Palazzo Moneta in Belfiore: Historic Villa and First Juliet House

Palazzo Moneta, in Bionde di Belfiore, was built by the grain merchant Cosimo Moneta in the sixteenth century. The wealthy merchant commissioned the villa to be decorated by the best artists before going bankrupt and being forced to sell the property to the Serego counts.

Among the service of the new noble residents, Tullio India also decorated some rooms: his name is added among the decorators of the palace, alongside stucco artist Bartolomeo Ridolfi and the fresco painter Paolo Farinati. The latter painted in the palace, in the evocative Love Room, the first known depiction of Juliet and Romeo’s death, just a few years before William Shakespeare became aware of the story and immortalized it with his tragedy.

The First House of Juliet

Therefore, the first “house of Juliet” is this one in Belfiore.