Modelled on the Mannerist masterpiece, the Villa d'Este in Tivoli, the Toeplitz family's gardens surrounding their small villa impress with their landscape grandeur, the richness of their flora and the beauty of their architectural composition. Local tradition ascribes to Jadwiga Mrozowska the proper conceptual authorship of this entire establishment.

Built in 1901, the Neo-Renaissance villa in the northern suburb of Varese was owned by the Frey industrialist family, then by the German Hannesen family. Its designer (or just construction manager) was local engineer Alfredo Speroni. The entire estate was bought by the Warsaw-born banker Józef Leopold Toeplitz, an Italian citizen since 1912 and co-owner of the Banca Commerciale Italiana, of which he had already been director of the Milan branch for several years. Together with the actress Jadwiga, née Mrozowska, whom he married in 1918, they made Varese their main Italian residence. Toeplitz's fortune and influence, in the 1920s in charge of Fascist Italy's largest financial institution, allowed for almost unlimited investment. In the light of the present findings, it is not clear whether the villa, bought in 1914, was rebuilt immediately or only between 1920 and 1926, when mansards, a side turret and a small astronomical observatory with a metal dome were added. However, the extension did not change the character of the residence as a small suburban palace. During these years, the Paris atelier Adam et Collin carried out major work on the greatly enlarged park area surrounding the villa. In keeping with the fashion common at the time, reference was made to all'italiana garden designs, mainly Mannerist Tuscan and Roman settings. The central part of the park was given a regular composition with terraces, a cascade and fountains imitating those of the Villa d'Este. At the top of the establishment, a forest of cypresses surrounds a belvedere allowing the eye to overlook the entire composition. The arboretum surrounding this part of the park has a more wild character, and contains many rare exotic tree species (including sequoias, Lebanese and Himalayan cedars, and various oak species) selected by Jadwiga Mrozowska, who acquired a great deal of geographical and botanical knowledge during her long journeys and gave her expeditions a scientific character. The overall conception of this part of the park, or the whole complex, is attributed to her, but this has not been confirmed. In the Sant'Ambrogio cemetery adjacent to the estate, there is a magnificent tomb of the Toeplitz and Mrozowski families, with a painting by Jan Rosen. After the Second World War, Joseph's son from his first marriage, Ludwik, sold the estate to the Mocchetti brothers, who in 1972 sold it to the Municipality of Varese, which allocated the villa and gardens for use by the university.