National Museum of the Villa dei Mulini in Portoferraio

Please note that for safety reasons only 30 people at a time are allowed access to the Villa dei Mulini Museum.

Today the Palazzina dei Mulini, once the official residence of Napoleon, is a National Museum. During the Bicentenary in 2014 the first renovation work was carried out, and more is yet to come , in an attempt to bring the Villa back to its original beauty.

Built in 1724 by the Grand Duke Gian Gastone de' Medici, the original building wasn't what it's like now, because Napoleon had some alterations done by the architect Paolo Bargigli from Livorno to suit his own needs better: the central part that connected the two original buildings was made higher so he could have a ball room.

The entrance is on the ground floor, and the main rooms of the Emperor's apartment are connected by a corridor: the first room you come to is the main room, then the library and finally the bedroom. Going past the stairs that lead to the ball room, originally for Maria Luisa's use, but used solely by his sister Paolina, you get to his studio and the room for his pages.

The original furniture, that Napoleon had brought from his residence in Piombino by his sister Elisa Baciochi, no longer exists. Meticulous work done on the two residences with the addition of beautiful nineteenth century Imperial style furniture has brought the true Imperial atmosphere back to life. The library, on the other hand, still has the most important Napoleonic material: the books that the Emperor brought with him from the libraries in Fontainebleau and those that his uncle, Cardinal Fesch, gave to him.

In the garden, lying between the Building and the sea, there are two beautiful statues: one of Minerva that is thought to date back to ancient Greece, the other a copy of the Galatea of the Canova (they say Paolina Borghese posed for it), while the original is in the Demidoff Gallery in San Martino.