Originating from Terzo in Val Cavallina, the ancient noble Terzi family, on the Ghibelline side, owned fiefs and castles in the Bergamo area, as well as numerous properties in the various districts of Trescore since the year 1000. Among these, at Cantòn, in an eminent position with respect to the village, Marquis Girolamo Terzi had a monumental country villa built on a pre-existing building in the 18th century.
The sumptuous mansion, designed by architect Filippo Alessandri (1713-1773), and built on the site of old houses, is one of the most complete expressions of 18th-century architecture in the province of Bergamo. With a block layout, with three floors and an attic with small windows, the villa includes living rooms on the mezzanine floor and bedrooms on the upper floors arranged around a central hall. The plan of the villa is asymmetrical with the main entrance preceded by an Italian-style garden, while around the villa a group of buildings with a functional layout persists, such as the large stables now used as a meeting room and restaurant.
The interior frescoes, on pavilion vaults, characterised by the picturesque inventiveness of the author, highlight mock protrusions of cornices and silhouettes, which bring out in the play of the vaults curving corbels, groupings of flowers, baroque scrolls and festoons of leaves with effective chiaroscuro effects. An interior fresco, dated 1639, leaves visible traces of older frescoes.
The garden is characterised by numerous 18th-century statues by the Austrian Giovanni Antonio Sanz and graceful volutes drawn by boxwood hedges.
The two elegant parterres are flanked by grandiose symmetrical magnolia trees that emphasise their regularity. Of particular note is the monumental entrance, with three bombed gates and pillars adorned with statues of Apollo, Diana, Minerva and Bacchus.
The villa still remains privately owned today: upon the death of Marquis Antonio Terzi, without descendants, it passed first to the Sebregondi counts and later to several other owners. Well restored in recent years, the villa has seen the splendid façade return to its original colours.
In 1990, the period palace changed its face and became what we see today: Villa Canton, a cosy restaurant known and loved, throughout the Bergamo area and beyond, for the art and skill with which it organises events.
Text by Luisa Gaiardelli and Carlo Pinessi
