The building that now hosts the museum, goes back to Medieval Ages and was probably built with defensive function for the village, as this was located along the Via Mercatorum.
It became a noble house between the fifteenth and seventeenth centuries, when it was purchased and restored by the local family Grataroli, which boasted great properties earned in Venice, and of which they also brought the architectural taste: their palace is the only example of Venetian architecture there is Brembana Valley. The Gratarolis decorated their house with a cycle of frescoes, still visible today entering the great hall: the so called Camera Picta (literally painted room).
The frescoes, dating back to the second half of the fifteenth century, prove the rise of the family through the intercession of the healers saints linked to popular devotion and through the representation of a knightly tournament where Grataroli, recognizable by the presence of a gratarola (a grater ) drawn on their shield, defeat the enemies by demonstrating their power to noble families of the Valley, depicted in the coat of arms that surround the scene.
At the entrance of the Palace is also visible a fresco depicting a man holding a stick in his hand and with an inscription: Who is not kind, is not allowed to enter in my house otherwise I will hit him with my stick.
This painting recalls the figure of “Homo Selvadego” (wild man) widespread in reticulum-alpine communities and metaphor of the dependence of man to their land and his relationship with the cycles of nature.
