Palazzo Belgiojoso, on Corso Matteotti in Lecco, has housed the city’s Civic Museums since 1927: the Archaeological Museum, the Historical Museum, the Natural History Museum and the Civic Planetarium.
Built in the early 1700s by the Locatelli family from Bergamo, in 1794 the palace was Giovanna Mellerio’s, who had married Rinaldo Alberico Barbiano di Belgiojoso d’Este. Bought between 1923 and 1924 by the municipalities of Castello and Lecco, it was turned over in 1927 to house the civic collections, which still fill its rooms today.
The museums
Archaeological Museum. It follows the history of the area from the Palaeolithic and Mesolithic to the Neolithic, then the Copper, Bronze and Iron Ages, the Roman period and the early Middle Ages. Among the exhibits and displays are models of medieval settings and a menhir from Ello.
Historical Museum. Original documents, photographs, paintings and weapons tell the story of the Risorgimento, the area’s industrial history, the Second World War and the Resistance.
Natural History Museum. Founded in 1888 and recognised as a museum by Regione Lombardia in 2007, it holds historic zoological collections — mammals, birds, fish, reptiles, amphibians and insects — partly still in nineteenth-century display cases. The palaeontology section, the Lariosaurus Hall (Sala del Lariosauro), explains the discovery of the fossils of the “Lecco saurian”, its characteristics and the Triassic environment in which it lived.
Civic Planetarium. Astronomical shows under an 8-metre dome with 62 seats.
Practical information
- Address: Corso Giacomo Matteotti 32, Lecco.
- Closed Mondays; Tuesday to Friday 10:00-14:00; Saturday and Sunday 10:00-18:00. Closed on 1 May and 25 December; the palace’s official page also lists Easter as a closing day.
- The Archaeological, Historical and Natural History museums are free of charge; the Planetarium is a paid attraction, with full and reduced tickets.
- Part of the Lecco Urban Museum System (SiMUL) together with Palazzo delle Paure, the Torre Viscontea and Villa Manzoni.
- Hours and prices are from simulecco.it (checked in September 2026): the official site has the current information, so it is worth checking it before your visit.