I’m a big fan of Stile Liberty, the Italian version of Art Nouveau, the art and architectural movement that dominated the early part of the 20th century. Novara has a few Stile Liberty buildings scattered around town which I sought out as part of my daily exercise. They’re in geographical order in this post so you can follow it as a walk.
You’ll find everywhere mentioned and more on my Google map (key top left).
The best place to start is probably along Via XX Settembre, in front of the Barriera Albertina, the two neo-classical buildings that mark the position of the former main gate of the city (no pic sorry but here’s the Streetview).
On the corner of Via XX Settembre and Via Dante is Casa Fiorentini, constructed between 1907 and 1910 by Giuseppe Passerini in the Parisian ‘floral style’.
You can click on galleries to expand the photos.
Continuing under the porticoes up Via XX Settembre to where it meets Via Giuseppe Regaldi, you come to this lovely arch, about which I know nothing.
And then on the next portico, some strange cross between a phoenix and a griffin perhaps…
In town, this lovely portico arch is on Via Fratelli Rosselli, where it meets Via Giuseppe Ravizza.
At 28 Via Fratelli Rosselli you can see the façade of Cinema della Vittoria. These bas-reliefs under the porticoes are all that remain of it.
Casa Zegna at Corso Giuseppe Mazzini has decoration similar to German “Jugendstil” or Austrian “Secession” architecture (my post on the Vienna Secession here).
Casa Ottina is on the corner of Corso della Vittoria & Via Solferino.
This is Casa Quaroni at 28 Baluardo Quintino Sella, built between 1903 and 1907 by architect Mario Rosina.
It’s now a B&B. If I came to Novara again, I’d stay here, just to see the ceiling stuccoes and the wrought iron staircase inside which are meant to be lovely.
I stumbled upon this nice building on the corner of Via Giovanni Gnifetti, at the end of Via Solferion, near the Art Deco kindergarten in the previous post.
This is what I had time to see but there are at least four more outlying Stile Liberty buildings I didn’t get to see, which are marked in green on my map.
Eating out in Novara next!