Marco Arosio is a collector and connoisseur, who has dedicated his life to the search for antiques that will make one’s heart skip a beat. And Villa Singer, his home in Gorla, Milan, is filled with evidence of his years in the business. Built in the early 1900s by an Austrian nobleman, after whom the villa is named, the property was used as both a residence and a laboratory for creating perfumes.
Overlooking the banks of the Martesana Canal, there are locals who still remember the barges that docked to unload crates of dried roots, ready to be processed for the production of fragrances. In the early 1900s, the area was a charming village-like suburb full of Liberty-style buildings such as Villa Singer, with lots of greenery and lovely views, and known as Little Paris.
Marco’s great-grandfather fell in love with the area and bought Villa Singer in 1934. Here, his grandmother painted en plein air, and the house became a gathering place for fellow artists who came to paint and discuss art. This idyll ended abruptly with the Second World War, and in 1944 an American bombing raid devastated the district.
Gorla never quite recovered its bucolic charm and is now regarded as a somewhat notorious postcode, but it remains a creative district filled with artisans. Marco describes the area as ‘a corner of great tranquility but also great vitality – that Milanese industriousness made up of specialised workshops.’
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And although not a maker like his neighbours, he has certainly been tireless in his creativity; working his magic on the villa, which had fallen into disrepair. After many years’ work, visitors are rewarded by a theatrical beauty that offers a taste of the house in its heyday.
The rich palette of reds and greens was inspired by a trip to Copenhagen in the 1990s, where Marco was captivated by a sequence of burgundies and greens at the museum dedicated to Bertel Thorvaldsen.
‘I’ve changed some colours over the years: at one point, I wanted to have a cosier home, so I added original wallpapers from the 1960s, as well as the William Morris paper designed for Liberty in the bathroom, with finishing touches in Alpi marble and purple.’
For years, Marco was head of the 20th-century Decorative Arts and Murano Glass department at the Cambi Auction House in Genoa and Milan. ‘I also advised public institutions – such as Castello Sforzesco and Casa Museo Boschi Di Stefano in Milan – on the purchase of 20th-century furniture,’ he says, by way of explaining his interest in interior design.
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‘I’m heavily influenced by my work, and I’m an excellent window dresser. For me, it’s natural to try to position objects in the best possible arrangement.’ He has no problem mixing objects of different origins, or eras. ‘When things are of great quality, they can work together to create a new, but always high-level, dialogue.’
Marco has a particular love of Murano glass, cultivated since childhood when his father received a Venini vase as a gift. ‘In my family, there’s a strong pessimism: everyone thought that this wonderful vase would break,’ he recalls. ‘I, on the other hand, was fascinated, almost enchanted. I looked at the shape, the quality and the colour with a child’s eyes.’ That particular vase was by Carlo Scarpa, artistic director of Venini until 1946, and inspired by the shapes of ancient Chinese porcelain.
The intrinsic beauty of glass is rooted in ‘the knowledge of its creation process,’ says Marco. ‘Every glass object is, in fact, unique and unrepeatable. I love searching for these objects, and I love doing it in person. In the flatness of online sales, how can you find that magic?’
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Objects must be touched, held, chosen and pondered, he believes. ‘There’s never one artefact identical to another. I love things related to moments in life, or memories of certain people, even if they don’t have any particular value.’
Marco knows he is fortunate to have inherited the house from his grandparents, describing it as ‘a great stroke of luck,’ which he loves to share with friends and family. But this ignores all the hard work he has put into its restoration.
When he took possession, the house was in a sorry state and he’s proud that today, visitors assume everything is original, when much of it has been cleverly reclaimed from other sources. The terracotta floor tiles, for example, might appear to have been ‘born here,’ as Marco says, but they came from a hotel in Valsassina. Likewise the handles, sinks and other fixtures and fittings, all of which work in harmony with Marco’s meticulously chosen colours and retro touches.
Untouched as it is by gentrification, many people are eager to rediscover this area and the course of the Martesana Canal, on foot or by bike. Unfortunately, notes Marco, due to its history of bombings and reconstruction, the district’s beautiful parts are often disguised by cement, but he takes great pleasure in revealing the history of the Villa to curious visitors: ‘a surprise that is always very much appreciated.’
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