[3] In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries the building, considered one of the most beautiful palaces in Pavia, welcomed and hosted many famous people: King Philip V of Spain in 1702, Maria Luisa of Spain in 1765, in 1805 Napoleon stayed here with his wife Joséphine, Emperor Francis II stayed there in 1816, who also returned in June 1825, Emperor Ferdinand I in 1838 and then Marshal Radetzky, King Charles Albert in 1848 and, finally, Victor Emmanuel II in 1859.

[5] The remarkably large complex is made up of four bodies arranged around a rectangular courtyard, with the main facade facing Piazza Botta, and another wing to the right.

In fact, the current facade on the square, the two symmetrical staircases, the architectural definition of the elevations on the courtyard and the one on the garden area date back to this period, now largely occupied by pavilions and buildings built for scientific institutes and from the Labor Clinic.

The first room is certainly the one that has maintained its original characteristics, it is decorated with stuccos, it retains the eighteenth-century doors in carved wood, the fireplace in polychrome marble (still equipped with the fireguard bearing the Botta Adorno coat of arms), while on the vault there is a large fresco depicting Diana and Endymion, attributed to Giovanni Angelo Borroni.

The fresco on the vault of the alcove niche is of a totally different type: it shows Antoniotto Botta Adorno (sent by Maria Theresa to St. Petersburg to negotiate peace between the Austrian and Russian empires and to conclude the marriage between his cousin of the empress, Antony Ulrich of Brunswick, and the niece of the tsarina, Anna Leopoldovna) at the feet of the tsarina Anna of Russia enthroned together with the two spouses.