The Cav. Giuseppe Avena in the first half of the last century was the owner of the Certosa di Pesio, which he transformed into a hydrotherapeutic establishment, of the glass and crystal factory in Chiusa Pesio and of numerous lands located in the western slope of the Pesio valley. After having built some farmhouses near the Mombrisone hill, in 1840 the Avena had an original hunting lodge erected at the top of the hill.
Built in a neoclassical style, the building re-proposes the architectural themes introduced by the Venetian architect Palladio with four staircases that introduce through as many large portals of different design, in the octagonal-shaped building composed on the mezzanine floor by a living room, three small utility rooms and from an internal staircase that led to the first terrace. From here, through a spiral staircase in molten iron, one climbed to a second terrace in the center of which a large skylight illuminated the central round room adorned with paintings by Capetini, depicting a hunting scene with the Goddess Diana, and by the stuccos of Negrini.
The building is completed by a basement that served as a cellar. The villa, clad in chiselled stone and marble, was immersed in a large "English garden" designed by Giuseppe Ketmann.
Already at the end of the nineteenth century the hunting lodge began to decline due to moisture infiltration and lack of maintenance. When the large skylight collapsed, the spiral staircase, window frames and numerous marbles were removed. In recent years the Municipality, having come into possession of the historic building and the surrounding area, has started a gradual recovery project for the Mombrisone hunting lodge.
SOURCE: Municipality of Chiusa di Pesio