An important landmark in Castel San Giovanni is Villa Braghieri, an eighteen century building with 23 rooms and a magnificent park.
Villa Braghieri was originally an ancient rural building which became a noble ‘country house’ thanks to Count Daniele Chiapponi from Piacenza. Later on, it became property of Scotti and then of Albesani, rich landowners and local administrators in the nineteenth century. Then it passed on to the lawyer Carlo Braghiery, who eventually gave it to Castel San Giovanni Municipality, which in 1996 became the only owner. The Villa was restored in few years thanks to Marcello Spigaroli architectural project. Now it hosts the local library and the historical archive, apart from the Ethnographic Museum of Val Tidone located in the basement.
Several rooms of the library are magnificently decorated, some other still present elegant stuccoed elements from the end of the eighteenth century. The large reception room deserves a special mention, along with the music hall, the bedroom called “la Svizzera”, the hunting room and the Angel room. These rooms are open to visits when the library is open.
The Villa is surrounded by an ancient park which occasionally hosts cultural events during the day and also in the evening.
