A mysterious Villa

The history of this villa has always been somewhat unknown and ignored by most local historiographers.

Newly built Villa ÅbergIn fact, it is only mentioned because it was known as existing before the construction, in its place, of the "Condominio Aoberg" in Via G.Gallei.
The building site of the Condominio against the lightIn truth, however, its history has a particular relevance because it was the home, also here at the turn of the 19th century and the early 20th century, of a world famous architect.
It was originally called Villa Åberg, after the name of its owner, the architect Henrik Gustav Adam Åberg.


The Villa seen from the cable car in 1968After marrying Olga Synnerberg in 1888, he moved to Sanremo where, around 1890, he designed and built what became his official residence.
As can be seen, the initial A of the surname is surmounted by a small circle and is a letter characteristic of Scandinavian countries, the phonetics of which can be read as a closed O.

This gave rise to the misunderstanding of calling the villa Oberg or, crippling it even more, Aoberg.


List of villas from "I Favolosi Anni Trenta" by Fabiano ScalabriniA book about Sanremo contains a list of historical Villas: and among those there is also the "Aoberg", even if we know that in fact it was called Villa Åberg or, Italianizing it, Oberg.
The Construction Site (on the top) under the snow


The Villa before demolitionThe difficulty in knowing the origin of the villa's name was overcome when the name of the architect who designed and built it, the Åberg, was discovered.


Overview of the hill with the Villa
An unhappy note about the Villa. On 15 September 1944 Giuseppe Anselmi commander of the GAP of Sanremo (Patriotic Action Groups) was arrested and taken to Villa Aoberg (which was the Gestapo Headquarters in Sanremo) where he was interrogated and tortured until 6 November when he was taken to Imperia where he was shot.

In the post-war period the Municipal Administration dedicated to Giuseppe Anselmi the Avenue that connects Corso Cavallottii to the Trento and Trieste Promenade. (today Salvo D'Acquisto).

The history of the villa, unworthily demolished, ended in 1968 just to make room for the above mentioned Condominio.


(sources: research by Alberto Ammirati and Umberto Ferrario, notes by Dino Taulaigo; images from private archives)

We use cookies

We use cookies on our website. Some of them are essential for the operation of the site, while others help us to improve this site and the user experience (tracking cookies). You can decide for yourself whether you want to allow cookies or not. Please note that if you reject them, you may not be able to use all the functionalities of the site.