Fondazione Garbald

In the mid-19th century, the Val Bregaglia couple Agostino Garbald (customs director) and his wife Johanna Garbald-Gredig (mistress of the house and writer under the pseudonym Silvia Andrea) commissioned the internationally renowned architect Gottfried Semper to build their family home — Villa Garbald — in the border village of Castasegna. The family lived there for nearly a century.

In 1955, their childless descendants transferred the cultural and architectural legacy of the Garbald family of Val Bregaglia to the Fondazione Garbald, which they had established for this purpose. Following its revitalisation in 1997–98, the foundation now owns and manages, among other things, the Semper Villa in Castasegna — renovated in the 2000s and extended by the addition of the “Roccolo” residential tower — as well as the literary estate of Johanna Garbald-Gredig, alias Silvia Andrea (held by the Staatsarchiv Graubünden), the photographic estate of Andrea and Margherita Garbald (held by the Bündner Kunstmuseum), the family library, and the medieval ruins of Casnac.

Today, the historic, listed Semper Villa and the modern Roccolo tower, together with the garden, provide groups and organisations from the fields of science, education, culture, and business with a setting conducive to concentration, inspiration, tranquillity, and creative exchange. For retreats and longer study stays by individuals, the Studio Cascina was subtly integrated into the chestnut grove beside Villa Garbald in 2019. Cultural events and an annually curated exhibition of contemporary art, organised in collaboration with the Bündner Kunstmuseum and focusing on photography, form part of the distinctive “spirito” of the Villa Garbald Seminar Centre. During the summer months, the Semper Villa — with its exposed frescoes in the style of illusionist painting — the modern Roccolo residential tower, and the park-like garden can be visited on guided tours every Saturday.

8 Treffer