Villa Necchi Campiglio: The 1930s House Behind I Am Love

Behind a high wall in a quiet street near Porta Venezia stands the most beautiful private house in Milan. Villa Necchi Campiglio was built between 1932 and 1935 for a family of sewing-machine industrialists, complete with the first private swimming pool in the city. Guests at Taylor's Love Solferino B&B reach it in about twenty-five minutes.

Villa Necchi Campiglio, Milan. Photo: Palickap, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Getting There from Our B&B

On foot: approximately 1.9 km, about 24 minutes from Via Solferino 56, east through the Quadrilatero and the Giardini Montanelli.

By metro: from Turati or Palestro (M3 / M1), both under a kilometre from the B&B. Palestro station is a seven-minute walk from the villa.

A House Built for a Way of Life That Vanished

The architect was Piero Portaluppi, the great interpreter of Milanese upper-class taste between the wars. He gave the Necchi family clean rationalist volumes outside and extraordinary craftsmanship inside: rosewood, parchment-covered walls, marble, and a veranda that opens the ground floor to the garden.

The house was finished in 1935. Within five years Italy was at war, and the family's world – the tennis parties, the swimming pool, the winter garden – had effectively ended. After the war Portaluppi's rigorous modernism was partly softened with eighteenth-century furnishings.

Gigi Necchi left the villa to the FAI, the Italian national trust, and it opened to the public in 2008.

What to See

• The veranda – a glazed room facing the garden, with sliding windows that disappear into the floor.
• The swimming pool – the first in a private Milanese house, still there in the garden.
• The bathrooms – extravagant marble and chrome, extraordinary for 1935.
• The art collections – the Claudia Gian Ferrari collection includes works by de Chirico, Moràndi, Sironi and Martini; the Alighiero de' Micheli collection adds eighteenth-century paintings.
• The garden – a walled green space in the middle of the city, with a café that is a genuinely lovely place to sit.
• The cinema connection – Luca Guadagnino filmed I Am Love here with Tilda Swinton, and the house is effectively a character in the film.

Practical Information

• Opening hours: Wednesday to Sunday, roughly 10:00 to 18:00. Closed Monday and Tuesday.
• Admission: around 15 euro, reduced for FAI members.
• Visits: the interior is normally seen with a guide; the garden and café can be visited on their own.
• Booking ahead: strongly advisable at weekends, when guided slots fill up.
• Best time to visit: a weekday morning, followed by lunch in the garden.

Combine It With

The villa sits between the Quadrilatero della Moda and the Giardini Pubblici Indro Montanelli. A good afternoon: the Quadrilatero, then Villa Necchi, then a walk back through the gardens towards Brera.

Why Staying in Brera Makes the Difference

Taylor's Love Solferino B&B is at Via Solferino 56 in Zone 1, the historic centre, between Brera, Moscova and Corso Garibaldi. Villa Necchi is one of those places that is easy to reach on foot from the centre and awkward from anywhere else – another argument for staying inside Zone 1.

For travellers who prefer a short stay apartment in Milan centre to a hotel, the B&B offers free self check-in with a smart lock. Porta Garibaldi FS, 700 metres away, connects directly to Malpensa Airport with the Malpensa Express.