Decorative Motifs
 

Though the building itself was completed between 1790 and 1793, it took three years to finish the complex decorative cycle in Villa Belgiojoso, both on its facades and in its interiors.

The Villa’s two facades are embellished with a great number of statues and reliefs with a mythological theme, designed by the Neo-classical poet Giuseppe Parini and sculpted by the same artisans who executed the Duomo’s facade. At the same time, the ground-floor rooms are decorated with exuberant ornamentation by Giocondo Albertolli, who had collaborated with Piermarini on Palazzo Reale and the Villa Reale in Monza.

Dating to one decade later are the interior decorations found on the first floor; they express a change in taste during Napoleonic Neo-classicism and culminate in the famous fresco of Andrea Appiani, the Parnasus.
The Villa Reale’s lavish appearance is rounded off by its precious period furnishings which heighten its spectacularity.