History
The villa already existed in the 16th century with its Italian style garden.
It was bought by Marquess Cusani in the mid 17th century as a holiday home. Giuseppe Piermarini designed an extension for it in 1776.
At the end of the 18th century the Hapsburg family, who had moved to nearby Monza, stayed here as did the Bourbons from Naples. A true transformation was commissioned by Ferdinando Cusani at the beginning of the 19th century, with the help of the gardener Antonio Villoresi, to create one of the first English parks in Northern Italy, documented by Ercole Silva in his book ''Dell'arte de' Giardini Inglesi'' (On the Art of English Gardens).
Two greenhouses were built to overwinter the citrus plants and the chestnut wood, crossed by perspective avenues in a radial pattern, was planted around the parterre in front of the villa, as well as groves and a maze. The artificial lake fed by a stream was a significant contribution to the landscape with its boathouse and a little island, and a grotto with an adjoining frescoed lodge.
After the property was taken over ty the lawyer Giovan Battista Traversi in 1817 the Bolognese architect Pelagio Palagi was commissioned to restore the whole complex.
The villa Cusani Traversi garden is now smaller but the romantic charm of the English layout remains intact, offering the chance to wander along the footpaths which wind through woodland containing more than seven hundred trees. The wide prospective view runs through dense planting, through which peep the charming Palagi tower and the Traversi funerary monument designed by Luca Beltrami, as far as the fountain with a statue of Neptune in the middle of the parterre with the monumental facade as backdrop.
