The internal courtyard is the space delimited by the two wings of the Villa, that continues on with the northeast wing housing the lemonery. It is enclosed at the front by a beautiful metal gate topped with statues and decorative elements. The long porch was completed at the behest of Galeazzo Arconati in 1619, the year the Villa was purchased by the Cusani family. Galeazzo began the renovation starting from the preexisting central body. Here he also wanted to intervene on three rustic terracotta pillars of the existing porch, which he considered less suited for the project of building a sumptuous villa in the elegant, fashionable Lombard manner.
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The new structure of the covered porch consisted of five arches with double columns with an architrave, closed at the sides by two rectangular rooms. The porch was, therefore, spanned by seven small rooms which corresponded to as many windows in the central front façade. Of the ten original columns, six came from Arconate and four from Milan. The Doric frame which still survives to this day was already present at the time of the purchase of the building by the aristocratic Arconati family and supported a copper gutter which denotes the great attention placed on the choice of materials.
Today the porch appears to be characterized by seven arches with double columns in the ground floor and large windows in the upper floor, as well as the original indented frame. The noble courtyard is, however, the fruit of a series of transformations, among which was the redefinition of the length of the wings which protrude towards the park and the Theatre of Diana.
The porch also presents a decorative setup with the art of painting blending with the stucco decorations, where one recognizes an illusory architecture with flowered medallions and crests, also found on the doorframes. The correspondence between the painted columns on the building walls and the double columns overlooking the courtyard, enrich the scenographic play imposed by the converging lines. The internal courtyard is the nerve centre of the building and from it one may access the main entrance, the park, the rustic courtyard and the east wing of the Villa. From the porch, one may also access the grand staircase that leads to the upper floor.
The metal gate has a sandstone base that supports eight statues of the same dimensions, framed by decorative elements in wrought iron.
