In the 1880s the brothers Fausto and Giuseppe Bagatti Valsecchi rebuilt their family palazzo in the heart of what is now the fashion quarter as a Renaissance house — not a museum of Renaissance objects, but an actual home in which to live surrounded by them. They collected arms, tapestries, ivories, and majolica, and commissioned period-style woodwork and frescoes to match, blending genuine 15th- and 16th-century pieces with convincing 19th-century recreations.
The result, opened to the public in 1994 and left largely as the family arranged it, is a rare intact example of Milanese collecting taste at its peak. Rooms run from a hall of armour to a bedroom with a carved canopy bed and a study lined with Flemish leather. It is smaller and quieter than the Poldi Pezzoli a few streets away, and the two make a natural pair for an afternoon between the boutiques.