Along the fashionable thoroughfare, Via Manzoni, at number 12, we find the Poldi-Pezzoli Museum. Originally the building was the home of the titled art collector Gian Giacomo Poldi-Pezzoli. When he died in 1879 he left all the collections he had so lovingly assembled in his own home to a foundation set up for the benefit of the general public. Although seriously damaged during the last war, the museum was quickly restored and today, while scrupulously adhering to the most modern museum criteria, it has managed to preserve the feeling of a 19^th century private collection. Among the numerous painting we mention Madonna and Child by Andrea Mantegna; Lament over the Dead of Christ by Giovanni Bellini; Madonna and Child and Lament over the Dead of Christ two painting by Sandro Botticelli; St. Nicholas of Tolentino by Piero della Francesca; Portrait of a young woman a masterpiece by Antonio Pollaiolo. The museum houses a collection of firearms, halberds, swords, and daggers; some magnificent tapestries, Persian carpets and fragments of coptic textiles; an exceptional Murano glass collection of the 15 to 19 century and a precious collection of porcelain from Saxony, Vienna, Capodimonte and Sévres.