Palazzo Malacrida

Palazzo Malacrida rises above Morbegno in the historic Scimicà quarter. Its restrained exterior contrasts with an eighteenth-century interior of pastel stucco, painted perspectives and allegorical ceiling frescoes.

Why it matters

The palace brings the decorative culture of the rococo into an Alpine town. Cesare Ligari's Venetian training informs the luminous colour and dramatic upward perspectives of the principal ceiling painting.

What to notice

Two granite columns support the atrium's cross vaults. The staircase ceiling carries Gian Pietro Romegialli's Rape of Ganymede. In the salone d'onore, Giuseppe Coduri's illusionistic architecture frames Ligari's Triumph of Truth: personifications of the arts and sciences gather above the painted vault while Ignorance falls away. A neighbouring room contains Ligari's Three Graces. The Italian garden rises behind the palace in three terraces.

Context and history

The Malacrida, a noble family of Lake Como origin, built the palace in the eighteenth century. Giampietro Malacrida commissioned Ligari's ceiling paintings in 1761. Disagreement over payment curtailed the planned cycle, leaving two completed paintings from the larger commission.