In collaboration with Teatro Sociale Como /AsLiCo, Villa Erba opens to the public with four days dedicated to culture that follow the rhythm dictated by the seasons.
Program "Le 4 stagioni" of Villa Erba
Promoted by Villa Erba.
Curated by Teatro Sociale di Como/AsLiCo.
Free admission with mandatory reservation
An intense calendar that includes numerous initiatives of various kinds: musical performances, workshops for children and boys, wellness activities, concerts and entertainment for all ages, set up inside the Villa Antica, in the Park and in the exhibition area.
#LE4 STAGIONI - IL FREDDO GENTILE
Sunday, February 22nd 2026
Discover the program of Il Freddo Gentile, the first event of Le 4 Stagioni di Villa Erba.
A full day of activities awaits you: workshops for children, concerts, guided tours, and theatrical performances designed for all ages.
Experience the historic villa [+]
February 22nd IL FREDDO GENTILE
Winter
Sala Contessa
10.00 AM
GIOCANDO CON RIGOLETTO!
Music and movement workshop
Led byLuca Ghioldi, Opera Education trainer
A one-hour workshop dedicated to music and movement, led by Luca Ghioldi, an expert in music pedagogy. Through games and body activities, participants will discover the story and music of Rigoletto, the famous opera by Giuseppe Verdi, experimenting with active listening exercises in a fun and engaging way. During the workshop, participants will also learn some choruses in order to take an active part in Gilda. In the Duke’s Game, a performance from the Opera Kids format for children aged 3 to 6, which will take place on Saturday, February 28th at the Teatro Sociale in Como.
Patio
11.30 AM
PIAZZOLLA LOVES GERSHWIN
Tanghi, Canciones and songs by G. Gershwin and A. Piazzolla
Vocals Paola Fernandez Dell’Erba
Accordion Nadio Marenco
Reserch and text Paola Fernandez Dell’Erba
Original arrangements Julian Caeiro and Hernan Fassa
Produced byMusicamorfosi
Paola Fernandez Dell’Erba and Nadio Marenco bring together tango and jazz, between Argentina and the United States, in a concert that imagines a meeting in the streets of New York between Astor and George! Paola, Argentine with Italian roots like Astor, sings and narrates, drawing from the sound worlds of Astor Piazzolla and George Gershwin—world-renowned composers who, like few others, captured the beauty and depth of two seemingly distant cities such as Buenos Aires and New York. With original arrangements by Julian Caeiro, enjoy sensational tangos poised between classical music, tango, and jazz! Get ready for breathtaking versions of Adiós Nonino and a striking new interpretation of Summertime, transformed into a distinctly porteño style.
2.00 PM and 3.30 PM
GUIDED TOUR OF VILLA ERBA
Led byDonatella Bonini
A day discovering the Villas of Cernobbio. Prof. Bonini will guide visitors through the prestigious and elegant rooms of Villa Erba. The tour also includes Le Stanze di Luchino Visconti, the small museum dedicated to the director’s connection with Villa Erba, recently renovated with a new digital approach.
At the same time, guided tours are also organized at the nearby Villa Bernasconi, just a short walk away—don’t miss it!
Sala Musica
3.30 PM, 4.30 PM and 5.30 PM
GIARDINO A DONDOLO
Wordless theatre for children aged 6 to 36 months
Project, direction and productionArteVOX Teatro
wirhJasmine Monti
Set, costumes and propsRossana Maggi
Animation supervisionNadia Milani
MusicDanilo Gervasoni
Born from listening to special needs and from the sensitivity developed through The Secret Garden by ArteVOX Teatro, this project for early childhood is designed for children from 6 months to 3 years old. In a garden of white flowers, Serafina, a young and gentle guardian, guides us in discovering small colorful creatures—symbols of the emotions we all experience. With the help of the children, Anger, Joy, Sadness, Fear, and Serenity will find their mother: large, welcoming, full of surprises, and always ready to cradle those in need.
Patio
6:30 PM
SORRISI D’AUTORE
Music and Words on Stage
with STARTEnsemble
Actor and Artistic DirectorStefano Dragone
ActressMaria Concetta Gravagno
Piano and saxRoberto Quadroni
Guitar Paolo Camporini
A theatrical journey through light-hearted laughter and hidden depth, where the words of great authors meet the magic of live music. Two actors and two musicians guide us through a mosaic of comic, brilliant, and poetic texts from literature and theatre—from Gaber to Franca Rame, passing through Dario Fo—interwoven with the warm and unpredictable sounds of jazz. Author’s Smiles is a show that makes you laugh, reflect, and dream. An evening where lightness becomes art and irony offers a fresh perspective on the world. As Calvino said, “Fun is a serious thing,” and when shaped by the right words, it becomes even more engaging.
INFORMATION
Free admission with mandatory reservation on Eventbrite starting Monday, February 16th at 10.00 AM. Limited capacity. Reservations expire 15 minutes before the start of each event. Please arrive on time.
FUORI VILLA
Villa Bernasconi – Cernobbio
10.00 AM - 6.00 PM
FREE OPENING OF THE MUSEUM
AND THE EXHIBITION “LIBERTY DI GHIACCIO”
With Liberty di Ghiaccio the Municipality of Cernobbio presents a new winter exhibition where art, design, and memory intertwine with the charm of the Belle Époque, creating a narrative of elegance, movement, and transformation.
Villa Bernasconi becomes a winter landscape suspended in time, reaffirming its nature as a home: a space to inhabit, explore, and listen to. Its rooms welcome visitors into a continuous dialogue between past and present. Contemporary creativity meets the sinuous forms of Liberty style through Medea 1905 furnishings and new Liberty London wallpapers. A precious collection of vintage postcards and photographs from the Arte Nova Foundation accompanies visitors on a visual journey from the late 19th to the early 20th century, when skating was a collective ritual and a recurring image in the European winter imagination.
On display is also a speed skating racing suit from the exhibition Stoffe da Campione, organized by the Silk Museum of Como in collaboration with Tessitura Taiana Virgilio.
The experience is enriched with sensory suggestions and centers on the solo exhibition by Silvia Di Pasquale, VIBRAZIONI OLIMPICHE, curated by GALP Gallery of Cernobbio, where the movement of sport becomes form, rhythm, and visual energy.
Liberty on Ice is part of the Milan Cortina 2026 Cultural Olympiad and the program created for the occasion by the Coordination of Villas and Museums of Lake Como.
11.30 AM
MAI VISTA TANTA NEVE!
Family animated tour
Led by Cristina Quadrio
Inspired by the famous children’s story Silver Skates, Cristina Quadrio of Fata Morgana leads a lively tour through snowy landscapes, intimate family scenes, and postcard-like atmospheres, evoking the charm of an era when ice was a place of leisure, social gathering, and representation.
4.00 PM
GUIDED TOUR OF THE EXHIBITION “VIBRAZIONI OLIMPICHE”
Led by Erika Dalpedri - GALP gallery of Cernobbio
Silvia Di Pasquale’s sculptures do not depict anatomy, but movement: the body as energy in continuous transformation. Light lines, open surfaces, and structural voids shape volumes crossed by gesture, where matter seems to step back to make space for dynamism.
In the hall of Villa Bernasconi, these works enter into a natural dialogue with the Liberty style language, made of fluid curves, momentum, and continuity. As in the villa’s wrought iron and decorative elements, the line does not confine but accompanies, suggesting movement unfolding seamlessly in space.
In this exhibition, the theme of the Olympics becomes a privileged lens through which to reflect on athletic gesture as a synthesis of technique, discipline, and expressive tension. The represented disciplines—skiing, curling, snowboarding, freestyle skiing, and skating—are not conceived as competitive events, but as structures of movement defined by trajectories, rhythms, and relationships between body and space.
Exhibition curated by GALP, open until March 15th, 2026.
INFORMATION
Free admission with mandatory reservetion at www.villabernasconi.eustarting Monday, February 16th at 10.00 AM.
Limited capacity. Reservetion expire 15 minutes before the start of each event. Please arrive on time.
Villa Erba represents the ideal meeting point between territoriality and culture, within the splendid setting of Lake Como. Residence of great historical figures such as the industrialist Carlo Erba and the director Luchino Visconti, the historic Villa with its centuries-old park in which there is also the modern Conference Center, are deeply rooted in history and culture, in a perfect blend with nature that surrounds them.
It is in this frame that the project La Cultura di Villa Erba was born, which blends three distinctive elements in a unicum. Landscape: the landscape context of Lake Como, a unique heritage to be protected and strongly identifying the place; Innovation: a modern and technological approach to culture, able to provide a quality informative offer; Inclusion: the willingness to address a wide and heterogeneous public by encouraging exchange, sharing and growth.
To whom we turn
The project La Cultura per Villa Erba aims to make the international congress and exhibition center in Como a recognized and established place of cultural promotion and production.
The cultural and entertainment offer proposed by Villa Erba wants to be an opportunity to open up to a new public that normally does not have access to the spaces, but also to show itself with a new look to the public that already knows Villa Erba as an international congress and exhibition centre.
A place now able to attract also young people, families, people sensitive to sustainability, environmental and social issues. A place devoted to Beauty.
2019, the first edition of the project "La Cultura di Villa Erba": 2 panorama screens, 19 immersive theatre plays, 4.000 minutes of projection, 8 talks, 20 countries represented, 3 VR experience stations, 1 competition for young authors, 7 short films produced, 15 stations and proposals in 10 languages, 3 interactive multimedia installations, 12 guided tours of Luchino Visconti's rooms, 5 creative workshops, 3 water yoga sessions, 1 performance show, 2 concerts, 2 DJ sets, 297,000 social profiles reached 26,500 visits to the website, 11,500 total presences.
In collaboration with Teatro Sociale Como /AsLiCo, Villa Erba opens to the public with four days dedicated to culture that follow the rhythm dictated by the seasons.
