creating a stunning panoramic view, as seen from the villa, over the valley di Acqui and to carry out wall graffiti in Rosario Murabito. The park’s final arrangement was entrusted to the architect Pietro Porcinai, the interior and exterior lighting to Wladimir Todorowsky with lamps designed by the architect Flavio Poli; the gates, doors, designer objects, and vases in wrought iron are the work of the Ferrari blacksmiths.
 

Information

Not open to the public
Borgo Monterosso - 15011 Acqui Terme (Al)
Tel. + 39.0144.322142 - Fax: + 39. 0144.326520
E-mail: iat@acquiterme.it
www.comuneacqui.com