After just over six months of work, the building opens to the public Garden of Velarca in Ossuccio, on Lake Como, which completes the visit itinerary of famous houseboat designed in the 1950s by the Milanese studio BBPR (Banfi, Belgiojoso, Peressutti and Rogers), one of the masterpieces of modern Italian architecture.
La Velarca, donated in 2011 by Aldo and Maria Luisa Norsa to the FAI – Fondo Italiano per l’Ambiente and restored thanks to a long intervention concluded in 2024, is thus enriched by the garden imagined by the designers. The land of about 325 square meters is located between the state road and the shore of the lake, in the panoramic position which overlooks the island of Comacina and the Villa del Balbianello, at the foot of the Barbarossa Tower, also owned by FAI.
A project on paper for over sixty years
The history of the garden is closely linked to that of the Velarca: the Norsa family had acquired the small plot with the idea of building a house, but the land was not suitable for construction: from this limitation was born, together with the architects of BBPR, the intuition to create a house-boat permanently docked in front of the property.
From the beginning, the project also includes a green space intended to integrate life on board: a rustic garden with olive trees, vegetable garden, cultivated terraces, a small fountain and a shed where you can spend time in the shade and receive friends. As the architect Lodovico Barbiano di Belgiojoso recalled years later, great attention had been paid to the arrangement of the bench, imagined with stone walls, flowers, vegetables, climbing plants and spaces also designed for outdoor dining.
This project, however, was never realized. Today, the DO IT he took over the original drawings and transformed them into reality, reinterpreting them to also meet the needs of the reception of visitors.
The new garden between architecture and hospitality
The intervention brought life to a space designed as natural extension of the boat house: the low stone walls create small terraces connected by stone paths, while the vegetation recalls the landscape of Lake Como with new olives, strawberries and pomegranates, alongside the existing trees.
In the final part of the garden there is a new log cabin with a cane roof, also included in the original project: made of oak wood and characterized by the essential lines typical of the BBPR language, it offers a shaded area for parking and also houses the toilets.
Near the entrance, a space dedicated toWelcome: every detail communicates the identity of the Velarca, from the mahogany wood coverings to the floors and the blue furnishings, designed to remind you of the interior of the houseboat.
An even more complete visiting experience
With the opening of the garden, the public can finally understand the Velarca in its original conception, made of a continuous relationship between land, water and architecture: the designers themselves described this balance as the true value of the work, to underline how it was the dialogue between the boat, the pier, the lake and the garden that create a unified environment.
The inauguration of the new space coincides with the events of FAI Summer eveningsthe event that offers extraordinary evening openings in the Foundation’s heritage. After the debut on June 26, more dates are planned months of July and August.
Interventions on the pier and sustainable mobility
The enhancement of the area was also accompanied by interventions on the infrastructures: thanks to the support of the Lario and Minori Basin Authority and the Lombardy Region, in 2024 Historical pier of Ossucciuwhere the Velarca is docked, and a new pier public also intended for boats that connect the site with Villa del Balbianello.
The new structure is also equipped with a electric charging stationdesigned to encourage more sustainable lakeside mobility and also support boats used to transport visitors.
Times and tickets
La Velarca can be visited up to October 18every day except Monday and Wednesday (non-holidays), from 10 am to 6 pm, with the last entry at 5 pm.
The full ticket costs €8, while the reduced ticket is available for €5 for children aged 6 to 18, students aged 19 to 25 and members of the National Trust. The family ticket is offered for 20 euros. Entry is free for FAI members, residents of the Municipality of Tremezzina and journalists.