Borromeo Castle, the Museum of Children’s Clothing and the Doll and Toy Museum

Angera’s Borromeo Castle towers majestically over the southern shores of Lake Maggiore from a spur of chalky cliffs. The fortified mediaeval castle is steeped in examples of its long, illustrious history, such as the Hall of Justice with its...

Villa Toeplitz and the Castiglioni Museum and Park

Villa Toeplitz stands imposingly on a hill to the east of Sant'Ambrogio, an area of Varese at the foot of Sacro Monte. The villa is currently home to one of the decentralised branches of the University of Insubria. The park covers...

Masnago Castle and Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art

Masnago Castle features architecture from many different periods ranging from the Middle Ages to the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. With a tower and splendid frescoed interiors, this mediaeval fortress feels more like a stately home than a...

Palazzo Estense and Gardens

One of the public buildings in Varese that is well worth a visit is Palazzo Estense, which was the summer and autumn residence and court of Francesco III d'Este, the Duke of Modena and Lord of Varese. It was built to the designs of the architect...

Villa Panza and the Panza Art Collection

Surrounded by splendid gardens covering 33,000 sqm, Villa Panza overlooks the city of Varese from the hill known as Biumo Superiore. More than one hundred works of art by contemporary artists are displayed in the villa’s halls and large stables...

Sacro Monte di Varese

Sacro Monte (Sacred Mountain) is the finest example of history and art in the Varese area. It is one of the nine sites known as the Sacri Monti (Sacred Mountains) of Piedmont and Lombardy that were inscribed on the UNESCO list of World Heritage...

Volandia Park and the Aviation Museum (Somma Lombardo)

Volandia has a fantastic exhibition that takes visitors on a journey through the history of international aviation, with a special focus on some of the legendary companies from the Varese area, Lombardy and Italian industry. The exhibition is...

MA*GA Museum

The MA*GA museum currently has more than 5,000 works including paintings, sculptures, installations, artists’ books, photographs, design objects and graphic works that offer visitors a comprehensive and eloquent overview of the main trends in the...

The Textile Museum

The Museum of Textiles and Industrial Traditions was opened with the aim of collecting, preserving and displaying objects, machinery, products and documents from the local textile industry and other local industries in Busto Arsizio. The museum...

International Museum of Ceramic Design

Within the sixteenth-century Palazzo Guilizzoni (which is now known as Perabò) in Cerro is a cloister with porticoes made of granite from Baveno that houses the Civic Collection of Earthenware. The MIDeC (International Museum of Ceramic Design)...

Laveno Mombello

Laveno is the one of the main touristic towns of the lombardian side of lake Maggiore, it is well known for its marina, link to the piemontese side. It is situated between the blue of the lake and the green of the surrounding mountains, including...

Birrificio Angelo Poretti

The Brewery Angelo Poretti is a pearl of the Art Nouveau style and a unicum of our land. It is situated in Induno Olona and it's a perfect combination of art and technology since the early 1900s, when the Bihl and Woltz Architecture Studio in...

Angera

The village of Angera is one of the most beautiful on the lombard shore of Lake Maggiore: it is an open-air museum that includes sites of artistic and cultural interest, environmental goods and a lakefront with beautiful landscapes. The alleys in...

Frera Museum

Frera was an italian motorcycle company, open and active in Tradate, Varese from 1905 to 1936.

The museum of the motorcycle, actually located and open in the old company factory, presents the history of Frera and it is divided into two...

Casa Museo Lodovico Pogliaghi

The home-atelier of the great eclectic artist which dates back to the early '900, built by himself, is the first point of interest you can meet after the 14th chapel on the sacred path of Sacro Monte di Varese. Pogliaghi designed it as a museum...

Museo Baroffio e del Santuario del Sacro Monte sopra Varese

Dedicated to the ones interested in the history of Santa Maria del Monte, it includes and shows romanesque sculptures, precious miniatures, a collection of important paintings of Giuseppe Baroffio Dall’Aglio and a section of sacred art from the...

Villa Mirabello Museo Archeologico

Villa Mirabello was built in the eighteenth century on the top of the Mirabello hills. Mirabello means beautiful view, and the villa is aptly named for its panoramic vistas over the lake and Alps. The villa currently houses the Civic Museums,...

SHOPPING DISTRICT

Saronno, Busto Arsizio and Gallarate are three of the largest and most industrialized cities in the area of Varese: they are home to several points of cultural interest, but also to markets, shopping centers, small craft shops and interesting...