Villa Ottolenghi Wedekind
One of the most extraordinary modern gardens in Italy presently open to the public was built in 1955 in the rolling Monferrato hills amongst the woods and vineyards near Acqui Terme. It was designed by Pietro Porcinai around the villa by Marcello Piacentini and other rationalist architects.
The garden, directly related to the architecture, was commissioned by Astolfo, son of the first owner Arturo Ottolenghi who constructed the villa and the nearby building, destined to be a residence for artists and separated from the villa by a lawn, with his artist wife Herta von Wedekind zu Horst. The development of villa Ottolenghi was influenced by art as its reason for existence due to the Ottolenghi’s search for excellence from the 1920s which involved protagonists of the contemporary artistic scene: Marcello Piacentini, Vincenzo Vaccaro, Venanzo Crocetti and Arturo Martini.
