The “Lindenia, Iconography of Orchids” is also preserved in the Corridor of statues. This iconography is a special collection of books dedicated to orchids and illustrated with 420 chromolithographic prints annotated with Italian and French text.
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The work written by Lucien Linden (1855-1903), son of the famous Belgian botanist and explorer, Jean Linden, contained the first detailed study of the conditions of growth of the orchids in their natural habitat and the first experiments on the cultivation of these plants in Europe.
The Toselli family purchased the volumes printed in Belgium in instalments starting from 1891. This same family acquired Villa Litta in 1930 and began the cultivation of orchids in the greenhouses of the park. These precious volumes were then donated to the municipal administration in 1987 by Mrs. Isora Toselli, the last owner of Podere Toselli Lainate, famous in the 1950s and 1960s for the cultivation of these plant species.
