The villa was erected in 1615 on an excellent architect's designs; the client and the owner was the Comense ecclesiastic Marco Gallio.
The building rises on a ground full of history. It seems that Pliny the Younger's mansion was situated here at the time of the ancient Rome and in the sixteenth century Paolo Giovio had his famous Museum in the vícinity, that is on the tiny Vico Islet, later joined to the mainland.
From the Gallios the villa was transferred to the Rezzonicos, then to the Fossanos in 1772. From them, it. was transferred to the Milanese Honorable Gaetano Bellotti, who had married Teresa Crivelli Visconti. Both of them were proudly anti-Austrian; they rendered the villa a place of secret meetings for many Italians eager for freedom.
From the Bellottis the villa was transferred to Barons Leonino, then, in 1901, to the Milanese Crespi family. It is a building with rooms painted in fresco by the Morazzone and a park which extended beyond the Borgo Vico, road, almost reaching the top of the hill.
In 1957 Villa Gallia was acquired by the Provincial Authority of Como.