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There are places on Lake Como that you would not expect to exist. Casa Bianca Como is one of them. A white marble villa on the Como waterfront, it spent decades as a private residence, then a textile company headquarters, then briefly a bank. In 2024, it became something harder to define — and far more interesting.
We had read about it, and a friend of ours — an art collector — wanted to bring us without delay. One of those addresses that stays in your mind until the right afternoon arrives.
Casa Bianca Como is the living contemporary art collection of Paolo and Antonella, built over forty years with patience, conviction and an eye that has clearly never stopped looking. Open to the public since 2024, it occupies three floors of a historic villa at Via Cinque Giornate 26 — a short walk from the center of Como.
It is not a museum in the institutional sense. The works are distributed across rooms that retain their domestic scale. Art here is not displayed behind barriers. It breathes alongside furniture, beside windows that look onto bare winter trees. The afternoon light does something particular to the space.
Two works stopped us completely.
The first was a sculpture by Francesco Vezzoli — a figure assembled from two fragments with no historical connection: the head of a Venus by Praxiteles, the body of a wealthy Roman woman from the first century AD. Two pieces of antiquity, placed together, producing a third thing that neither could have been alone. A deceptively simple idea that rewards attention. We had seen Vezzoli at Gagosian some years ago. Inside Casa Bianca Como, it felt different: more intimate, less performative. The domestic scale of the villa suits him.
The second was Mothia a Oh by Pier Paolo Calzolari — Arte Povera at its most essential. Waves of salt laid over a lead frame. Nothing more. The kind of work that makes you stand quietly for longer than you expected, and that follows you home. If we could place one piece from Casa Bianca on a wall in Como, it would be this one.
Francesco Vezzoli sculpture Casa Bianca Como contemporary art collection
Arte Povera Pier Paolo Calzolari Mothia a Oh Casa Bianca Como
At some point in the afternoon, the right thing to do is sit down. The ground floor hosts Cova Casabianca — a partnership between the historic Milanese patisserie Cova and the Casa Bianca collection. Cappuccino, small chocolate muffins, the particular warmth of a room that knows how to hold people without performing hospitality at them.
We had brought two Nosetta bags — the Bellagio hobo on one shoulder, the Orta clutch in salt-and-pepper cotton tweed with cuoio leather detail. They sat on the table between us. Good materials find their place naturally — in a workshop, on a lake ferry, in a room full of serious art.
Cappuccina at Cova's Patisserie with our Olmo hobo in Cotton Tweed
The Cova Patisserie at the Lake Como Casa Bianca
Lake Como has extraordinary things to offer — landscape, architecture, history, light at every hour. What it has sometimes lacked is the kind of cultural destination that rewards curiosity rather than simply confirming a postcard. As a brand built around the materials and traditions of this territory, we feel that absence keenly.
Casa Bianca Como is a genuine response to it. Not a tourist attraction. A place with a point of view, open to anyone willing to look carefully.
We will return. Probably on a weekday, probably in early afternoon, probably with someone who hasn't been yet.
Casa Bianca Como internal stairs with a piece Pier Paolo Pasolini by Marzia Migliora
Nosetta Gallia clutch cotton tweed admiring the Casa Bianca Como art collection
Address: Via Cinque Giornate 26, Como
Opening: Open to visitors — booking recommended
Patisserie: Cova Casabianca on site
Website: casabiancacomo.com
Düsseldorf-based art consultant Sabine Broekmann has spent thirty years placing art in homes, galleries and design spaces. We asked her about atmosphere, collecting — and the Italian objects she chooses for herself.
The things we value most about how we work were not invented. They were inherited — from the mills, the artisans, and the rhythms of life on Lake Como. And they are responsible. Zero waste. Transparent supply chain. Timeless design. No compromise.
Every Nosetta piece begins with the fabrics of Como—the same exceptional textiles that supply the world's luxury houses. But understanding why these fabrics are exceptional requires going deeper. Recently, director Maddalena Terragni guided us through the Fondazione Antonio Ratti's extraordinary collection: over 3,300 textile fragments spanning from the third to the twentieth century. What Antonio Ratti began in the 1950s as personal design inspiration has become an invaluable public resource. For those of us working with Como textiles, it's a return to the source—a reminder that we're not simply buying fabric, but participating in a heritage that spans centuries.
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