The Villa Ghirlanda Silva is a 17th-century rural palace and park located in

Cinisello Balsamo Cinisello Balsamo (; ) is a ''comune'' (municipality) of about 75,200 inhabitants in the Metropolitan City of Milan, in the Italian region of Lombardy, about northeast of Milan city center. Cinisello Balsamo borders the following municipalitie ...

, just north of Milan, in the

Province of Milan The province of Milan () was a province in the Lombardy region of Italy. Its capital was the city of Milan. The area of the former province is highly urbanized, with more than 2,000 inhabitants/km2, the third-highest population density among Ital ...

Lombardy The Lombardy Region (; ) is an administrative regions of Italy, region of Italy that covers ; it is located in northern Italy and has a population of about 10 million people, constituting more than one-sixth of Italy's population. Lombardy is ...

, Italy.

History

A residence at the site was originally commissioned by Donato I Silva, Count of Biandrate, from the architect Francesco Maria Richino (died 1658), who was aided by his son Domenico in completion of the project which began circa 1660. An engraving of the building by

Marc'Antonio Dal Re Marcantonio Dal Re (18 December 1697 – 26 April 1766), also spelled Marc'Antonio Dal Re, was an Italian people, Italian engraver and publisher. He is known for his engravings of buildings and vedute of Lombardy. Among his most splendid prints ...

(1726) and Karl Remshart (before 1735) document the structure. Donato Silva (1607-1675) had begun an expansive array of palaces in Rovescala (1656), Cinisello (1660) and Biandrate (1667). In the villa of Cinisello, Donato and later his son Gerardo (1646-1714) had the villa both frescoed and with a prominent picture gallery. Donato I's nephew, Count Donato II Silva (1690-1779) and his great-grandson, Count Ercole Silva (1756-1840) completed the construction and landscaped the surroundings. Ercole, had an interest in natural history and law, and traveled in 1785 to England and France with Archduke Ferdinand. He expanded the villa's collections, and commissioned further decorations from Giuseppe Lavelli and Giuseppe Levati in the Sala dei Paesaggi and the Sala degli Specchi. After the death of Ercole, the villa passed to his nephew Girolamo Ghirlanda and later to his son Carlo, who also associated Silva with his paternal surname. By 1886 Carlo Ghirlanda Silva sold the villa and the park to Giuseppe Frova. In the 20th century, the property was purchased by Count Giuseppe Cattaneo di Pro, and in 1926, by Emilio Cipelletti. In 1974 Villa Ghirlanda became the property of the municipal administration of Cinisello Balsamo, which started the refurbishment work there to make it the site of some municipal offices and services, to officially open to the public in 1982. Since 2004, the south wing has housed a photography museum. Other portions of the villa are used for ceremonial occasions.https://www.comune.cinisello-balsamo.mi.it/spip.php?article30603 Municipal description of the property] Much of the movable collections have been sold or taken elsewhere. The gardens represent a marvelous array of Romanticism, Romantic structures and architectural ''capricci'' integrated into the landscape.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ghirlanda Silva Villas in Lombardy Gardens in Milan 1660 establishments in Italy