Cultural travel is increasingly shaped by places that offer more than accommodation alone. Across Europe, historic residences, private collections, and architecturally significant buildings are opening their doors in new ways, allowing visitors to engage directly with art, design, and local heritage. These destinations encourage a slower pace of discovery, where architecture, craftsmanship, and artistic expression become part of daily life. As expectations continue to evolve, the distinction between museum, private residence, and boutique hospitality is becoming increasingly fluid.
This transformation reflects wider developments within cultural tourism. According to UNESCO, cultural and creative industries play a central role in preserving heritage while generating sustainable economic opportunities for cities and local communities. The World Travel & Tourism Council also identifies cultural experiences among the principal motivations influencing international travel, with travellers increasingly seeking destinations that provide authentic connections to history, architecture, and the arts. Art historian Sir Kenneth Clark once observed, “The great artist is the person who invents a way of seeing.” His reflection extends beyond the artwork itself, suggesting that carefully designed environments can reshape how visitors perceive architecture, objects, and everyday surroundings. Projects that combine heritage buildings with contemporary artistic practice continue to demonstrate how culture can be experienced through living spaces as naturally as through galleries and museums.
This philosophy lies at the heart of CASABIANCA in Como, where the De Santis family has introduced three new suites within the villa’s upper floor, extending a project that has transformed a historic residence into a destination dedicated to contemporary art, architecture, and Italian design. Conceived as the latest chapter in the property’s evolution, the suites invite guests to experience the villa not as visitors passing through, but as temporary residents surrounded by one of the family’s carefully assembled art collections.
The project originates from more than four decades of collecting, research, and personal commitment to contemporary art. Returning the historic villa to the city of Como, the De Santis family envisioned CASABIANCA as a place where hospitality naturally coexists with artistic dialogue. The introduction of the suites allows this concept to continue beyond the exhibition spaces, encouraging guests to spend time with works of art within an intimate domestic setting. Could the future of cultural hospitality be found in places where collecting, architecture, and everyday life exist under the same roof?
Designed in collaboration with architect Corrado Tagliabue, the interiors establish a dialogue between the villa’s original architecture, completed in 1931 by Como architect Piero Ponci, and the principles of Italian design that defined the middle decades of the twentieth century. Every architectural intervention was carefully considered to preserve the character of the historic residence while introducing contemporary comfort.
Original craftsmanship remains visible throughout the suites. Door handles, window fittings, and taps designed by Gio Ponti appear alongside restored elm flooring framed with dark walnut, while Rubelli wallpapers extend continuously across walls and ceilings to create intimate interiors. Bathrooms feature Verde Alpi and Lepanto marble combined with cathedral glass and polished steel details inspired by the refined aesthetic of the 1930s. Three discreet terraces incorporated within the roofline overlook either Lake Como or the villa’s centuries-old cedar tree, preserving the historic façade while introducing generous natural light into the living spaces.
The interiors are completed by an extensive collection of vintage furniture and decorative objects assembled over many years by Paolo and Antonella De Santis. Restored bookcases, chandeliers by Luigi Caccia Dominioni, textiles produced by the historic silk manufacturer Ratti, and furnishings by leading Italian makers reinforce the relationship between architecture, design history, and contemporary collecting.
Guests arrive through a newly created entrance hall inspired by the architectural language of Piero Portaluppi. Here, a site-specific work by Roger Selden is presented alongside Luigi Caccia Dominioni’s Mirror Steel piece and historic “Farfalle” wall lights designed by Max Ingrand for FontanaArte in 1961. Original cement tiles recovered during restoration are complemented by mahogany joinery, brass detailing, and decorative trompe-l’œil elements that echo the villa’s monumental staircase, creating continuity between the historic building and the new intervention.
Each suite develops its own artistic identity through commissions created specifically for CASABIANCA. Suite Uberto, the largest of the three, is dedicated to Milan-based artist Simona Uberto. At its centre is Appartenenze, a composition of fifteen aluminium figures incorporating photographic imagery that explores the traces left by personal relationships throughout life. The installation is accompanied by Bolle di Sapone, a sculptural work examining family memory through suspended polychrome spheres that respond to changing daylight entering the suite.
Suite Selden presents eighteen mixed-media works by American artist Roger Selden, created during the 1990s. Combining acrylic and silicone, the compositions explore recurring faces, symbols, and self-portraits that move between introspection and humour while establishing a dialogue with the restrained elegance of Italian interior design.
Suite Spoldi introduces visitors to the conceptual language of Aldo Spoldi, where the recurring figure of Pinocchio serves as the starting point for a visual conversation with artists represented elsewhere in the CASABIANCA collection. References, quotations, and artistic associations transform the suite into an imagined point of departure where artworks appear connected through memory and shared narratives.
Life within the villa continues at a measured pace. Breakfast prepared by Cova is served privately in each suite before guests explore Como, its lakeside promenades, historic centre, and celebrated examples of Italian Rationalist architecture. Returning to CASABIANCA, visitors may enjoy a light lunch or afternoon tea before the villa gradually returns to its quieter rhythm as public visiting hours conclude.
Private after-hours access to the collection offers another perspective on the residence. Once the galleries close, the atmosphere changes entirely, allowing guests to encounter the artworks without interruption, surrounded only by the silence of the villa itself.
Through the addition of these three suites, CASABIANCA extends its original vision of bringing together art, architecture, and hospitality within a historic home. The project offers an opportunity to experience contemporary collecting not through a conventional museum visit, but through everyday living, where works of art gradually reveal themselves over time and become part of the rhythm of daily life.
