In 1912, the estate was bought by the city of Lugano for more than 1.5million francs. Professor Angelo Pizzorno made this comment in Consiglio Comunale (council meeting) :"This is not crazy pointless luxury; it is a shrewd investment by a city whose moral and economic standing is due in great part to the assets of its natural beauty." In the 1920s Prof. Trosti from Milan conducted a survey of the trees and replaced many that were dead or dying. In 1935 the two buildings used for staff quarters were demolished and thousands of square metres of parkland were used to widen the road from Rivetta Tell as far as Piazza Castello, and to site the Kursaal theatre. In 1945 the Municipio of Lugano asked the best landscape designers in Switzerland for designs for restructuring the park. Unfortunately their plans were filed away and completely forgotten. In the 1960s a small barracks and stable to the north of the villa were demolished to make way for the new Plalzzo dei Congressi (congress house).