Urban metamorphosis: how today’s Via Marcobi came to be

Every Monday, on a virtual walk, the column “Urban Metamorphosis” takes a virtual stroll through the town, recounting the transformations that Varese has undergone in the last one hundred years, since it became a provincial capital. The column is by Fausto Bonoldi, a historic name in Varese journalism who has written a book on the subject, which he has covered for years in the Facebook group La Varese Nascosta, published by Macchione, entitled “Cara Varese come sei cambiata” (“Dear Varese how you’ve changed”).

 

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Urban metamorphosis, fourth instalment: the genesis, according to Art Deco and the twentieth-century movements, of the current Via Marcobi.

 

The rebuilding of a good half of the centre of Varese, which would culminate in the construction of the new Piazza Monte Grappa, began with the demolition of Via Verbano, the narrow street, along which the tram could barely pass, which went from Piazza Porcari to Via Sacco.

 

The demolition

The new side, which, today, is the oldest of the street that was subsequently named after Italo Balbo and then, after the fall of the Fascist regime, after Walter Marcobi, took shape between 1927 and 1934. Building first started on Palazzo Bonazzola-De Micheli, on the corner with Via Bernascone, following the plans of the engineer Edoardo Flumiani, in an Art Deco style. Casa Crugnola, which had been designed by the engineer Zafferri, was built at almost the same time, with details that were less monumental than those of the nearby Palazzo, but was characterised somewhat by the elegance of the friezes that adorn the arcade and balconies.

The building work

The circle, or rather, the straight line, was completed in 1934, when, on the corner of the new Piazza Monte Grappa, Palazzo Verga was built, on the designs of the engineer Mario Cantù, which, from a stylistic point of view, can be considered a “bridge” between the bourgeois architecture of the 1920s and the twentieth century movement of the regime that inspired the architect Mario Loreti when he designed the buildings in the new Piazza Monte Grappa.

Via Marcobi as it is today

 

Translated by Alessia Tropolini and Riccardo Bianchi

Reviewed by Prof. Rolf Cook