Itineraries20 October 2014

Itinerary: Pompeo Mariani's Villa in Bordighera

Between the 19th and 20th century Pompeo Mariani was one of the protagonists of the artistic life of Bordighera

Itinerary: Pompeo Mariani's Villa in Bordighera

From the Old Town through the beautiful and panoramic Via dei Colli, you climb up to the top of a hill facing the motorway exit.

After the first curves, opposite Via Fontana Vecchia, a gate opened on a wonderful olive-grove leads to Pompeo Mariani's Villa.

Between the 19th and 20th century, this Lombard painter (Monza 1857 - Bordighera 1927) was one of the protagonists of the artistic life of Bordighera.

Here, in 1908, he bought this elegant villa, probably built among the olive-trees by Charles Garnier. In 1911, Mariani commissioned the architect Rodolfo Winter (son of the gardener Lodovico Winter) to construct an "atelier" among the trees, calling it "The Observatory".

Many friends and admirers came here to visit him, Queen Margaret too. Mariani, a good impressionist painter, worked intensely between the Riviera and the Principality of Monaco, realizing numerous landscapes and sketches of fashionable life.

The Observatory, now restored, is the centre of the Pompeo Mariani foundation.

 

Find on the map.

I.N.

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