The "Il Roccolo" House, Ello
Anselmo (ingegnere) Gaffuri (progetto delle strutture)
Famiglia Schubert
Windows: Douglas fir
Load-bearing structure: beams and reinforced concrete piers
Façade: white plaster with a rough trowel finish
Roof: single-pitched roof, with copper sheet tiles and a radial pattern
Villa "Il Roccolo" owes its name to the homonymous location in the municipality of Ello; it stands in a dominant, isolated locality in the Brianza countryside around Lecco.
The unusual lie of the land inspired Magistretti to adopt a fan-shaped layout providing panoramic views; the plan is reminiscent not only of the designs of many Lombard villas (Casa Bassetti at Azzate and Casa Muggia at Barzana), but also of buildings used for many other purposes, e.g., the Club House at the Golf Club Carimate or the Cusano Town Hall. These works "highlight the staggered volumes of the interiors, all visible from the outside" (Domus, 1963, p. 7).
The complex external volume is reflected in the multifaceted division of the interior revolving around a double height living room; the wings that branch off from the living room are designed as the bathrooms and the sleeping area. Access is through a huge hallway facing the roccolo which instead is perfectly horizontal, broken only by the vertical volume of a cylindrical chimney.
A garage and the apartments for guests and the custodian are located on the lower floor; the family rooms, with irregular verandas and terraces providing independent access to the bedrooms, are instead situated on the first floor.
La forma della funzione, in Design Habitat, settembre 1973
G. Gamberoni, Incontro con Vico Magistretti, in Casa&Giardino 104, marzo 1980
W. Pagliero, Architettura come rappresentazione, in Casa Oggi 163-164, febbraio 1988
Incontro con Vico Magistretti, in Casa e giardino, settembre 1989
C. Bellini, Il mestiere di architetto, in Habitat Ufficio 21, settembre 1986
V. Magistretti, Relazione di progetto, Casa "Il Roccolo", Ello, 1960-62
Una villa di Magistretti, sul colle di un roccolo, in Brianza, in Domus 405, agosto 1963
R. Aloi, Casa "Il Roccolo" a Ello, Como, in Ville di Oggi, Hoepli, Milano, 1964
A Ello, in Ville & Giardini 172, dicembre 1982
F. Irace, V. Pasca, Vico Magistretti, architetto e designer, Milano 1999
