Zolesco di Casalpusterlengo, Villa Biancardi

Villa Biancardi was built by Serafino Biancardi, in the area occupied by an existing castle, and is therefore also known by the name of "Zorlesco Castle". The building work began in 1911 and the project was very probably entrusted to Gino Coppedè. Villa Biancardi is in an Eclectic Liberty style and is characterised, like many buildings of the time, by the presence of a high and elegant tower terminating in an elegant belvedere.
The outside walls of the villa are plastered and, in the part corresponding to the ground floor, the decoration by graffiti pictures uses the motif of the dressed stone in the corner tower, while the attic fascia is painted with frames in imitation marble.
The large windows are framed with refined decorations with ceramic mouldings, produced in local kilns.
The principal facade of the villa is characterised by a wide portico with seven arcades of rounded arches.
In the interior the spaces are rationally distributed and the public, private and service areas are well separated.
The guiding motive of the internal decoration of the house, which changes from room to room, is set by the band painted on the upper part of the wall: an invitation to admire the ceilings with their painted panels.
The hunting room was originally the dining room and is one of the best preserved rooms in the villa. It owes its name to the important painted band with hunting scenes, a work attributed to Angelo Prada, a painter from Casalpusterlengo.
The billiard room was almost entirely filled by the table for the game. On the wall to the left there remains the rack for cues, complete with a marker for scores.
One of the most attractive areas of the villa is the one including the large grand staircase, with three flights in Durmast Oak, made entirely without supports.
The wrought iron supports of the handrail have opulent masses of flowers, all different, tied by flowing ribbons. Their lightness of manufacture and accuracy of execution suggest that they are the work of the great Lodi iron-worker Alessandro Mazzucotelli.
The first floor room with the most important decoration is signor Biancardi’s bedroom: a large roundel encloses a fresco, also attributed to Angelo Prada, representing a maternal scene, which is almost a lay Nativity.