The Palazzo Salis is situated in the heart of the historic centre of Tirano, a small town in the valley Valtellina in the north of Italy.

More than ten rooms decorated with frescoes and stucco from the 17th and 18th century, as well as the hidden Italian Garden on the backside of the building are opened for the public.

The geographical location of Tirano, or rather of its historic centre, is a very strategical point for transport and trading in the Valtellina valley.

Exactly those last mountain passes before entering the lowlands of northern Italy have been highly important for trade and political interests, especially in mediaeval and early modern period.

Even the family Salis transferred themselves to the Val Bregaglia and resettled in the village Soglio which had a prosper position for trading.

Due to their position in Soglio and their contacts to the Bishop of Chur they could increase their political and economic importance first in the Val Bregaglia, and later even in the League of God's House.

Members of the family Salis captured during the reign of the Three Leagues especially during the 17th and 18th century the major part of the political positions in the Valtellina.

The Palazzo Salis is situated in the north-eastern area of Tirano, historically called Capo di Terra, inside of the town wall, that got erected in the 1490s by Ludovico Sforza, Duke of Milan.

The then rooms surrounding the “Courtyard of Horses” are predominantly decorated with marvellous frescoes from the second half of the 17th century, the construction period of the Palazzo.

The importance of the family network itself is clearly shown by the imposing fireplace made in stucco, which represents the marriage between Giovanni Stefano Salis and his first wife Katharina von Wolkenstein.

Thanks to the precision and quality of the illusionistic design as well as to the very thinly vaulted ceiling the illusion of a real architecture which opens to the sky works in a perfect way (Trompe-l’œil).

The central element of the garden is a fountain surrounded by four box hedges that create a maze of evergreen which encloses varieties of roses.