Veduta generale della Sala da pranzo di rappresentanza (Fototeca ISAL-BAMS Photo Rodella)
When in 1817, the villa passed to the family Traversi, the house was considerably extended and Pelagio Palagi, who shortly thereafter, in 1832, would have been commissioned by King Charles Albert to draw up the plans for the transformation of the Royal Palace of Turin, renovated the interiors.
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Giovan Battista Traversi and his wife Francesca Milesi, from a bourgeois family with links to productive activities became the owners of the Villa, and took over from the aristocratic owner Luigi Cusani, thus changing the aims of the interior of the villa. With The Traversi family, the building aimed to impress and show off the wealth accumulated in previous years, and of course also the prestige and power achieved by the family. With these in mind, Pelagio began the massive project to refurbish the sequence of rooms, which drew inspiration from other eras, countries and profoundly heterogeneous styles, where the guests remained utterly amazed. For the smaller rooms, neoclassical furniture and decorations gave way to Moorish, Gothic, Arab, and Baroque styles.
Among the main rooms of the lower floor that stand out for quality and refinement is the formal dining room where precious Venetian terrazzo floors are preserved, which represent animals surrounded by geometric frames decorated with bouquets of exotic fruits. The wall decorations are reminiscent of the style of eclectic painter Luigi Scrosati, who favoured the school of Tiepolo and was greatly appreciated by the Lombard society of mid-nineteenth century; the painted scenes of the ceiling featured gracious characters, ladies, nymphs, satyrs and cherubs engaged in various activities like love scenes, reading and bathing. These figures are painted inside a complex system of faux architectural features, mouldings and marble frames, frescos created by simulating the effects of marble and stucco embellished with floral bouquets.
