Our Story: From Our Roots on the Lake to Villa Volpe
The Origins: A Motorcycle Ride and a Post-War Dream
The story of this place begins in the post-war period, a time when Italy was starting to breathe again and families were seeking a return to normalcy. After years of restrictions, my parents, Silvio and Dina, longed for a place to spend their summers away from the city. They searched for a long time around Lake Viverone and Lake Garda, but they couldn't find anything that truly spoke to their hearts.
It was destiny, or perhaps luck, that brought us here. One day, riding my motorcycle right past Lake Orta, I noticed a small, old wooden sign with handwritten black paint: "Building land for sale." It was a magnificent lot, facing directly onto the water. I told my father right away, and he fell in love with it instantly.
The Birth of the "Casa Grande"
Construction began in 1956, entrusted to Engineer Giancarlo Badò. By the end of that same year, the "Casa Grande" (Big House) was ready to welcome my parents and us four children. For decades, that house was the heart of our summers, bearing witness to weddings, the birth of grandchildren, and the natural passing of generations.
With the passing of our parents in the 1960s, the property passed to me and my brother Marco. The house was divided, and for the occasion, we built an extension toward the garden, keeping the spirit of family sharing alive.
"La Quiete": The Garden Refuge
As the family grew and the garden filled with the voices and games of children, we felt the need to create a space dedicated to them, to preserve some tranquility for the adults. So, at the far south end of the garden, we built a small structure of 18 square meters.
My wife Maura wittily named it "La Quiete" (The Quiet), because it was the place where we could gently confine the children's energy, allowing the rest of the family to enjoy the afternoon in peace. For years, that little house was the realm of the grandchildren's games and, later, a gathering place for card games with friends.
The Transformation: The Birth of Villa Volpe
The history of the property took a decisive turn when my son Silvio was diagnosed with a condition that progressively limited his mobility. The "Casa Grande," with its stairs and 1950s architecture, was no longer accessible to him.
In 2003, driven by love and necessity, we decided to transform "La Quiete" into a proper independent home, free of architectural barriers and developed entirely on the ground floor: a house custom-made for Silvio and his family.
The journey was not easy: between bureaucracy and landscape restrictions, it took ten years of patience and tenacity. But in 2013, the work was finally completed.
Why "Villa Volpe"?
The name of the villa is a tribute to my wife, Maura. It was she who had the brilliant intuition to transform that small shed into a livable residence, and it was her "foxy" cunning (volpe means fox in Italian) that guided us through the bureaucratic complexities to make the project a reality.
Today, Villa Volpe is not just a modern and accessible home; it is a place that carries the memory of a family, a mother's love, and the beauty of a unique landscape.
The story of this place begins in the post-war period, a time when Italy was starting to breathe again and families were seeking a return to normalcy. After years of restrictions, my parents, Silvio and Dina, longed for a place to spend their summers away from the city. They searched for a long time around Lake Viverone and Lake Garda, but they couldn't find anything that truly spoke to their hearts.
It was destiny, or perhaps luck, that brought us here. One day, riding my motorcycle right past Lake Orta, I noticed a small, old wooden sign with handwritten black paint: "Building land for sale." It was a magnificent lot, facing directly onto the water. I told my father right away, and he fell in love with it instantly.
The Birth of the "Casa Grande"
Construction began in 1956, entrusted to Engineer Giancarlo Badò. By the end of that same year, the "Casa Grande" (Big House) was ready to welcome my parents and us four children. For decades, that house was the heart of our summers, bearing witness to weddings, the birth of grandchildren, and the natural passing of generations.
With the passing of our parents in the 1960s, the property passed to me and my brother Marco. The house was divided, and for the occasion, we built an extension toward the garden, keeping the spirit of family sharing alive.
"La Quiete": The Garden Refuge
As the family grew and the garden filled with the voices and games of children, we felt the need to create a space dedicated to them, to preserve some tranquility for the adults. So, at the far south end of the garden, we built a small structure of 18 square meters.
My wife Maura wittily named it "La Quiete" (The Quiet), because it was the place where we could gently confine the children's energy, allowing the rest of the family to enjoy the afternoon in peace. For years, that little house was the realm of the grandchildren's games and, later, a gathering place for card games with friends.
The Transformation: The Birth of Villa Volpe
The history of the property took a decisive turn when my son Silvio was diagnosed with a condition that progressively limited his mobility. The "Casa Grande," with its stairs and 1950s architecture, was no longer accessible to him.
In 2003, driven by love and necessity, we decided to transform "La Quiete" into a proper independent home, free of architectural barriers and developed entirely on the ground floor: a house custom-made for Silvio and his family.
The journey was not easy: between bureaucracy and landscape restrictions, it took ten years of patience and tenacity. But in 2013, the work was finally completed.
Why "Villa Volpe"?
The name of the villa is a tribute to my wife, Maura. It was she who had the brilliant intuition to transform that small shed into a livable residence, and it was her "foxy" cunning (volpe means fox in Italian) that guided us through the bureaucratic complexities to make the project a reality.
Today, Villa Volpe is not just a modern and accessible home; it is a place that carries the memory of a family, a mother's love, and the beauty of a unique landscape.
Meet Giorgio Broggi: il Nonno
ING. Giorgio Broggi (nonno) Ph by https://vittorialorenzetti.com/
"My name is Giorgio. My surname is Broggi. As you can hear, I have a slight speech impediment, but—in order to survive—I had to learn how to pronounce my surname correctly. So, I’ll let you hear that I am indeed capable of saying: Broggi, with the strong 'R' it requires.
I was born in Celle Ligure while my mother was on holiday with my two brothers and my older sister. Soon after, I returned to Parma, where we lived in a wonderful villa, Villa Negri, surrounded by a 15,000-square-meter garden on the outskirts of the city, near the airport. There, I lived an absolutely happy life, practically outdoors from morning to night, as back then there were only cultivated fields around us.
My father was the director of the electric company in Parma. In 1943, he was transferred from Parma to Novara, much to my great sorrow, as I had to leave that beautiful villa and that even more beautiful garden behind.
Those were dark times. After the armistice in 1943, the German occupation, the partisan war, and the civil war began. They were years of great apprehension.
My father, holding the position of director of an electric company on which dams and power stations depended, was under pressure from both the Germans and Fascists, and the partisans, for opposing reasons.
Life was hard: heating was scarce, and we lacked electricity for several hours a day.
It was always very cold, and there was the perennial fear that some skirmish would lead to reprisals or even greater troubles.
Once the war ended, I finished scientific high school and enrolled in Engineering because it had been my passion since I was a child: Electrical Engineering.
I must admit the first two years were not a success at all; in fact, they were a series of defeats because everything was focused on higher mathematics, which wasn't really my bread and butter. But I persisted because I wanted to become an engineer. Indeed, from the third year onwards, when we entered technical subjects, I flew like an eagle over the mountain peaks.
I passed my exams in rapid succession without effort, but rather, enjoying what I was studying.
Even before graduating, I was offered a job at the De Agostini Geographic Institute, which had a huge printing company connected to the publishing house. On January 1st, 1959, I was hired. I built my entire career there, learning the various processes personally, until I became the Technical Director of the company, earning a certain reputation among the technical directors of the largest Italian printing establishments.
Those were wonderful years because the evolution of technology in the printing world was overwhelming.
I closed my career with a major achievement that I consider a source of pride: transforming the production of geographic maps—which was typically manual—into a digital process. With the collaboration of the Israeli company Scitex, we developed a program that finally resulted in excellence, and which is now applied everywhere.
In 1996, I retired, but I had the pleasure of being chosen by LIUC University in Castellanza to create a group of engineering professors for a management engineering course with a specialization in graphics. For several years, the course ran successfully, graduating over 50 students who were guaranteed a secure job in just a few days.
This was not the end of my career, because I continued as a teacher at the University of the Third Age, teaching basic computer skills to elderly ladies who wanted to learn how to use a computer. I carried this on until the age of 90.
Then Covid arrived, and I saw that the evolution of IT was becoming too rapid for me to keep up with, so I finally retired.
Now I am a happy great-grandfather to two great-granddaughters, waiting for the third.
I close my days often living in this house on Lake Orta, which you, listening to me, know well, and you will understand that it is the most beautiful crowning achievement of a serene life like mine."
I was born in Celle Ligure while my mother was on holiday with my two brothers and my older sister. Soon after, I returned to Parma, where we lived in a wonderful villa, Villa Negri, surrounded by a 15,000-square-meter garden on the outskirts of the city, near the airport. There, I lived an absolutely happy life, practically outdoors from morning to night, as back then there were only cultivated fields around us.
My father was the director of the electric company in Parma. In 1943, he was transferred from Parma to Novara, much to my great sorrow, as I had to leave that beautiful villa and that even more beautiful garden behind.
Those were dark times. After the armistice in 1943, the German occupation, the partisan war, and the civil war began. They were years of great apprehension.
My father, holding the position of director of an electric company on which dams and power stations depended, was under pressure from both the Germans and Fascists, and the partisans, for opposing reasons.
Life was hard: heating was scarce, and we lacked electricity for several hours a day.
It was always very cold, and there was the perennial fear that some skirmish would lead to reprisals or even greater troubles.
Once the war ended, I finished scientific high school and enrolled in Engineering because it had been my passion since I was a child: Electrical Engineering.
I must admit the first two years were not a success at all; in fact, they were a series of defeats because everything was focused on higher mathematics, which wasn't really my bread and butter. But I persisted because I wanted to become an engineer. Indeed, from the third year onwards, when we entered technical subjects, I flew like an eagle over the mountain peaks.
I passed my exams in rapid succession without effort, but rather, enjoying what I was studying.
Even before graduating, I was offered a job at the De Agostini Geographic Institute, which had a huge printing company connected to the publishing house. On January 1st, 1959, I was hired. I built my entire career there, learning the various processes personally, until I became the Technical Director of the company, earning a certain reputation among the technical directors of the largest Italian printing establishments.
Those were wonderful years because the evolution of technology in the printing world was overwhelming.
I closed my career with a major achievement that I consider a source of pride: transforming the production of geographic maps—which was typically manual—into a digital process. With the collaboration of the Israeli company Scitex, we developed a program that finally resulted in excellence, and which is now applied everywhere.
In 1996, I retired, but I had the pleasure of being chosen by LIUC University in Castellanza to create a group of engineering professors for a management engineering course with a specialization in graphics. For several years, the course ran successfully, graduating over 50 students who were guaranteed a secure job in just a few days.
This was not the end of my career, because I continued as a teacher at the University of the Third Age, teaching basic computer skills to elderly ladies who wanted to learn how to use a computer. I carried this on until the age of 90.
Then Covid arrived, and I saw that the evolution of IT was becoming too rapid for me to keep up with, so I finally retired.
Now I am a happy great-grandfather to two great-granddaughters, waiting for the third.
I close my days often living in this house on Lake Orta, which you, listening to me, know well, and you will understand that it is the most beautiful crowning achievement of a serene life like mine."