Lecco

Palazzo Belgiojoso

The eighteenth-century palace that houses Lecco's civic museums, from the Neanderthal of Rovagnate to the Resistance, and the planetarium.

Today
Visit duration: 1 h – 2 h
Booking: Not required
Area: Lecco Branch

Jwslubbock · CC BY-SA 4.0

Jwslubbock · CC BY-SA 4.0

Why go

Palazzo Belgiojoso is an early eighteenth-century building, probably built by the Locatelli family from the Valle Imagna.

It has housed Lecco's civic museums since 1927. The portico holds stones from Forte di Fuentes and demolished medieval buildings; four nineteenth-century medallions on the staircase depict characters from The Betrothed. The three museums cover archaeology, history and natural history. Exhibits include an engraved menhir from Ello and evidence ranging from Neanderthal traces at Rovagnate to the Ostrogothic settlement on Monte Barro. The history museum covers the Risorgimento, industry and the Resistance. The civic planetarium opened in 2004.

Three museums in a single palace, ten minutes from the lakefront and the station.
Together they tell the story of the Lecco area from the Palaeolithic to the Resistance, with a tactile trail designed for blind visitors too.

Highlights

The portico lapidarium, with stones from the Forte di Fuentes
The model of the Ostrogothic building on Monte Barro
The engraved menhir from Ello
The “Please touch me!” sensory trail

Getting there

On foot from Lecco station or the lakefront, about ten minutes through the centre.

Accessibility

The palace is fully accessible thanks to a large lift: visitors with reduced mobility use the step-free entrance at the back, asking the custodian for help.
The main entrance has two flights of three steps; the adapted toilet is opposite the ticket desk.