At the end of the 18th century Heinrich (Enrico) Mylius (1769-1854), a businessman from Frankfurt, moved to Milan with his wife Friederike Schnauss (1771-1851), descendant of an important family from Weimar. In a few years, he managed to make an immense fortune and achieved renown as an entrepreneur in the silk industry, in the textiles trade as well as in the banking sector. From his place of residence in Milan he maintained close ties with major personalities at the Weimar's court, especially with Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, with whom he remained on cordial terms throughout his life. Mylius was an impressive and multi-talented man who wanted to share his wealth, which came from his entrepreneurial activity, with the society. Hence he financed numerous charitable organizations, founded a technical university and provided artists with orders and awards. His contributions towards the promotion of cultural exchanges between Italy and Germany are invaluable. In 1829 Heinrich Mylius acquired a country estate on Lake Como in Loveno for his son Julius, who intended to marry Luigia Vitali, a member of an aristocratic Milanese family. However, Julius died in the following year soon after the wedding. As a result, his father transformed the property into a place of remembrance housing a wide collection of sculptures and paintings. The young widow Luigia married Ignazio Vigoni for her second marriage. Their grandson, who bore the same name of Luigia's husband, Ignazio Vigoni junior (1905-1983), bequeathed the property at Lake Como to the Federal Republic of Germany in order to “honour” the friendship of his ancestor Heinrich Mylius with Johann Wolfgang Goethe and Alessandro Manzoni and to keep the tradition of German-Italian relations alive.