Things to do in Province of Varese, Lombardy: The Best Art Museums

The most important monument founded by Branda is the Collegiate church, built on the top of the upper hill of the village, on the site of the ancient castle, which remains of the entrance portal are still visible. The church and the Baptistery are part of the Collegiate Museum. Both have been decorated by Masolino da Panicale, one of the most important painters in Florence at the time of the transition from International Gothic to Renaissance. Lorenzo di Pietro called "il Vecchietta" and Paolo Schiavo worked with him in the Collegiate apse. But Masolino left in Castiglione his masterpiece: the frescoes of the Baptistery, with their fascinating fusion of landscapes and architectures, religious history and Renaissance setting, make the chapel, painted in every centimetre, one of the best achievements of the early Italian Renaissance.

Museum of Modern Art PAGANI is located in Castellanza - Varese (Italy) and it is built in the woods, not far from the town of Legnano. The museum shows itself like a large park, about 40,000 square meters, a unique artistic oasis, where hundreds of sculptures and mosaics are placed, made from different kind of materials: marble, stone, bronze, iron, steel, wood, glass, etc. This collection is unique both for the number of works exposed, for the notoriety of Italian and foreign artists represented, for the extent of exposition's area and - above all - because it is "en plein air". Since 1957 the Museum gives much room to avant-garde and many prestigious artists donated their works. They represent as well many countries of origin as various artistic currents: futurism, dadaism and surrealism. Besides sculptures, in this park - museum many colourful mosaics have been placed. They are figurative elements with a chromatic and vitalizing function of its general look.

The visitors can enjoy an extraordinary contemporary art gallery within a fifteenth-century building, belonging to the Castiglioni family, which faces a courtyard in gothic lombard style. An ambience of artistic continuity between past, present and future is created by this setting. This progressive continuity is not immediately noticed, but is pleasantlyreadable in the architectural, pictorial and sculptural details. These peculiar attributes highlight the ancient traits of the past and guide the visitors into a constant contemplative epochal contrast.