Already the seat, during the Napoleonic era, of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and later of the Ministry of War, the palazzo Moriggia, which passed to the De Marchi family in 1900, was donated to the Municipality of Milan by the wife of the famous naturalist Marco De Marchi and on that occasion destined to become a museum.
Through a complex set of materials composed of prints, paintings, sculptures, drawings, weapons, and memorabilia, the collections illustrate the period of Italian history between the first campaign of Napoleon Bonaparte in Italy (1796) and the annexation of Rome to the Kingdom of Italy (1870).
The exhibition path is arranged chronologically and unfolds through fifteen thematic rooms, to which two rooms for temporary exhibitions are added. The latest setup dates back to 1998 when, maintaining the chronological sequence intact, the permanent exhibition structures dedicated to the main collections were redesigned, particularly the memorabilia of Napoleon‘s coronation in Italy (the green and silver mantle and the precious royal insignia), the banner of the Lombard Legion Mounted Hunters, the first Italian Tricolor, to name just a few examples.
On this occasion, the lighting system and the didactic materials were redesigned, and the underlying “Romantic Garden” was restored. Via Borgonuovo, 23, tel 02.88464186
