Palazzo Belgiojoso

Palazzo Belgiojoso dates back to the early 18th century and was built by the Locatelli family, originally from Bergamo's Valle Imagna valley. It has the typical appearance of an eighteenth-century palace, with a large interior colonnaded portico and façades scanned by mouldings decorating the large windows.
In 1794, the palace was sold to Giovanna Mellerio, wife of Prince Carlo Rinaldo di Belgiojoso d'Este, who died in 1797, shortly after the palace was seized by the authorities of the Cisalpine Republic, who wanted to turn it into the headquarters of the Mountain Department.
After having undergone many changes of ownership during the 19th century and having been used for various purposes, in 1927 Palazzo Belgiojoso became the seat of the Civic Museums of Lecco.
It is home to the Natural History Museum, which was Lecco's first museum, built by Carlo Vercelloni in 1888 with his private collection of taxidermied animals. This is joined by the Archaeological Museum, built in 2000, and the Civic Planetarium, opened in 2004. The ground floor houses the recently opened Museo Storico, which traces the history of the city from the Risorgimento to World War II with a focus on the Resistance and a Virtual Room dedicated to the history of the iron industry, a peculiarity and excellence of the territory since the 17th century.
As of September 2021, the three museums of Palazzo Belgiojoso will be able to enjoy the permanent exhibitions Please touch me! With eyes closed in the museum. These are multisensory and multimedia stations designed for the visually impaired and blind: voice captions, tactile cards, faithful reproductions of artefacts, and digital devices. Everyone can now approach the artistic heritage of these museums in new ways that also involve them on an emotional level.