Some palazzi have many lives. Indeed, the charming Villa Giulia, overlooking the Borromean Gulf and the port of Verbania Pallanza, has lived many lives and acquired several identities. It was the mid-nineteenth century when Bernardino Branca, the founding father of the eponymous Fernet Branca bitter, was the first to dream of building a villa in this lakeside location. His herbal bitter recipe was said to have been invented in the back room of the Caffè del Portighetto, which originally traded at the side of the local town hall.  However, his business only prospered years later in Milan when, during a cholera epidemic, the bitter was deemed as medicinal. Bernadino’s son Giuseppe reaped the benefits of this success, and chose to give his wife Giulia a large villa, so he bought back the house originally built by his father Bernardino: it was 1880. 

Viewed from the lakeside, still today Villa Giulia is admired for its pure and graceful forms, its neoclassical style with splendid loggias, the rows of columns and the precious materials of the façades. For many, its romantic crescent-shaped terrace facing the lake is the dream location for a declaration of love.

However, the architect Giuseppe Pirovano chose not to replicate the same architectural style on the street-facing façade where Villa Giulia stands as a sombre edifice with large windows, seemingly inspired by the Renaissance style of Palazzo Strozzi in Florence. Classicism and Renaissance: the two faces of the Italic genius.

In the 1930s, the villa commenced a new life. Having been renamed Kursaal, for a time it also housed a casino. In the 1950s it was extended with two large halls and, over the decades, it was also a renowned ballroom. Today the Villa belongs to the Municipality of Verbania, and the decorative Art Nouveau rooms act as the perfect backdrop to contemporary art exhibitions, cultural and musical presentations plus important events such as “Editoria e Giardini” (annual botanical book fair) and the “Mostra della Camelia Invernale e Primaverile” (Winter and Spring Camellia Exhibition). 

The Villa Giulia garden is a park open to the public with a cafe kiosk. Sitting in the shade of centuries-old trees, visitors can admire the stunning spectacle of Lake Maggiore, the Islands, the Toce valley and the snow-capped peaks of the Valais.