History
Villa Italia was built by Emanuele Wohlauf in 1883. It was the glorious “Kurort” period, the city of the cure, during which time the central European nobility and aristocracy in competition for building magnificent villas and for spending their holidays in Arco.
A few years later, the photographer Oscar Schlegel became the official owner of Villa Wohlauf, who enlarged the building and set his photographic laboratory, attended by many famous characters of the period who posed for him.
Since then, the photographer’s wife, Anna Bauer, allowed foreigners to stay in the Villa, inaugurating the “Pension Germania”. After the First World War, the building changed its name into “Villa Italia”, which was bought by Oreste Angelini, a well-known lawyer engaged in the local political scene of the time. More recently, after a long period of neglect, the building was restored and completely renovated by the Angelini Family, and became a real tourist accommodation for tourists who repopulated Arco.