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Torno

Villa Pliniana, Torno

Visit duration
10–20 min
Booking
Not required
Area
First Basin
The yellow villa on the shore below the rock face, with the white waterfall coming down through the greenery behind it.Marimari52 · CC BY-SA 4.0
  • Riccardo Ortelli · CC BY-SA 4.0
  • Rothschild editor · CC BY-SA 4.0

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The yellow villa on the shore below the rock face, with the white waterfall coming down through the greenery behind it.

Marimari52 · CC BY-SA 4.0

Why go

Villa Pliniana is a sixteenth-century residence on Torno's lakeshore, below a rock face, beside an intermittent spring and an eighty-metre waterfall.

It takes its name from the spring described by both Plinys, including in the Younger's letter to Licinius Sura. Giovanni Anguissola bought the spring and land in 1573; work began in 1574 and the villa was still unfinished at his death in 1578. His nephew Giulio continued construction. The property passed to the Visconti Borromeo in 1590 and the Canarisi in 1676. The façade has four tiers of windows and a central loggia facing the lake. Guests included Napoleon, Byron, Stendhal and Rossini. The villa is privately owned; interior visits are organised.

  • The villa with the waterfall behind it, seen from the lake between Torno and Faggeto.
  • The intermittent spring Pliny already described.

Highlights

  • The eighty-metre waterfall behind the villa
  • The Doric loggia with Pliny's letter
  • The villa begun by Giovanni Anguissola in 1574

Getting there

  • The villa is private. Its façade can be seen from the lake, from boats following the shore between Torno and Faggeto Lario. Guided visits organised by the municipality include arrival by boat from Torno.

On the map

Explore the lake
TornoFaggeto LarioVilla Pliniana, Torno

© OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL

Nearby: places, experiences, services

Distances as the crow flies.

Sources and credits

Sources and credits