Palazzo Mazzetti is the most beautiful 1700s noble palace of Asti. Located in the old town, along Corso Alfieri – the main street of the Middle Ages – the building is located along a pathway of high cultural appeal, which narrates the city and area through theme-based historical-artistic sites. With its construction beginning in the last quarter of the 1600s, and enlargement based on a design by architect Benedetto Alfieri in 1751-1752, the palace hosted illustrious figures throughout the centuries, including Giacomo Stuart (1717), King Charles Emmanuel III of Sardinia (1727), and Napoleon I (1805). Purchased in the year 2000 by the Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio di Asti (Asti bank foundation) with the aim to make it become a cultural point of reference, Palazzo Mazzetti was returned to the city in December 2011, fully restored and with a renewal of the city history collections and the spaces for temporary exhibitions. Boasting a bookshop, a teaching room, a conference hall, a library, archives, storage rooms, a cafeteria, touch screens and multimedia projectors, the ancient residence is a profoundly inspiring place. As visitors walk across the building from the underground floor to the top floor hosting 1800s-1900s paintings and sculptures, they may observe substantial elements of its history and construction, and acknowledge how the collections have taken shape from the late 1800s to this day.