It is easy to imagine Napoleon and his wife, Josephine, walking the halls of this elegant palazzo, as they did in 1796. Commissioned in the 1760s, by Duke Gabrio Serbelloni, it was completed by his son Gian Galeazzo in the period 1775-1795, to a design by Simone Cantoni. Cantoni is responsible for the façade overlooking Corso Venezia. Here, he emphasised the central section with a sort of loggia decorated with Ionic columns and bas-reliefs, and surmounted by a triangular tympanum punctuated by a semi-circular window. The exuberant forms of the atrium lead, on the right, to a huge courtyard. The staircase leads up to the majestic “sala napoleonica” (“Napoleon Room”), which occupies a large part of the piano nobile.
