Palazzo D'Arco, Mantua

The facade has elements that include the coat of arm of the D'Arco and Chieppio families, and also displays in the tympanum the Habsburg double-headed eagle of the then Austrian rulers of Lombardy.

In 1872 the building was enlarged further by Francesco Antonio d'Arco, by buying the neighboring Marquis Dalla Valle's palace.

When the Chieppio line died without male heirs, the palace passed in 1740 to a sister, Teresa married to Francesco Alberto d’Arco.

Their son, Giovanni Battista Gherardo d’Arco, prefect of the Mantuan Academy of Sciences and Fine Arts, commissioned Antonio Colonna in 1783 to rebuild the facade in a neoclassical style.

When the last member of the family, contessa Giovanna d'Arco Chieppio Ardizzoni, died, her will left the palace and its collections to a foundation for use as a museum.