VILLA ARCONATI FAR … a history spanning four centuries
Located in the green heart of Parco delle Groane, just 10 km from the center of Milan and five minutes from the new MIND center, Villa Arconati has maintained miraculously intact its own identity without being incorporated into the urban fabric. Among the most illustrious examples of the “villa di delizia” of the Milanese patriciate, it boasts a timeless charm, enriched by four centuries of history.
The project for the expansion and refinement of the site, started by the count Galeazzo Arconati in 1610, led the “Castellazzo” to transform itself from a simple one country house in one of the richest and most impressive noble residences of the aristocracy, so much so that it was called the little Versailles of Milan in the eighteenth-century guides of the Grand tour.
Among its treasures there are the imposing classical sculpture of Tiberius, from the first century A.D., the Hall of Phaeton with the beautiful fresco by the Galliari Brothers, the scenographers of the Scala, the Ballroom, the result of the finest Lombard baroque style, the Sala della Caccia which preserves twelve canvases dated 1705 of the maestro Crivellone, a monumental park of twelve hectares, which today is one of the very few examples of Italian and French gardens preserved in
all of Lombardy, with water games created starting from the direct study of Leonardo’s Codex Atlanticus, donated by Arconati to the Ambrosiana Library in 1637.

Today the Augusto Rancilio Foundation has the ambitious plan to bring back Villa Arconati FAR to its former glory, giving the entire complex a new life in a modern, sustainable and future-oriented perspective, to bring forward the memory and the project of those who, in four centuries of history, have believed in the uniqueness of this immortal place.

FAR – Augusto Rancilio Foundation for Villa Arconati
The Augusto Rancilio Foundation is a non-profit cultural institution founded in 1983 and dedicated to the memory of the architect Augusto Rancilio, who died prematurely in the late 1970s. The Foundation supports and promotes projects in the social and cultural fields, with particular attention to the protection of the national historical and artistic heritage. As part of its business, it organizes artistic activities such as modern and contemporary art exhibitions, theatrical and musical performances, cultural events.
Through the FAR Study Center it supports study and research projects, favoring the inclusion of young people in the working world thanks to the collaboration with Italian schools and universities, offering research paths, exchanges, competitions, scholarships and support for university and postgraduate projects.
It supports social cooperatives that promote gender equality and the inclusion in the working world of cognitively and socially disadvantaged people. It creates the products of the FAR Bookshop thanks to the collaboration with local artisans to support the richness of the local area, with a view to
responsible production.
It deals with the restoration project of Villa Arconati-FAR with particular attention to sustainability, accessibility and with a view to a recovery that promotes artistic excellence.
Since 2015 it has opened the Villa to the public on an ongoing basis, organizing events and activities for its enhancement: themed dinners, historical re-enactments, guided tours, recreational and educational activities, thematic itineraries, food and wine events, gala evenings, conventions, conferences, training workshops.
The activities of the FAR have for some time been responding to the objectives for sustainable development of the 2030 Agenda, in the context of Art and Culture that characterizes the Foundation.