La Villa Belgiojoso, where the Gallery of Modern Art has been located since 1921, is one of the masterpieces of Neoclassicism in Milan.
It was built between 1790 and 1796 as the residence of Count Lodovico Barbiano of Belgiojoso and was designed with elegance and functionality by the Austrian architect Leopoldo Pollack, collaborator of the greatest representative of Lombard Neoclassicism, Giuseppe Piermarini, to whom the building was originally commissioned .

In 1804 the Villa passed into the hands of the French government as Napoleon's Milanese residence, also taking its name, Villa Bonaparte, and becoming a sumptuous setting for lunches and dance parties.
After the unification of Italy the Villa was assigned to the Crown of Italy and entered a long period of relative abandonment. It is only thanks to the transfer to municipal state property in 1920 that the important transformation of the historic building began, destined to house the modern art collections that can be admired today.

Following the attack that destroyed the PAC in 1993, the Villa underwent a long restoration project which ended in 2006. Returned to Milan in all its original splendor, Villa Reale today it is the luxurious setting of an exhibition itinerary redesigned from scratch.