Palazzo Riva di Cioccaro

Author unknown, commissioned by Antonio Riva. ca. 1675

Palazzo Riva di Cioccaro is the oldest of the three Riva palazzi in Lugano, built in 1675 by Antonio Riva as the family’s historic residence, and privately owned by a Lugano family since 1942. It has a trapezoidal structure, resulting from the fusion of earlier buildings, with porticoes on Tuscan columns and an 18th-century portal leading to a Baroque courtyard with trompe-l’oeil and a dramatic marble and steel staircase. The first floor preserves a rare cycle of secular frescoes (ca. 1720) attributed to Bartolomeo Rusca, depicting allegories of high humanistic value, offering a unique testimony of 18th-century secular frescos in Ticino. Since 2019, the palazzo hosts a private chamber music festival, with concerts in the historic hall renowned for its exceptional acoustics.