Located at the top of the grand staircase, the museum occupies the entire main floor (piano nobile) of Palazzo Pfanner. It opens onto a spacious central hall, highlighted by fine frescoes painted around 1720 by Pietro Paolo Scorsini (1658–1731), inspired by the ‘quadratura’ painting style.
This artistic genre, known as quadraturismo, was celebrated for its ability to create the illusion of extended space through painted architectural elements in perspective.

In the hall, powerful paired Ionic columns can be seen on the walls, seemingly receding into depth and marking the progression of spatial levels. On the ceiling, a balustraded area with green faux-marble columns supports an elaborate architectural framework that opens up into a sky-blue background. At its center stands the personification of Aurora, accompanied by flying cherubs (putti) carrying a basket of flowers, a torch, and a basin dripping with dew.

Adjacent to the hall are a kitchen, dining room, bedroom, and tea room.
In the kitchen, the old oven serves as a backdrop to a small space where one can see ceramic bottles from the historic Pfanner brewery and typical 19th-century cooking tools. The kitchen leads to the dining room, where, beneath a coffered ceiling, a period dining table is set with plates, glasses, silverware, and vintage furnishings.

The next room features a fine 18th-century canopy bed adorned with silk trimmings from Lucca. Beside it stands an Austrian-style terracotta stove, symbolizing the transition of ownership from the Controni family—noble silk merchants—to Felix Pfanner, a brewer from Hörbranz.

In the final room, the tea room, antique furniture and decorations surround a Viennese fortepiano from 1855. A display case of religious relics, a nod to a typical 19th-century collecting trend, concludes the museum tour.

The rooms also house a permanent exhibition of medical-surgical instruments and antique medical texts that once belonged to Pietro Pfanner (1864–1935), a surgeon, philanthropist, and mayor of Lucca from 1920 to 1922. Among the items on display are orthopedic, gynecological, and neurological tools, reflecting the broad and unspecialized nature of the medical profession in an era before the rise of medical specializations.

The story of the Pfanner Brewery is, above all, the story of a man: Felix Pfanner, a subject of the Austrian Empire, born in 1818 on the shores of Lake Constance. The second son of a humble family, Felix arrived in Lucca in 1846 as a brewer, after hearing about a public notice issued by Duke Carlo Ludovico of Bourbon, seeking a skilled German beer-maker to settle in the city.

At that time, beer was almost unknown in Italy—there were no sales or distribution points. Felix was among the first to introduce it, thanks to the brewery he managed to establish in the then Palazzo Controni, where he rented the garden and cellars upon his arrival.

Over the years, Felix developed a biergarten, complete with a pergola, marble tables, cast-iron chairs, a brewing facility, and fermentation vats installed in the Palace’s cellars. It quickly became a popular gathering place for beer enthusiasts—not just from Lucca but from neighboring areas as well. Entire families, as well as curious individuals, were drawn by the novelty of beer and the beauty of the setting. Women were also welcome, a rarity for the time.

As Felix eventually acquired the entire property, the Palace began to be known as Palazzo Pfanner, and its biergarten became a local landmark, known for its peacocks roaming the grounds and uniformed waiters serving guests. Felix passed away in 1892, but the biergarten remained active until 1929, thanks to the dedication of his son, Raffaello Pfanner.

After 1929, the Pfanner Brewery ceased operations, but its legacy lived on in the collective memory of the city. This memory resurfaced in 1964 in a beautiful article by Luccan writer Guglielmo Petroni, published in the magazine La Provincia di Lucca.

In 2024, the long-awaited restoration project of the remaining parts of the old brewery began—an effort that will culminate in the reopening of the historic Pfanner Brewery.

Built at the end of the 18th century, the lemon house of Palazzo Pfanner marks the northern boundary of the garden, separating the property from the nearby city walls of Lucca. With its large windows and wide openings, the lemon house was originally designed to shelter the ancient lemon pots during the winter months—pots that line the garden’s paths in warmer seasons.

The central section of the structure, located at the end of the main avenue leading to the Palace, rises on two distinct levels. The lower level features on its façade the statues of Cybele and Hercules, while the upper level is topped with a balustrade adorned with columns, flanked by two lions and crowned at the center by a basilisk, the emblem of the Controni family.

During the summer months, the lemon house becomes an open and versatile space, ideal for hosting exhibitions and cultural events.