First Room following the Vestibule

Located on the northern side of the “Corte Nobile” (Noble Court), the Vestibule was the palace’s ancient atrium, reserved for the access of guests and mentioned in all inventories of the time as the first area of the building. From this environment, it was, in fact, possible to access both the representation quarters located on the ground floor and the upper main floor, by going up a monumental staircase, which is not open to the public today.
The room is characterized by a very simple layout and a rectangular plan with a cross vault, and probably constituted one of the waiting rooms before accessing the sumptuous reception halls, the noble apartments, or the original Nymphaeum.

This environment, which directly overlooks the Courtyard of Honor, is configured as a small gallery dedicated to the 17th-century portraits of the Arese family, now preserved on the staircase of Palazzo Borromeo on Isola Madre and reproduced here in copy thanks to a specific project by the association “Vivere il Palazzo e il Giardino Arese Borromeo” (Experience the Arese Borromeo Palace and Garden), which has managed to unite private and public sponsors.
The decoration of the vault does not present particular frescoes, but only elegant rococo decorations embellished by the coats of arms of the two branches of the Borromeo Arese and Erba Odescalchi family.

The most important work is a molera stone fireplace brought to Cesano Maderno in the 1920s by Guido Borromeo Arese, who transported it here from his Milanese residence. Detached from the iconographic-figurative project of the palace, the fireplace is characterized by a rich central frieze and the motto “Sol in exilio ignis” (“fire is a sun in exile”) placed on the hood. It also has a rich frontal decoration with the coat of arms of the Arese family, which appears here flanked by the four cardinal virtues: Prudence, holding a mirror in her hand with which she looks over her shoulder; Justice, holding a sword and scales in her hands, testifying to her equity in judging and punishing; Fortitude, holding the column in her hand, the emblem of support by definition; Temperance, intent on mixing cold and hot water with two jugs. Among the cardinal virtues also appear the allegories of Fame, winged and with the double trumpet, and of Peace, holding an olive branch in her hand, both represented sitting on the ground surrounded by natural landscapes.

Two specular caryatids that appear at the ends of the fireplace, which also has two curvilinear stone seats, complete the decorative system.