As for the permanent collection — what can be said? There are works by Dan Flavin, James Turrell, Robert Irwin, and Ettore Spalletti, made even more precious by their display within the Villa, meticulously curated down to the finest detail by the late Count Panza di Biumo. The recommendation is to take your time and wander leisurely through the rooms (plenty of interpretive panels are available).

Starting this month and running until October 12, there's one more reason to visit Villa Panza: for the first time, the FAI has chosen to host a temporary exhibition featuring works from a different collection. Un altro sguardo. Opere dalla Collezione Gemma Testa (Another Perspective. Works from the Gemma Testa Collection), curated by Gabriella Belli, Gemma De Angelis Testa, and Marta Spanevello, becomes an opportunity for further discovery. The journey begins on the main floor and unfolds across about ten rooms, arranged by theme and artist. The exhibition creates an indirect but intriguing dialogue with the Panza Collection, which remains on display in the museum's historic spaces. “The aim is to open the museum’s temporary exhibition spaces to a comparison between different approaches to conceiving and building an art collection, in contrast with the magnificent holdings of Giuseppe Panza di Biumo” explains Gabriella Belli, curator of the exhibition and scientific advisor for Villa and Collezione Panza.

“She told us that her passion for collecting was born after her husband’s death, as if to continue a dialogue with him that had been interrupted. From the beginning, Gemma Testa knew her collection would be destined for museums, and indeed, she has made many donations over the years” says Spanevello. She refers in particular to a major donation to the Venice Civic Museums: Ca’ Pesaro received 105 artworks by Robert Rauschenberg and Cy Twombly, alongside Arte Povera masters such as Mario Merz, Michelangelo Pistoletto, Pier Paolo Calzolari, Gilberto Zorio, as well as Anselm Kiefer, Gino De Dominicis, Francesco Clemente, Enzo Cucchi, Mario Schifano, Tony Cragg, and Ettore Spalletti — just to give an idea of the donation’s significance. Gemma De Angelis Testa is also the founder of ACACIA (Friends of Contemporary Art Association) and has worked extensively to support Milan’s Museo del Novecento. To now stand in Villa Panza in front of her collection (even partially represented) reveals her curiosity, her eclectic taste.One delightful room, for instance, compares three giants of painting: Elizabeth Neel, Cecily Brown, and Oscar Murillo. Meanwhile, the “star artists” of Italy — Francesco Vezzoli and Vanessa Beecroft — are entrusted with exploring the female body, with a counterpoint in the next room featuring works by Shirin Neshat and Marina Abramović.

It’s worth lingering a few extra minutes — as a final note, reminding us that great contemporary art is anything but merely decorative — in the last two rooms. In the more political space, we find works by dissident and activist artists such as China’s Ai Weiwei and Yan Pei-Ming, along with two glorious tapestries by William Kentridge, one of which is dedicated to the Promised Land, i.e., Palestine. The visit concludes with a tribute to the “spirituality of art” envisioned by the host, Panza di Biumo: a poetic video by Grazia Toderi and two works by Thomas Ruff that reflect on being here, now — and elsewhere.