The first room of the Museum houses pictures and period instruments from the Sambon collection. If you are surprised by the highly elaborate painted decoration of the 17th-century Neapolitan Spinet, from the workshop of Honofrio Guaracino, you will also be struck by the bizarrely ambivalent nature of some of the other instruments, such as the guitar-lyre or the harp-lute.

Before leaving this room, you will find an elegant, rigorous still life titled Strumenti musicali (Musical Instruments), painted by Evaristo Baschenis. In the adjacent room, the sala dell’Esedra, you will find the Steinway grand piano that once belonged to the famous composer, Franz Liszt.