Gallery of Arms

In this long room parallel and symmetrical to the Cupola Gallery, the two brothers displayed the arms and armor of their collection. As in the rest of the house, exemplary antiques were displayed side by side with restored pieces and pieces created for them in the Renaissance style, in order to give the impression of being in an antique gallery of arms. Swords and pikes are displayed in the racks along the walls, helmets are set on the antique chests, and the armor is shown off re-assembled on stands, just as the brothers had planned. This room completes the articulated scenography of the Bagatti Valsecchi home, and celebrates the great passion for antique arms that is one of the distinctive characteristics of Lombard collecting since exquisite and high quality Lombard arms and armor were famous and much sought after exports of the medieval and Renaissance periods. Other than defensive weapons, such as shields and armor, the collection is composed almost exclusively not of fire arms, but of side arms, that is, arms with blades that, in the eyes of the brothers, appeared better suited to recreating the Renaissance that they sought to evoke.