What to do and see in Lombardy, Italy: The Best Traveler Resources

Tourist information in Luino

The Pinacoteca Ambrosiana The Pinacoteca Ambrosiana was established in April 1618, when Cardinal Federico Borromeo donated his collection of paintings, drawings and statues to the Biblioteca Ambrosiana, which he had founded in 1607. Inside the Pinacoteca's expositive path, articulated in 24 rooms, we can admire some of the greatest masterpieces of all times, like The Musician by Leonardo, The Basket of Fruit by Caravaggio, The cartoon for the School of Athens by Raphael , the Adoration of the Magi by Titian, the Madonna del Padiglione by Sandro Botticelli and the magnificent Vases of Flowers by Jan Brueghel. In addition to Renaissance artworks, the museum's collections include paintings by important 17th century Lombard artists (like Morazzone, Giulio Cesare Procaccini, Daniele Crespi and Carlo Francesco Nuvolone) as well as 18th century artists like Giandomenico Tiepolo, Fra' Galgario, Francesco Londonio, and also a notable cluster of 19th and early 20th centuries authors like Andrea Appiani, Francesco Hayez and Emilio Longoni. Walking from a room to another you can also discover a series of genuine curiosities, like the gloves that Napoleon wore at Waterloo, the armillary spheres from the Settala Collection, or the case that keeps a lock of Lucrezia Borgia's hair, in front of which many famous poets like Gabriele D'Annunzio and Lord Byron came to take inspiration. The ideal end of the visit is the Biblioteca Ambrosiana's old 17th century reading room, the Federiciana Room, which is the frame for the Codex Atlanticus exhibition.

The Alfa Romeo Museum has been completely renovated and is even more prestigious. The historical site in Arese has a new look and open to public with a refined arrangement that reflects Alfa Romeo's distinctive DNA. Six floors of history binding past, present and future and complimenting the achievements of an extraordinary brand, its vehicles, its technology and style.

The "Casa del Podesta" was erected towards in the mid fifteenth century as the residence of the representative of the Republic of Venice in Lonato, a territory which was under Venetian domination for almost 350 years. The House of the Podesta or chief magistrate belonged to Venice until the Treaty of Campoformio in 1797, when it became Austrian propriety and was turned into a military barracks. In the second half of the nineteenth century the building passed at the ends at the Town Hall of Lonato which took not interested in it, using it as poorhouse for the town poorest families. In 1906 the Liberal deputy Ugo Da Como bought it at a public auction and submitted it to a radical restoration based on the historicist recovery of the original style: appointing Antonio Tagliaferri, the most important Brescia architect of the period, as supervisor of the works.