Casa Macchi (Macchi House) is a graceful low building that stands near the bell tower of the church of Morazzone, several km from Varese. The residence, typical of the provincial bourgeoisie, has been unchanged for 150 years: the last owner, Maria Luisa Macchi, left it to FAI (Fondo Ambiente Italiano) in her will in 2015, along with a generous amount to carry out restoration and manage it so that it would become "a living museum adding lustre to Morazzone". After four years of restoration work, it was opened to the public in 2022.
The building encapsulates a world that has been conserved in the tiniest of details, frozen at the moment of its abandonment and still redolent of daily life: from the coffee pot on the hob to the pipe on the side table between the armchairs in the living room. Casa Macchi offers the possibility to witness and experience the authenticity of a residence that was neither farmhouse nor palace, neither ordinary nor extraordinary, but typical, traditional, simple; one that is familiar in its shapes – bourgeois with several pleasant upper-bourgeois flourishes – and in time, with recognisable objects and habits featured in a domestic landscape that reflects the Lombard tradition, and so prompt memory and spark interest in the past.
FAI - Fondo Ambiente Italiano
Via Carlo Foldi 2 - 20135 Milano
Phone: +39 02 46 76 15 393
Email: m.pizzorni@fondoambiente.it
