Documentary Reveals Secrets of Villa Arconati and Its Patron

The documentary 'Il Mecenate', directed by Massimiliano Finazzer Flory, premiered at the 81st Venice International Film Festival and will tour the US in spring. The film explores the life of Galeazzo Arconati, a 17th-century nobleman and collector who acquired twelve Leonardo da Vinci codices in 1622 and donated them to the Biblioteca Ambrosiana in 1637. It also focuses on Villa Arconati (the Castellazzo di Bollate) near Milan, now home to the Fondazione Augusto Rancilio, and its prized sculpture, a three-meter marble statue of Pompey the Great from the early 1st century AD, acquired by Arconati in Rome in 1621 and transported to the villa in 1627. The docufiction blends temporal planes, interviews, and historical reenactments, featuring experts such as Prof. Pietro Marani, Marco Maria Navoni (Prefect of the Veneranda Biblioteca Ambrosiana), writer Matteo Nucci, and Prof. Silvia Romani. Arconati, raised by his uncle Cardinal Federico Borromeo, also served as President of the Veneranda Fabbrica del Duomo and designed the villa inspired by grand Roman and Florentine estates, with gardens, tree-lined avenues, and water features. He died in 1648.