Palazzo Botta, Palace in Pavia
Palazzo Botta is a large building in central Pavia with a formal classical-style facade. The structure has a rectangular shape with four wings arranged around an inner courtyard, with the exterior decorated with double rows of columns and numerous windows.
The palace was established in the early 1600s when the Botta family took over the property and carried out extensive renovations. Over the 18th and 19th centuries it became a gathering place for kings and emperors before being sold to the University of Pavia in 1887.
Palazzo Botta served as the residence of the noble Botta family and still shows through its surviving rooms how aristocrats lived in the 1700s. The ceiling frescoes with mythological scenes and elaborate stuccos reveal how grand homes like this displayed family power and wealth.
The palace is centrally located in Pavia and open to visitors, with only two rooms surviving in their original 18th-century condition. Plan time to explore the surviving collections and decoration, as the building also houses scientific museums.
Napoleon Bonaparte stayed in the palace in 1805 before becoming King of Italy, and his bedroom with original stuccos and mythological frescoes remains visible today. The room demonstrates the level of international guests who once lodged here.
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