The Museum is housed in a villa that belonged to the Colloredo Mels Counts, a noble family of Friulian origin. The Villa has been used as a museum since 1998 with a very large collection of works from archeology to contemporary art. The archaeological section collects the finds of the Eneolithic settlement of Fontenoce and of the Iron Age. Of particular interest is the art gallery which collects works from all over the territory. The medieval section displays the works of Ludovico da Siena, Vincenzo Pagani, Olivuccio da Ciccarello, Lorenzo Lotto and Piero di Domenico da Montepulciano. The works of Lorenzo Lotto are significant: the Polyptych of San Domenico, the Annunciation, the Transfiguration and the San Giacomo Maggiore. The museum also houses the precious Leopardian collection of the Municipality of Recanati, with manuscripts and letters, paintings, rare editions and numerous other testimonies of the great poet from Recanati. A section of the museum is dedicated to the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries and finally a small collection of 177 ceramics by Rodolfo Ceccaroni. These latest collections are evidence of the local art and painting of Recanati. Since 2013, the basement of Villa Colloredo Mels has housed the Museum of the Marchigiana Emigration, dedicated to those who have left the Marche since the 19th century with the hope of finding better living conditions.