Villa Togni già Averoldi

The main nucleus of Villa Togni, formerly Averoldi, stands on a 14th-century fortification. It is the time of the domination of the Visconti of Milan, during which the Villa is owned by the man of letters Pagnone Raccagni.
Within these walls in 1426 the Congiura di Gussago was born: a group of local nobles, led by Gherardo Averoldi, conspired against the Visconti and besieged Brescia until the city and much of eastern Lombardy fell under the rule of the Venetian Republic. These events are celebrated in the Villa's most important room with Ottavio Amigoni's two important frescoes commissioned by Giovanni Battista Averoldi in 1656. It was Giulio Averoldi (1563-1602) who purchased the medieval fortification and began a process of transforming this property into a pantheon dedicated to the celebration of his family.
In 1836 Giuseppe Averoldi commissioned a major restoration and expansion of the Villa, bringing it to the structure we see today.
It was in 1906 that the Villa passed into the ownership of the Togni family at the will of Giulio (1869-1933), an entrepreneur in the iron and steel industry and great-grandfather of the current owners, who purchased it and personally oversaw the restoration and retrieval of both the building and the French garden with the help of Egidio Dabbeni. The work was completed in 1911 with the inauguration of the English-style park designed by French architect Pierre André.
In this Villa lived and worked Camillo Togni (1922-1993), one of the most influential composers of the last century; his intense activity brought him to some of the most important stages including Il Teatro alla Scala in Milan, Teatro La Fenice in Venice, the Teatro dell'Opera in Rome and numerous editions of the Venice Biennale. The release of “Atto Unico - Life and Works of Camillo Togni,” the first documentary on the Brescian maestro, is planned for 2025.
The Villa Togni Gardens cover about four hectares and are divided into an 18th-century French Garden, an early 20th-century English Park, an orchard and an olive grove.
The French Garden follows the typical structure of a formal garden as theorized by Le Notre and was created, not without typically Italian influences, in the early eighteenth century on a commission from the scholar and celebrated man of letters Giulio Antonio Averoldi. The uniqueness of this garden is to be found in the seventeen trompe l'oeil frescoes that belt together with an important hornbeam hedge all the parterres. Eight of these frescoed “perspectives” are attributed to Ludovico Inganni, grandfather of the more famous Angelo and Brescian quadraturist. This is the only surviving work known to date.
Currently, the Togni family still lives in the spaces of the Villa and since 2020 has undertaken a major restoration of the Villa and Gardens also with the support of the Ministry of Culture under the PNRR Call for Historic Parks and Gardens.
On this impulse, the Fondazione Domani l'Aurora - Camillo Togni was created, which focuses on enhancing the most rare and unpublished musical heritage with special attention to the music of the 17th and 18th centuries. Currently the Foundation's general director is harpsichordist and conductor Giulio Francesco Togni, Camillo's great-grandson.