A stately home from the mid-16th century with a wide variety of 15th- and 16th-century objects: Paintings, Tapestries, Carpets, Furniture, Weapons, Ceramics, Bronzes, Glass, Jewelry, Ironwork, and household Utensils of all kinds.
The Bagatti Valsecchi Museum is not a traditional museum, but a house-museum that recounts the life, passions, and dreams of two brothers, Fausto and Giuseppe Bagatti Valsecchi.
Between 1880 and 1900, the two brothers transformed their homes (by combining two buildings) into a Renaissance residence, inspired by 16th-century Lombard palaces.
They furnished every room with Renaissance furniture, tapestries, paintings, weapons, ceramics, glass, jewelry, and art objects (many authentic, others expertly reproduced).
The result is a total immersion in a perfectly preserved 19th-century Renaissance atmosphere. It feels like a noble home lived in until yesterday.
A sort of “cabinet of curiosities” that reflects the owners’ passion for collecting. Every object has a story.
What to see
Hall of Honor with a coffered ceiling and large tapestries, Fireplace Room, Library with over 10,000 ancient volumes, Bathroom (one of the first modern bathrooms in Milan, with hot and cold running water!), Tapestry Gallery, and the Valencian Room.
Red Room
The Master Bedroom owes its name to the red velvet covering the walls. Here, one of the collection’s most prized pieces is displayed: Giovanni Bellini’s famous “Santa Giustina”, and the Sicilian Bed, made of wrought iron and decorated with gold leaf, stands out.
Valtellinese Bedroom
It houses the large polyptych depicting the Madonna Enthroned with Saints by Giovan Pietro Rizzoli, known as Giampietrino, a precious Casket reassembled in the 19th century with bone plaques crafted with chivalric motifs, a curious Skull-shaped Clock, a memento mori (remember that you must die).
Gallery of Weapons
A rich collection of bladed weapons, complete suits of armor, and military art objects that illustrate the 19th-century collecting taste for the Middle Ages and the Renaissance.
Fifteenth- and sixteenth-century paintings, including works by Bernardino Luini, Bernardo Zenale, and Giampietrino
Renaissance furnishings: carved furniture, chests, sideboards, and wood paneling that recreate the atmosphere of a sixteenth-century Lombard noble palace
Goldsmith’s art and precious objects: jewels, reliquaries, chalices, and sacred and secular artifacts of fine Renaissance goldsmithing.
Ceramics, glass, ivory, wood, and everyday objects: plates, majolica, worked glass, ivory, wood, and bone objects that document the daily life of the aristocracy between the 15th and 16th centuries.
Nearby Attractions
Due to its central location, you can easily combine the visit with: A stroll through the Fashion Quadrilateral (Via Monte Napoleone, Via della Spiga), the Museo Poldi Pezzoli (another splendid house-museum just a few minutes’ walk away), a stop at the Pinacoteca Ambrosiana.
Via Gesù 5
Milan
Lombardy – Italy
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