This art gallery is an eccentric Gothic-Renaissance style building, a fine example of eclectic architecture by Ascanio Ferrari (early decades of 20th century).
The building was ordered by Luigi Parmeggiani, in order to house his big art collection: paintings, furnitures, goldworks, fabrics, arms and costumes; many of them are 19th century fakes in medieval and Renaissance style, but this doesn’t make them less interesting because it only helps turning the collection into something truly unique and bizarre.
Luigi Parmeggiani had remarkable taste in ambiguously combining quality original – like “Christ Blessing” by El Greco or the magnificent XV century gate coming from the Morel Palace in Valencia, Spain – and false pieces.
Indeed, the false name under which Luigi Parmeggiani managed to transfer the big collection from France to Italy – Louis Marcy – became a popular and prolific output of reproduction works, showing the taste for ancient art emulation of late 19th century.