The Archaeological Museum is housed in Palazzo Giovio, the urban residence of the counts of the same name, since 1897. Dating back to the late Middle Ages, the building underwent some alterations in the 16th century but took its current form in the 18th with Giovan Battista Giovio, who also had the gardens set up. with the construction of the staircase and the nymphaeum. The museum is divided into various sections, focusing mainly on the history of the Como area as illustrated by the archaeological finds from the earliest traces of human occupation. The prehistoric and protohistoric section provides a particularly well-documented picture of the Golasecca culture, which developed in the Como area in the 1st millennium BC The Roman section presents material from the city of Novum Comum, founded by Julius Caesar, and illustrates the most salient aspects of the daily life of the time . Some rooms are dedicated to collections built in the 19th century, including those that house prehistoric finds, Egyptian objects, Greek vases, gems, coins and small bronzes.