Italy Guide
Lombardy and the lakes
Museo Bagatti Valsecchi
In a house linking Via Santo Spirito with Via Gesù 5, just off Via Montenapoleone, is the Museo Bagatti Valsecchi Opening time: Tues– Sun 1–5.45pmPrice: €8 
www.museobagattivalsecchi.org . Built by the Bagatti Valsecchi brothers in the nineteenth century in homage to Renaissance style, it served as a home for their family and their collections. All the rooms are richly decorated with carved fireplaces, painted ceilings and heavy wall-hangings and paintings. The fireplace in the drawing room perfectly illustrates the brothers' eclectic approach to decoration: the main surround is sixteenth-century Venetian, the frescoes in the middle are from Cremona, while the whole ensemble is topped off with the Bagatti Valsecchi coat of arms. Modern conveniences were incorporated into the house but not allowed to ruin the harmony, so the shower in the bathroom is disguised in a niche, and the piano, which was not realized as an instrument until the eighteenth century, is incorporated within a cabinet. Look out also for touching domestic items, such as the nursery furniture for Giuseppe's children.