Villa Zorn in Sesto San Giovanni
The historical garden of Villa Zorn is located in the very heart of Sesto San Giovanni and it is considered the real green lung of the city.
The villa was wanted, at the very beginning of the XIX century, by the Lombard aristocratic Marzorati family, from whom it took its name. The villa is a two-story building, neoclassical style, with a rectangular base and a central body protruding onto the park.
The park, once more extended, underwent several modifications over time. Earlier known for the wide range of arboreal species present in it, planted and cared for in the botanical nineteenth-century spirit, it still shows so far some traces of the original landscape layout. The garden is always open to the public, visitors and passers-by.
In 1870 Zorn’s family, former Austrian officials, bought the entire property including the garden, the farmland and the Villa, even more embellished by the paintings and wall paintings of Gustav Zorn. In the past the main façade of the Villa overlooked on a large Italian style garden, whose fountain must be the only commemorative remnant, with paths bordered by tall bay and box hedges.
The landscape park extended around that formal garden, with an ‘English’ layout and more than 500 different species of exotic plants, aromatic herbs and tropical flowers. Also the park was enriched with new, precious and rare varieties of plants and in it was erected, at the very north side, a hill from whose top it is possible to admire the surrounding countryside.
In 1947 the Villa and the Garden, became property of the Municipality of Sesto San Giovanni.
Since the Villa is hosting the central library, as well as other organizations and associations, whereas the private park is now open to public.
Recently, the garden of the villa was the subject of a redevelopment that has focused on three main themes: the play area for children, the plant fence and the green door.