Rotondarte – Rotonda Park

Site overview

The access avenue to Villa Franchetti, together with the viewpoint called “La Rotonda,” was created in the 19th century as a refined connection between the villa and the carriage road, in a romantic style.

In 2005, the enhancement of the site began with the initiative “In sette nel parco” (Seven in the park), a statuary repopulation of the area whose original furnishing elements had been lost; the intent was to renew the local artistic tradition and to start a process of qualifying Viù as a meeting place and center for contemporary cultural production.

The contemporary sculpture path was created in the summer of 2005 to provide the park with that artistic value typical of romantic-era parks.

The intervention constitutes the first core of a significant “Municipal Collection of Contemporary Sculpture” that enriches the artistic heritage of Viù.

ROTONDARTE is part of the broader project LUNGO LA STURA DI VIÙ, aimed at defining a unique cultural system for the Valley, coordinated by the Arnaldo Tazzetti Alpine Civic Museum—a system that simultaneously enhances History, Art, and Environmental Heritage. According to these three keys of interpretation, three cultural poles have been identified in Viù, Lemie, and Usseglio, where continuous initiatives accompany the visitor in discovering the Valley.

Within this far-sighted project, since 2012, the Distributed Museum of Sacred Art was also born, which in Viù is based in the Parish complex of San Martino Vescovo.