Villa Ottolenghi Wedekind, Acqui Terme

The Monterosso complex in Acqui Terme is the only example in Italy of close collaboration between architects, painters, sculptors and patrons to create the creation of a manor house characterized by the presence of important works of art. In 1920 the Counts Ottolenghi, Arturo and Herta von Wedekind zu Horst entrusted the design of Villa Ottolenghi, first to Federico d'Amato and then to the famous architect Marcello Piacentini. The patronage of the Ottolenghi brought a good number of artists to Monterosso: Ferruccio Ferrazzi, Fortunato Depero, Adolfo Wildt, Libero Andreotti, Fiore Martelli, Arturo Martini, Rosario Murabito, Venanzo Crocetti and Ferruccio Ferrazzi. It was at Villa Ottolenghi that Arturo Martini produced and brought some of his most important works including "Il Tobiolo, Adamo ed Eva, the Lions of Monterosso ...". On the death of the Counts, it is the son Astolfo who undertakes to complete the villa with the park by Pietro Porcinai. Not far from the villa, the Mausoleum, today "Temple of Herta", and the park, obtained from a precise scenographic design which takes the name of "Earthly Paradise". The huge portal of the Temple, in bronze, nickel and engraved copper, a monumental work of the masters Ernesto and Mario Ferrari, is a prelude to the beauty of the frescoes by Ferruccio Ferrazzi, and of the mosaics made by the mosaic school of Ravenna. And then around the villa the formal Garden, the Well, the Studies, the Cisternone and the Promenade that runs along the perimeter of the complex, the Graffiti, the Wisteria Pergola, the Swimming Pool, the Cellar ... are stages of a path of discovery that surprises for the attention to detail and here and there wrought iron masterpieces emerge such as: mushrooms, turtles, birds, snails ... the swivel armchairs in marble and among all this emerge the sculptures of the artist Herta.

Guides were very generous with their time - the visit lasted about 2 hours with wine tasting afterwards. It is in a beautiful setting and there are interesting decorative and historical details regarding the building and it's original owners.