CASABIANCA. Inside a collection
Untainted. Intimate. Open.
CASABIANCA is home to contemporary art collected by Paolo and Antonella since the 1980s: a deeply personal and ever-evolving collection born of vision, mission and passion. This pristine villa, with its original charm intact, has now become their second home.
CASABIANCA, open to all, is not so much a museum as a gateway to something far greater.
“We know they speak to one another
– art and home –
even when we're not there to hear.”
Welcoming is not the same thing as living in a place. Both are acts of hospitality.
The idea behind CASABIANCA goes far beyond the realm of hospitality and private collecting; it celebrates art, culture and the lake in a villa designed for living but also entertaining guests.
One villa, one destiny
An elegant villa clad in white marble: three levels, an undulating façade.
This is what you see from outside CASABIANCA and how the people of Como have always seen it, right down to the plaque on the gate bearing its original name.
Designed in 1930 by Piero Ponci, it belongs to a group of three neighboring villas, each one unlike the other, all facing the lake. Almost an exercise in style for the architect.
First a private residence and then the head office of the Rosasco textile company; later sold to Cavalier Antonio Ratti and briefly home to a bank. In 2024, the villa found a new purpose, and a new destiny, as CASABIANCA.
But what was the spark that set it off?
It all started in the 1980s, when Paolo and Antonella bought a ceramic sculpture at La Ruoto, the studio of Ico and Luisa Parisi.
This was the beginning of a lifelong friendship, a shared passion for contemporary art and an uninterrupted exchange of ideas about the art world.
From there, the couple embarked on further exploration and discoveries, with ever-deeper curiosity and enthusiasm, until their growing collection found this new home away from home.
Copyright: CASABIANCA
