On Via Mozart, the noise from San Babila arrives muffled, as if someone had turned down the volume.
Behind a gate, amid magnolias and gravel, lies a swimming pool that is more than ninety years old. It is considered the first in Milan to have been built on private property, at a time when taking a dip in one’s own backyard was a luxury reserved for the few.
It’s the swimming pool at Villa Necchi Campiglio in Milan, and this fall there’s one more reason to go see it. Through November 29, the villa is hosting an exhibition of drawings by Piero Portaluppi, the architect who built it between 1932 and 1935—an exhibition that has been extended due to its popularity with the public.
It’s open Wednesday through Sunday, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., a five-minute walk from the Palestro M1 station.
4 November 2026 15:15 + more dates
Villa Necchi Campiglio
Elevators, intercoms, and hidden staircases for the servants: what life was like at Villa Necchi in the 1930s
Today it is one of Milan’s iconic landmarks, but in the 1930s it was first and foremost a family home. The sisters Nedda and Gigina Necchi and Angelo Campiglio, Gigina’s husband, were industrialists from Pavia involved in the sewing machine and cast-iron industries.
Portaluppi was asked to design a modern home. He filled it with features that seemed like science fiction at the time: an elevator, a dumbwaiter, intercoms, a heated pool, and a tennis court.
There was also a less obvious detail. The servants slept under the roof and moved around the house via hidden staircases and passageways, so that the owners and guests never crossed paths with them.
From the Prince’s Chamber to the set of *House of Gucci*: Who Has Passed Through Via Mozart
Many guests passed through here: in those years, the villa was one of the city’s liveliest social hubs. Among the most frequent visitors was Enrico d’Assia, set designer at La Scala.
During his long stays in Milan, he had a room all to himself, still known today as the Prince’s Room.
Maria Gabriella of Savoy, a friend of the Necchi sisters, was also a frequent guest on the guest floor.
Since 2008, the Necchi Campiglio residence has been among the villas open to the public in Milan and has also become a film set. Guadagnino shot “Io sono l’amore” there, and Ridley Scott chose it as the home of Maurizio Gucci’s father in “House of Gucci.”
Picasso in the guest wing and Portaluppi’s drawings on display through November 29
Today, the guest apartments feature two permanent art collections. One belongs to Guido Sforni: 21 works on paper, including pieces by Picasso, Matisse, Modigliani, and Fontana.
The other is the de’ Micheli Collection, dedicated to 18th-century Venice.
In the atrium, meanwhile, works by Sironi and Arturo Martini from the Gian Ferrari Collection await you.
In the attic, which was renovated this year, there is the new permanent exhibition of the Portaluppi Archive.
There you’ll also find one of Milan’s must-see exhibitions this fall, “Piero Portaluppi: The Art of Drawing,” featuring 44 drawings ranging from early caricatures to designs for private homes.
And if you stop by on Saturday, November 7, or Sunday, November 8, the villa will be filled with plants and flowers for the “Colori d’Autunno” market exhibition.
Practical Information
Hours: Wednesday–Sunday 10 a.m.–6 p.m., last admission at 5 p.m. The café is open daily (following the villa’s opening hours, but on Mondays it opens at noon).
Tickets: reduced rate of 9 euros for ages 6–18 and students up to age 25; free for FAI members and children up to age 5.
How to get there: M1 Palestro, M4 Tricolore, or San Babila; tram lines 9 and 19, Tricolore stop.
