Palazzo Visconti: the most frescoed palace in Lombardy

Palazzo Visconti in Brignano Gera d'Adda holds the record for the most square meters of fresco decoration of any residence in Lombardy, with over sixty frescoed rooms in the Palazzo Nuovo alone. The complex comprises three sections: a 12th-14th century castle, the 16th-century Palazzo Vecchio, and the 18th-century Palazzo Nuovo designed by Giovanni Ruggeri. Ruggeri, a pupil of Carlo Fontana and Bernini, brought Roman Baroque forms to Lombardy, also designing Palazzo Cusani in Milan and the castle of Chignolo Po. The interiors feature frescoes by prominent artists including Camillo Procaccini, Giovanni Stefano and Giuseppe Montalto, Ercole Procaccini, Giovanni Ghisolfi, Johann Storer, Fabrizio and Giovanni Antonio Galliari, Giovanni Antonio Cucchi, Giovanni Battista Sassi, and Mattia Bortoloni. A fresco in the Sala dell'Eroe Ferito, once attributed to Tiepolo, is now recognized as by Mattia Bortoloni, who also painted the largest elliptical dome in Europe at the Santuario di Vicoforte. The Palazzo Nuovo was commissioned by brothers Pirro II and Annibale Visconti, Grandes de España, and includes the Sala dei Giganti, Sala del Trionfo di Ercole, Sala di Fetonte, and a Salone d'Onore with a cupola. Today, Palazzo Vecchio is public and houses the town hall, while Palazzo Nuovo has been privately owned by Rea Dalmine since 1997 and is open only on special occasions like FAI Days. Mayor and art historian Beatrice Bolandrini advocates for its preservation and full public access.