TYPE: • Residencial building
• House CURRENT USE: • Private house HISTORICAL USE: • Private house LEGAL STATUS: • Private PLAN AND CONSTRUCTION 1915* - 1916• Arnaldo Gardella • Luigi Moretti * The year may not be exact. |
The Varinella hamlet has been the holiday destination of the Genoa middle-class since the second half of the 19th century. In those years, several villas were built, often after projects by the members of the Gardella family, who had been living in Varinella since the late 18th century. The most valuable examples are the Caruso and Ferraro houses, built in the Vallebona di Pessino pine forest, designed by Arnaldo Gardella, Ignazio senior’s grandson and Ignazio Gardella’s father.
The Villa is located in the Vallebona pine forest and was built at the same time as the Villino Ferraro (see map) after the same designers’ project (A. Gardella e L. Martini). The building fits in the surrounding landscape, with a vaguely Nordic taste: the façade features overhangs supported by wooden joists, while the same material in the loft plays a decorative role, imitating a fake structure of beams and pillars that support the pitches, which include the windows. 
The roof is very sloping and is covered with slate from the Branzi. The corner entrance accesses a large hall, which opens onto the large dining- /living-room and the access room to the kitchen. The Carrara marble staircase leading to the upper floors starts in the hall. The first floor houses four rooms, the bathrooms and a large terrace; an additional floor with three bedrooms is under the strongly inclined roof. Externally, the façade is finished with natural plaster, whose natural shade has been corrected by “thoroughly filtered soot water”. The roof is covered with dark slate of the Branzi, more elegant and more resistant to the low temperature of the area compared to that of the Genoa area.
How to get there: From Arquata Scrivia, take the provincial road towards Grondona. After the bridge over the Scrivia, turn right to Pessino and continue about 500 meters.
Modern architecture in the surrounding areas: War Memorial, Varinella hamlet, made in 2005 according to Ignazio Gardella’s 1939 project.
Sources: M. Casamonti (a cura di), Ignazio Gardella architetto 1905-1999. Costruire le modernità, Electa, Milano 2006
Non Indicato, I villini Ferraro e Caruso di Arquata Scrivia e il villino Crespi di Alessandria, in L'edilizia Moderna n. VIII-IX, 1916
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