AGUDIO-CONSONNI PALACE

Until 1902, the owners of the Palace were the ancient Agudio family. Later on it belonged to the Consonni family, the current owners of the Palace, who used it as a summer residence. The Agudios were well known in Malgrate since 1700 when they grew rich with industry and silk trade. Among them, the most famous member of the family was Giuseppe Candido: a canon and a notary of the Milan Cathedral. He used to meet the members of the Accademia dei Trasfromati here in this Palace because they saw it as a literary and political circle of great prestige and also as a place where they could enjoy the pleasures of good food. The Academy was founded in Milan in 1743 and it was an active and modern cultural centre based on the ideals of the Enlightenment. It included a lot of important figures such as Giuseppe Giusti, Francesca Manzoni and Giuseppe Parini who, according to Francesco Reina, wrote his poem “The Morning” here.
The great façade of the building has three rows of windows and a central granite portal. The interiors are richly decorated with frescoes representing mythological and religious subjects. On the atrium’s vault is represented the Allegory of Astronomy. On the first floor you can find the elegant central hall once intended for academic and convivial meetings. The decorations are seamless, the terracotta floor is bare just like the windows that overlook the lake.