As part of the cultural comparison of the series of aristocratic villas and the dissemination and use of individual historic monuments, a photographic campaign with a helicopter was commissioned, which offers the general public a chance to observe the stately mansion of Lainate from different angles and search for viewpoints capable of recognizing the worth of some of the ancient perspective cones. Scrutinizing the vast complex of Villa Visconti Borromeo Litta and its park appurtenance, in fact, is a striking sensory experience that generates wonder at the unusual vantage points that do not happen every day; it is also an intellectual stimulus that helps us reflect on the quantitative and qualitative use of the commune’s territory.
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The angular views from the helicopter set a distance between the observer and the inhabited environment so as to see some of the dynamics that otherwise are not perceptible with the elevated vision of an airplane. An angled view free us from physical constraints, and the limits of residing and walking within the urban grid or more simply, moving around a building and place. Similarly, it can be said that overcoming certain limits imposed in observing a complex of buildings only from a perpendicular position, makes it impossible to fully capture the three-dimensionality of the vast volumes of the villa and the relationships it has obviously established with the Nymphaeum, fountains and botanical theaters, within the urban context.
If one looks carefully at these photographs commissioned by the Lombard Art History Institute to BAMS Photo owned by Basilio Rodella, one can fully enjoy the dynamics of relationships established with the passage of centuries between the stately mansion and the territory, the shadow play of its buildings, and the relationship between spaces occupied by vegetation and empty spaces. The entire series of photos reflects the technique of spiral flight with obvious “plays” of range, that make the interrelation dynamics even more perceptible with the cultural landscape.
These photographs are also excellent tools for understanding the value of green spaces which once had different functions, despite the many changes that have taken place in the garden appurtenance in the second half of the 19th century, that have partially altered the original forms, connections and values.
However, it is clear that despite the benevolence and the scientific and documentary value of these images, these photographs from the helicopter cannot replace the direct participation in the Villa, an undisputed masterpiece of art and architecture of Lombardy.
