Palazzo Visconti is a historic building in Saronno, built in the sixteenth century and owned by the family whose name it bears. In the eighteenth century it passed to the Rubini, who partly changed its layout and made it a noble villa with a Lombard courtyard; then it belonged to the Schenardi and to Giuseppe Morandine, who in the mid-nineteenth century turned it into a boarding school. In 1882 the town council bought it as the town hall, and for this reason in Saronno dialect it is still the «Municipi Vècc», the old town hall. From 1926, when the council moved to Villa Gianetti, it housed the magistrates' court, until 1985; afterwards it was home to various associations.
What to see
The palace has the courtyard typical of Lombard villas, created by the Rubini, and is enriched by columns of Baveno granite.
On 28 September 2007 a fire destroyed much of the roof, and the water used to put it out damaged many rooms. The building was made safe with a temporary cover; in 2011 the town council set up a commission to study its recovery.
Visiting
Since the fire the palace has stood unused, and it has been put forward among the «Luoghi del Cuore» of the FAI heritage trust. The state of the works and any access should be checked with Saronno town council; it is wise to plan on seeing it from outside.
Our editors' tip
Inside, some ceilings are decorated with frescoes by Giovanni Antonio Cucchi, an eighteenth-century painter. As for Villa Gianetti, where the council offices moved when they left the palace, it remained the town hall for almost sixty years.
