In Poviglio there are several historically valuable estates, once owned by prominent families such as the noble Benassi and Pallavicino lineages, as well as the middle-class Corazza family. These families, whose main residences were in Parma - a duchy in the period prior to Italian Unification - held significant landholdings in the Poviglio area. Between the 17th and 18th centuries, a new land-based production system emerged, with the countryside becoming both the core of agricultural activity and a place for leisure and restoration, far from the unrest of urban life.

These stately residences were intended to reflect power and wealth, embodying the values of an élite that sought recognition on social, economic and cultural levels. Their refined architecture featured loggias, balconies, and grand entrances, alongside sumptuous interiors decorated with sophisticated frescoes. Supporting structures, - such as service buildings, dovecote towers, and private family oratories -, were often simpler and more linear in design. The verde (lit. greenery), as Italians and the French would call it, namely the parkland surrounding these villas, always echoed the grandeur of the mansions themselves. 

Some of these villas, along with their main features, are listed below: 

• Villa Pollina

Villa Pollina was built at the beginning of the 17th century at the behest of the Counts Pollini of Padua, later passing into the ownership of the Benassi family of Parma. This magnificent building, with its rectangular plan, features on both façades a pair of superimposed loggias. Inside, the ground floor is dominated by a barrel-vaulted central entrance hall, entirely frescoed in the "grottesche" style and supported by matching columns. On one side opens the main staircase, while on the opposite side a spacious lobby extends across the building’s width. The interiors are richly decorated in the stile delle grottesche, a decorative motif that enjoyed enduring popularity in the Parma area. 

• Villa Benassi Pallavicino

Villa Benassi Pallavicino, a neoclassical-style residence, stands against the backdrop of a romantic park. Built in the 19th century, it is a long and stately manor whose piano nobile (the principal floor of noble estates) is entirely decorated with 19th-century tempera paintings, while featuring a fine fanlights set.
Completing the courtyard are sheds, stables and greenhouses arranged along its perimeter. A notable detail of this villa is the ornamentation of some of its ceilings, in particular one depicting views of the Gulf of Naples. The ground floor is further distinguished by its superelevated frontispieces and lunettes, arranged in the style of thermal windows. 

• Villa Corazza

A fine example of a stately villa with an open courtyard, Villa Corazza is framed by two long side wings once used for its service functions. Commissioned in 1843 by Simone Corazza (1789-1871) to replace a group of buildings known as “Case Giaroli”, it remained in the Corazza family until 1999. This ancient lineage of Swiss gentry settled permanently in Parma in the mid-18th century, and by the early 19th century they owned eight additional properties in the Poviglio area - holdings they expanded further during that century. Prominent entrepreneurs, the Corazzas also invested in Salsomaggiore Terme, acquiring Tabiano Castle and its surrounding lands, and founding the area’s first thermal baths. 
This villa, built in neoclassical style, is laid out along a north-south axis, with an archivolted main entrance topped with a small stone balcony featuring a wrought-iron railing. Inside, rich pictorial decorations by the Parma artist Ignazio Affanni (1828-1889) include portraits of family members. The interiors retain their original adorned marble flooring and elegant fireplaces, enhancing the building’s refined character.

Italian text and photographs from: Adriano Artoni, Matteo Colla, "Tesori nascosti: quattro secoli fra arte e storia a Poviglio", Correggio, Magellano finebooks, 2014