In the 1880s, brothers Fausto and Giuseppe Bagatti Valsecchi renovated their palazzo on Via Gesù — not in Art Nouveau style (fashionable then) but in FULL RENAISSANCE: carved ceilings, tapestries, suits of armor, 15th-century furniture, stained glass, frescoed walls. They didn't collect the Renaissance — they RECREATED it as a functioning home. They ate dinner under carved ceilings, bathed in a Renaissance bathroom (with modern plumbing hidden inside period woodwork), and slept in beds from the 1500s. €9. On Via Gesù — 50m from Via Montenapoleone's boutiques. The collision of obsessive historicism and luxury fashion.
Highlights: The Dining Room (walnut ceiling, tapestries, Murano glass chandelier). The Bedrooms (original 15th-century beds, canopied, with Renaissance headboards depicting saints). The Bathroom (the most intellectually absurd room — 1880s plumbing concealed inside a carved wooden cabinet that looks 500 years old). Arms Gallery: Swords, crossbows, armor. Practical: Via Gesù 5. €9 (Wed €6). Open Tue-Sun 1-5:45pm. Metro M3 Montenapoleone. Duration: 45 min.