Villa Vidua

The eighteenth-century villa of the lords of Conzano, superimposed on an original fifteenth-century structure, is inserted in the highest part of the historic core of the country. The designer of the eighteenth-century work is still unknown, but a nineteenth-century epistolary exchange between Carlo Vidua and the famous Casalese architect Luigi Canina suggests his intervention on the factory.

Much of the charm of this building lies in the facade characterized by the presence of loggias. The interiors of the villa are full of frescoes, made largely by Antonio Ivaldi di Acqui, called il Muto. Of great value and suggestion are the oriental scenes in the Chinese hall.

Once the property no longer belonged to the noble lords, the building became the parish's kindergarten, until the seventies of the last century, and then became municipal property in 1996.

The Villa presents itself on the ground floor with a series of rooms with ceilings decorated with 19th century taste; originally the ceilings were coffered as can still be seen in the dining rooms. The paintings are attributed to the painter Colombini.

On the first floor, the aforementioned Chinese room is noteworthy, a small space finely decorated with oriental scenes. According to the report by Niccolini, a historian of the 1800s, these frescoes are the work of the "Muto" or Pietro Ivaldi, a painter from Acqui.

Recently, a room on the first floor of the Villa has been dedicated to the recently deceased artist, Enrico Colombotto Rosso, where, in rotation, the works he donated to the Municipality are exhibited.

Villa Vidua is the centerpiece of the Municipality's cultural initiatives with art exhibitions, high-level exhibitions and conferences.