On the Market Near Milan, A Historic Villa with Some of Italy’s Most Beautiful Gardens
Nestled in the province of Lecco, less than an hour north of Milan and within easy reach of Lake Como, Villa Sommi Picenardi is an extraordinary historic estate shaped by centuries of architecture, landscape design and family stewardship.
The origins of the property predate the villa itself. A medieval watchtower and agricultural complex stood on the site by the 14th century, before the noble Sala family acquired the estate in the late 17th century and transformed it into an elegant country residence. The villa took its present form around 1702 in the Lombard Barocchetto style, the same date inscribed on its small consecrated chapel dedicated to Saints Ambrose and Galdino.
The house sits at the heart of approximately 24.7 acres, surrounded by two remarkably different landscapes.
Behind the villa, the formal Italian garden climbs the hillside through a series of terraces created in the 18th century. Baroque staircases, fountains, clipped hedges and mythological sculptures are arranged along carefully constructed sightlines, while intricate stone mosaics inspired by Roman designs decorate the garden’s monumental stairway.
Beyond the terraces lies one of the property’s most evocative features: the Secret Garden. Partially concealed within the hillside, the secluded garden is composed of topiary, fountains and sculpture, designed to reveal itself gradually as visitors move through the landscape.
Another section, traditionally known as the Garden of the Theatre, uses clipped box and hornbeam almost architecturally, creating an outdoor space that feels part garden, part stage set.
The landscape changed significantly again in the 19th century under Donna Mina Sala Trotti Bentivoglio, a lady-in-waiting to Queen Margherita of Italy.
Around 1880, she expanded the estate by creating a romantic English-style park in front of the villa while preserving the earlier Italian gardens behind it. The result is an unusual juxtaposition of two distinct landscape traditions: formal Baroque geometry on one side of the house and a picturesque park of sweeping lawns, water and mature trees on the other.
Rare and centuries-old specimens still grow throughout the English garden, including an oriental plane estimated to be around 200 years old, alongside mature beeches and Lebanese cedars. Fountains, statues and a pond further shape the landscape.
Donna Mina also made Villa Sommi Picenardi a social setting. Members of the House of Savoy were among those entertained at the estate, and its history became closely connected with the cultural and aristocratic circles of northern Italy.
In 1920, the property passed to her grandson, Marchese Paolo Sommi Picenardi di Calvatone. A passionate gardener, he continued to develop the grounds, beginning another chapter in the estate’s history that has continued through subsequent generations of the Sommi Picenardi family.
That continuity remains an important part of the villa today.
Rather than existing solely as a preserved historic residence, Villa Sommi Picenardi continues to be used for weddings, photography, private events and guided visits to its gardens. It has also increasingly served as a setting for cultural programming.
In 2022, the villa provided the backdrop for a salon interpretation of Giuseppe Verdi’s La Traviata, bringing opera into the historic rooms and gardens of the estate.
More recently, in May 2026, the villa hosted the inaugural Oltre i Giardini: Storie di libri, piante e persone, a two-day cultural festival centered on gardens and landscape. The program brought together landscape architects, botanists, writers, filmmakers, actors and artists for talks, garden walks, performances, concerts and screenings.
It is a fitting contemporary use for a property whose landscape has itself evolved over several centuries. The events introduce a new cultural chapter without separating the estate from the architecture, gardens and family history that define it.
Inside the villa, grand reception halls are joined by a gallery and private theatre, while frescoes, elaborate moldings and other historic decorative details have been carefully preserved throughout.
The estate also includes a converted granary and three independent apartments, offering additional accommodation alongside the principal residence. A consecrated chapel remains part of the complex, while a large swimming pool occupies another part of the grounds.
Today, the current sales listing describes approximately 3,500 square meters of interior space, with 30 bedrooms and 20 bathrooms across the property.
But Villa Sommi Picenardi is perhaps best understood through the layers that remain visible across the estate: a medieval agricultural and defensive site, an early-18th-century country villa, an extraordinary formal Italian garden, a 19th-century English landscape park and, today, a family-held historic property that continues to evolve through contemporary cultural use.
More than three centuries after the villa assumed its present form, remarkably little of that history has been erased.
All photos belong to the listing agency. See more on Exclusive RE Christie’s International Real Estate.
