No. 851
The acquisition of the property La Pobbia from Novazzano is, until now, the most extensive project ever realised at Ballenberg. The estate belonged to the widespread economic system of the so-called rural capitalism in northern Italy, the “capitalismo delle campagne”. From the middle of the 18th century up to the 20th century, 21 hectares of land were farmed.

The estate, whose origin can be traced back to the 14th century, measures 44.7 m on one side and comprises more that 50 rooms: kitchens, cellars, bedrooms, stables, barns, etc. Until Alfonso Maria Turconi (1738–1805) bequeathed it to a hospital, the property belonged to the family of the Lombard nobility named Turconi. One can easily and accurately follow the subsequent history of the property by means of land-registry plans (1845 and 1856–1860) and the very detailed inventory on the renewal of the leases.

In the year 1824, only a half-share farmer is mentioned but by 1859 there were already three farmers and by the turn of the century as many as five families who, according to the records, ran seven businesses: five farmers, an inn-keeper and a cartwright. Between the 30’s and 40’s, 28 people were living on the property: 4 married couples with their 20 children. After 1942 they all left the farm, one after the other, and in their places a family of 6 moved in until 1962. In the 80’s, the widowed tenant lived there alone. The rooms and the remaining properties continued to fall into a state of neglect.

Farmstead from Novazzano TI (14th–19th century)

First phase of construction:
13th–14th century

Last phase of construction:
19th–20th century

Ground plan with all phases
of construction:

13th–14th century
Middle of the 15th century
End of the 15th century
15th–16th century
17th century
17th–18th century
18th century
19th–20th century

The leases bear witness to the development of rural capitalism on the estate; first from corn and wine-growing to cereals and silkworm breeding, then to fodder and tobacco growing and finally to cattle breeding. All this altered the face of the landscape dramatically.

At the beginning of the century, the estate was surrounded by vineyards, ploughed land and meadows which were cultivated on terraced “ronchi”. In the middle of the 19th century, mulberry trees spread over the fields and terraces, destroying the common maple trees up which the vines had previously climbed.
In 1871, silkworm breeding reached its peak in Ticino. In addition to a new wing built in 1845, nearly all the other living quarters on the estate La Pobbia were used for silkworm breeding and equipped with chimneys for this purpose. The last silk cocoons from a local breeder were delivered to a silk spinning mill in Capolago in 1928. After the turn of the century, the mulberry trees were destroyed and more tobacco and maize grew in the fields. In the 60’s, the estate lost half of its property when the goods station in Chiasso and the motorway A2 were extended. At the end of the 20th century, La Pobbia lay in the middle of
widespread industrial landscape, a chance reminder of a lost farming world.