ORDINE DEGLI ARCHITETTI, FONDAZIONE DELL’ORDINE DEGLI ARCHITETTI, PIANIFICATORI, PAESAGGISTI E CONSERVATORI PIANIFICATORI, PAESAGGISTI E CONSERVATORI DELLA PROVINCIA DI MILANO DELLA PROVINCIA DI MILANO

/themes themed tours through the city

Milan and the Unification of Italy

Paolo Galuzzi Piergiorgio Vitillo

Itineraries through Milan’s architecture Modern architecture as a description of the city “Itineraries through Milan’s architecture: Modern architecture as a description of a city” is a project by the Order of Architects, Planners, Landscape Architects and Conservators, edited by its Foundation.

Scientific Coordinator: Maurizio Carones

Executive Director: Paolo Brambilla

Editorial Staff: Alessandro Sartori, Stefano Suriano

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Press Office: Ferdinando Crespi

“Milan and the Unification of Italy” Paolo Galuzzi, Piergiorgio Vitillo

Edited by: Alessandro Sartori, Stefano Suriano, Barbara Palazzi

Images courtesy of: Biblioteca Comunale di Foligno, Biblioteca Nazionale Braidense

Translation: Mike Ryan

On the back cover: Milan skyline from the Cathedral’s roof, photo by Stefano Suriano, 2011

For copyrights regarding any unidentified iconographic materials, please contact the Foundation of the Order of the Architects, Planners, Landscape Architects and Conservators of the Province of Milan www.ordinearchitetti.mi.it www.fondazione.ordinearchitetti.mi.it

Milan and the Unification of Italy

Paolo Galuzzi and Piergiorgio Vitillo (1)

Milan, a modern city

During the Kingdom of Italy and up until the outbreak of World War II (1861-1914), Milan established its role as a modern city. Naturally, this growth process affected both the city and industry, but it also involved politics, culture and the arts. In fact, industrialisation became increasingly important during the tenure of Giovanni Giolitti (1901-1914), who brought undisputed leadership to the city in economic and financial matters as witnessed by the International Exhibition of 1906 (2). During the time that unification of the Italian State was being consolidated, Milan had yet to attain the momentum and the culture necessary to become the country’s economic capital on par with other European cities. Its ruling class, still split between the promise of an industrial future and a more typically Milanese sense of security in land and property, initially invested the majority of its capital in exploiting the city itself and its profitable real estate assets, underestimating the economic and business impact that unification would provide, both by opening up a national market and by creating relationships with the rest of Western Europe (3). The grandeur of some of the projects to reform the City Centre, therefore, will come up against initial budgetary constraints posed by a cautious and conservative middle class that at the time was not very modern. The planning projects that were carried out, at least in the first two decades after unification, provide substantial evidence of the provincialism of the Milanese bourgeoisie, which had forgotten the lessons of Carlo Cattaneo and his European vision. This itinerary touches on the places and artifacts of the historic

MILAN AND THE UNIFICATION OF ITALY city – some of them bona fide urban palimpsests – that provided fertile ground for ideas and projects that accompanied the bourgeois modernisation of the city. Addressed individually in the specific analyses, particular attention has been given to modern-day events that provide the opportunity to view those ideas in a wider perspective.

The Beruto Plan (1884-1889)

The city grew and changed under the guidance of the first masterplan: the city centre, then enclosed within the Spanish walls (1549-1560), became the place that represented the ideals and interests of the emerging Milanese bourgeoisie. Despite the lukewarm, if not downright negative, judgment by Aldo Rossi, who defined the plan as characterised by “mediocrity” (especially when compared to his preferred Napoleonic plan of 1807), the plan by Cesare Beruto (architect and chief engineer of the city) offered a moderately international vision in terms of its content, choices and techniques used (a “cautious and modest Plan” (4)). Intended to regulate urban development, the plan structured the city’s growth outside of the Spanish walls, which themselves were to be almost completely demolished, with the exception of the section between Porta Nuova and Porta Venezia. Furthermore, it quadrupled the number of major arteries running through the city that connected the historic city with the new outlying districts and called for the transformation of a pedestrian walkway (at the time raised, with ample wooded areas) into an inner ring road: an attenuated version of the ring road in Vienna that designed a linear public city (parks, gardens, services and facilities), which was drastically reduced following final approval of the plan. Gradually demolished until the Second World War, many of the new urban infrastructures were built along the footprint of the wall or in its immediate vicinity between the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The first railway stations (the Stazione Centrale in Piazza della Repubblica, the funeral train station in Porta Romana and Stazione di Porta Genova), urban facilities (the Cimitero Monumentale, the San Vittore prison), and some modest gardens (5). At the time, Milan had a little over 350 thousand inhabitants; the municipal area measured, even counting the inclusion of the Corpi Santi in 1873, just less than 7,500 hectares (compared to the current 18,000 hectares). This date marks the beginning of significant changes in the city, becoming the

MILAN AND THE UNIFICATION OF ITALY second largest city in Unified Italy in terms of demographic size, surpassed only by Naples, but much more populous than Rome. The structure that ordered the urban fabric was represented by the street grid (city blocks initially about 200 metres in the first version of the plan from 1884, were halved to “real estate size” with the approved version of 1889), which consolidated the forma urbis inherited from history, comprising radial roadways converging towards the city centre and concentric ring roads. The most obvious content of the Plan is the expansion of the city, a donut between the Spanish walls and the new outer ring road (now the “viale delle Regioni” (Avenue of the Regions), about 20 km long with a 40-metre wide cross section): about 1,900 hectares (more than twice that of the urban footprint at the time, a little over 800 hectares), which could accommodate 500 thousand new residents since the functional diversification that would be introduced in the next Century by the Modern Movement didn’t exist yet. Urban expansion was arranged like a crown around the Spanish walls, for a variable depth (between 600 and 1,500 metres), incorporating the few developed areas outside the walls (6). The public city consisted of streets and squares (about 400 hectares), along with parks, gardens and other public spaces (approximately 250 hectares), a very limited area compared to other masterplans of the era. Consider that the city only had the Giardini Pubblici, established by will of Joseph II of Austria at the end of the eighteenth Century on the areas occupied by two demolished monasteries. With an isotropic growth, but more significantly to the north and west, where two large facilities were planned, the marshalling yard and the new parade ground; narrower to the east and south, where the natural conditions of the soil (aquifer outcropping and abundance of water) had always discouraged development. The main element characterising the plan was the development of a north-west axis that originated at the vast area including the Castle and a large, newly-planned park adjacent to it (Parco Sempione). In comparison to other masterplans of the day, the Beruto Plan called for demolition of limited portions of the historic urban fabric. The most significant measure was the formation of Via Dante, the initial portion of an axis that runs north-west from the city centre passing through the Castle and Park and continuing beyond Arco della Pace with the present day Corso Sempione. The project involved the renovation of Piazza Cordusio – planned as the financial hub of the nineteenth Century city – connecting it with

MILAN AND THE UNIFICATION OF ITALY Piazza Duomo, which had already been redesigned in its current form with the addition of the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele. The axis continued south east of the new Piazza del Duomo with Corso di Porta Romana linked by the construction of Via Mazzini, which required demolishing the Romanesque church, San Giovanni in Conca). Before these interventions, a series of public works had already been completed: the “regularisation” of Via Torino, the construction of Corso Genova and its continuation towards the railway station (Corso Colombo) as well as two other streets, Via Vigevano and Via Mortara, which led to the new railway station of Porta Genova and reorganised the surrounding neighbourhood.

Major reform of the City Centre

In the thirty years that passed between the unification of the country and the approval of the Beruto Plan, Milan experienced a marked increase in population and a significant spurt in building with new construction and the transformation of the existing urban fabric, which was the object of make-overs, added storeys, substitutions and densification. During the first decades of post-unification, the City was active on several fronts: new streets were constructed that gutted large city blocks, providing additional opportunities for urban and architectural renewal; several monuments were restored and church

THE ARENGARIO COMPLEX FACING PIAZZA DEL DUOMO (PHOTO BY STEFANO SURIANO)

MILAN AND THE UNIFICATION OF ITALY property was repurposed for new civic functions; but especially, a large-scale reorganisation of the city centre was undertaken, focused around the project for the Piazza del Duomo and the Galleria, which was perhaps the most ambitious element of the plan urbanistically, but was undoubtedly so in economic terms. It was a project aimed at giving a more representational aspect to an incomplete urban scene, to an irregularly-shaped city square that was devoid of any sense of unity and was perceived as much too modest a civic space to properly celebrate this large, new bourgeois city. Already in the first half of the Century, numerous proposals had been put forward for the square’s reorganisation. A substantial push in this direction, however, occurred in 1859 with the proposal to name the covered passageway between Piazza del Duomo and Piazza della Scala in honour of Vittorio Emanuele II. In these early years, with the area surrounding the Castle still used for military purposes and thus unavailable for development, interest focused on the area of the Duomo, in particular on the renovation of its façade and on realising a monumental square, the construction of which will require the demolition of one of the oldest neighbourhoods in the city. Although a winner will be declared (Brentano, 1888) in the international competition for the Cathedral’s façade, its outcome will be uncertain for several decades to come. All three competitions held for the square (1860, 1861, 1862) were accompanied by exhausting controversy and endless second

THE TRIUMPHAL-ARCH ENTRANCE TO THE GALLERIA VITTORIO EMANUELE II (PHOTO BY STEFANO SURIANO)

MILAN AND THE UNIFICATION OF ITALY thoughts, out of which will emerge a winner and a programme for the construction phase. The name of Giuseppe Mengoni, in fact, surfaced in 1861 with the uncertain outcome of the second competition. Although no prizes were awarded, the city council then shortlisted a select number of designers to participate in an invitation-only competition that followed. This phase, however, will never take place due to the withdrawal of a competitor and the Mengoni’s timeliness in producing solutions that met with the favour of Milan’s economic and cultural circles. Fine-tuning the competition programme led to the creation of a large, rectangular piazza with porticoes on three sides. The square was connected to Piazza della Scala by way of a covered arcade – cruciform in plan – and to Piazza Cordusio via a road that required the demolition of secondary buildings and the gutting of Piazza dei Mercanti, originally enclosed on four sides. To construct the square, 170 old buildings in front of the Duomo were purchased and torn down. Raising the funds necessary to accomplish such a feat was the source of lengthy discussions, especially in reference to attempts at subdividing the city square, which, to some, seemed large enough to accommodate military parades. The final project began in 1865 with work on the Gallery. Two years later, it will already be nearly complete and opened to the public. Work on the square, however, will continue until almost 1878, slowed down by the bankruptcy of the British company contracted for its

VIEW OF PIAZZA DELLA SCALA LOOKING TOWARDS THE BANCA COMMERCIALE (PHOTO BY STEFANO SURIANO)

MILAN AND THE UNIFICATION OF ITALY construction and by the death of the designer in a construction accident that occurred one year before completion. The partial realisation of Mengoni’s project and the difficulty of inserting it into the existing context will generate consequences for the neighbouring areas that will influence events surrounding the reorganisation plan involving the greater city centre until after World War II. With the renovation of Piazza del Duomo, the process of depopulation of the centre began, dealt with by the demolition of its poorest and most decrepit parts. At the same time, starting in the seventies, the centre began experiencing the slow process of redevelopment in the office sector (new buildings for banks, insurance companies, large national enterprises and trade), which involved the renovation of Piazza della Scala, the reorganisation of Corsia del Giardino (now Via Manzoni), the Cordusio-Via Dante system as well as many other public works to widen and renovate roadways. (Via Carlo Alberto – now Via Mazzini and Via Mengoni – and via Torino, Carrobbio, Cesare Correnti). Until 1884, Milan avoided outlining a masterplan in order to not hinder private business, on which the Milanese bourgeoisie had built their wealth. It will be the attempt to subdivide the Piazza d’Armi for the construction of an upper-class neighbourhood by the Società Fondiaria to draw attention to the need for establishing a masterplan. Already in 1877, when work on the new Piazza del Duomo had progressed, the issue of the layout of the Castle

VIEW OF PALAZZO MARINO FROM PIAZZA DELLA SCALA (PHOTO BY STEFANO SURIANO)

MILAN AND THE UNIFICATION OF ITALY and the Piazza d’Armi was revived with the goal of building a very prestigious area. At least five different solutions were presented before the Milano Nuova project was proposed by the Società Fondiaria. In it, a high-density development was envisioned that would have occupied the entire area totaling eighty city blocks of five-storey apartment buildings in addition to demolishing a large part of the Castle. It was precisely this last part of the proposal that turned out to be the “banana peel” responsible for tripping up the whole operation. Action taken by the Ministry of Education led to the resignation of both the city council and Mayor Bellinzaghi, in light of the positions they had demonstrated in support of the project.

The modernisation of the city: infrastructure and new facilities

The economic dynamism that characterised Milan in the years after unification powered a strong increase in demand for local and regional mobility. The answer was found in a public transport system that adapted and grew as new traction technologies emerged. Just prior to unification, Milan (Lombardy in general) did not have any direct railway links to the main centres of trade and commerce, whether domestic (Turin, Genoa, Bologna) or foreign. Under Austrian domination, very little had materialised in terms of railways, delaying the connection between Milan and Venice. During the same period,

THE VELASCA TOWER AND THE AXIS OF PIAZZA DIAZ SEEN FROM THE DUOMO (PHOTO BY STEFANO SURIANO)

MILAN AND THE UNIFICATION OF ITALY Piedmont improved its transit capabilities with the Mediterranean region and Switzerland. In 1840, Milan inaugurated the railway to Monza, followed six years later by the line for Treviglio and, in 1858, the Milan-Magenta line. Only with unification, however, did Milan see a network take shape that, although still covering only short routes, did foreshadow future regional and national connections. In 1861, the line for Piacenza was opened to the public, followed by Treviglio-Cremona and, in 1865, the Gallarate-Sesto Calende line. By 1867, thanks to work completed in the rest of the country, from Milan it was already possible to reach Rome and Naples on the Tyrrhenian side of the peninsula and Bari on the Adriatic. In just a few years, therefore, Milan had gone from being practically marginalised in terms of railway links, to being the major national rail centre for passenger and freight traffic, fortified by the Moncenisio and Gotthard tunnels. In an ever-increasing fashion, railways became the backbone of the transport system, progressively marginalising the network of waterways that up until the middle of the nineteenth Century had complemented the system of transporting goods by land. It was in these years that the city posed itself the problem of the railway stations for both passengers and freight. Before unification, there had been two stations in Milan: Porta Nuova for the Monza line and Porta Tosa for Treviglio. In 1864, near Porta Nuova (near the present-day Piazza della Repubblica), the new Central station was

VIEW OF PIAZZA DEL DUOMO LOOKING FROM THE CATHEDRAL TOWARDS PALAZZO CARMINATI (FOTO DI STEFANO SURIANO)

MILAN AND THE UNIFICATION OF ITALY inaugurated, functioning as a hub for all railways converging on the city. The station was designed as a through-station, uniting the lines to Venice, Piacenza and Pavia in one direction and with those for Turin, Como and Monza in the other. In 1870, with the inception of the line to Vigevano, a station was built in Porta Ticinese along with its adjacent rail yard (today Porta Genova). For mercantile traffic, other stations were constructed: Porta Garibaldi and Sempione and later Rogoredo, Bovisa and Porta Romana (with the construction of the southern section of the ring rail), dynamic sites of industrial development. In the same span of time, construction also began on the Ferrovie Nord (Northern Railway), initially conceived to fortify cross-border connections (via the Gotthard Tunnel) and later transformed into the connection of secondary centres to support development north of Milan. Opened in 1879 as an independent system of railway lines, their success was confirmed with the station of Bovisa, an interchange station with the national railway network. The railway network was augmented by a dense network of urban tramways and economic, suburban and inter-municipal railways. Initially horse-drawn, they were subsequently converted into steam- powered tramways on rails and in 1894, were electrified when a license was granted to the Edison Company that introduced overhead,

THE IRON AND GLASS ROOF OF THE GALLERIA VITTORIO EMANUELE II (FOTO DI STEFANO SURIANO)

MILAN AND THE UNIFICATION OF ITALY electric contact wires. The network was consolidated on service lines laid out during the Napoleonic era and met with considerable success both in economic terms and number of passengers. Starting in the mid-seventies, development of suburban and inter-city lines was intensified with the construction of tramways to Saronno and Tradate (1876), to Monza and to Gongorzola-Vaprio. By 1890, it had been extended throughout the region totaling 650 km of tracks. Even with this growth and the increased number of routes offered, Milan’s city centre never lost its pivotal role as the hub of the public transport network. Along with development of transport infrastructure, major innovations were brought to fruition regarding technological networks, such as the comprehensive reform of the sewerage system (starting in 1890), spearheaded by the city’s first project for the central area in 1868, which led to the creation of two trunk mains connected with the Seveso river and was relaunched after the cholera epidemic of 1884. Implementation of the hydraulic network proceeded more slowly: only in 1879 would the Arena central collection unit and its distribution network be activated. In the following years, new plants and the drinking water tank in the tower of the Sforzesco Castle were activated (1883), later restored by Beltrami. The supply of gas for public lighting mostly covers the city within the Spanish walls, whereas its high cost

VIEW OF THE GALLERIA VITTORIO EMANUELE II FROM PIAZZA CORDUSIO (FOTO DI STEFANO SURIANO)

MILAN AND THE UNIFICATION OF ITALY still discouraged domestic use. The city centre also became the stage for experimenting with electric lighting, which was consolidated with the construction of the first power plant in Via Santa Redegonda (1883). In the early years after unification, a robust process began of strengthening and reorganising the urban facilities necessary for the construction of a modern bourgeois city: the Giardini Pubblici (1856-1881), the Cimitero Monumentale (1867), the toll houses (Porta Volta, Porta Genova Piazza Cinque Giornate), the prison of San Vittore (1879), the food markets (the public slaughterhouse, the market in Foro Buonaparte, the fish market in Piazza Santo Stefano, the market in Porta Ticinese), the system of theatres (Dal Verme, Eden and Manzoni) and museums (Casa Poldi Pezzoli, the Museum of Natural History, the Palazzo della Permanente), education, culture and health (Pio Albergo Trivulzio in Via della Signora, the Marchiondi Institute in Via Quadronno, the Institute for the Blind, the Home for retired Musicians in Piazza Buonarroti), in addition to the reorganisation of military facilities. With reference to the modernisation of schools, it’s important to point out the school complex in via Rugabella (1864-67), the elementary school in Via Tadino (1885) and the school in Via Galvani (1889).

PAOLO GALUZZI PIERGIORGIO VITILLO

(1) The authors structured this essay jointly. Paolo Galuzzi edited the paragraphs Major Reform of the City Centre and The modernisation of the city; Piergiorgio Vitillo Milano, a Modern City and The Beruto Plan (1884 – 1889). (2) The Scuola Politecnica (founded in 1863 and was then known as the “Istituto Tecnico Superiore”), was created to boost the Company’s encouragement of arts and crafts (Siam, 1838, on the initiative of the Chamber of Commerce, located in Piazza Mercanti). It played an important role in accompanying the process of industrialization and technical development and production of manufacturing in Lombardy. Its first location was at the Collegio Elvetico: contributors to its foundation included the local government (City and Province of Milan), the Chamber of Commerce, the Cassa di Risparmio delle Province of Lombardy, as well as some cultural associations and entrepreneurs. (3) In those years, Milan ranked second behind Naples for population, was less dynamic than Turin in economic terms and lagged behind Tuscany and Piedmont as a financial centre; with around 200,000 inhabitants (1861), it was far from European capitals, already millionaires. Additionally, Lombardy had a weak railway network compared to nearby Piedmont. (4) To further study the content and themes of the Beruto Plan and more generally the growth and urban transformation of the city through its plans, see F. Oliva, L’urbanistica di Milano. Quel che resta dei piani urbanistici nella crescita e nella trasformazione della città, Ulrico Hoepli, Milan 2002. (5) Regarding these issues, see F. Repishti, La trasformazione dei Bastioni Spagnoli: da pubblico passeggio a percorso viario, in AA.VV, Milano città fortificata, vent’anni dopo, Quaderni del Castello Sforzesco, n.5/2005, Atti del Convegno, Milano, Castello Sforzesco October 1, 2003. (6) This is particularly the Borgo degli Ortolani, in correspondence of the area around Via Canonica, which began on the area of the subdivision of the Lazaretto.

MILAN AND THE UNIFICATION OF ITALY VIEW OF THE CITY OF MILAN FROM ATOP THE CATHEDRAL (FOTO DI STEFANO SURIANO)

MILAN AND THE UNIFICATION OF ITALY FONDAZIONE DELL’ORDINE DEGLI ARCHITETTI, PIANIFICATORI, PAESAGGISTI E CONSERVATORI DELLA PROVINCIA DI MILANO Cb. 267 /itineraries

Arengario and the Museum of the 20th Century / 1937-1942, 2001- 2010 / Griffini, Magistretti, Muzio, Portaluppi. Studio I. Rota & P.

Piazza Duomo, Milan

In the twenties, when studies began for corner – based on a road system of Roman drawing up a new masterplan for the city, origin – unresolved. During that period of Piazza del Duomo was still perceived as an time, the demolition of the southern area of unresolved issue. The failure to construct the square began to take shape. Prompted by the Palazzo dell’Indipendenza left open strong speculative pressures, this will lead to the issue of the what size and proportions the formation of the future Piazza Diaz and the churchyard should have; the failure to the partial demolition of the Manica Lunga, complete construction of the monumental carried out between 1936 and 1937. In yet Manica Lunga of Palazzo Reale (known another competition for the reformation of as the Royal Loggia) left both its southern the square in 1937, the proposal by a group flank unfinished and the variation of the of architects consisting of Muzio, Portaluppi,

THE ARENGARIO AND THE MUSEO DEL NOVECENTO (PHOTO BY STEFANO SURIANO)

MILAN AND THE UNIFICATION OF ITALY Arengario and the Museum of the 20th Century / 1937-1942, 2001-2010 / Griffini, Magistretti, Muzio, Portaluppi. Rota & P.

Griffini and Magistretti prevailed, finding Arengo in 1947, was to undergo interior support and backing in the Mayor’s office. rennovations in the following years in order The association of these four, well-established to accomodate the Provincial Tourism Office. architects, who were frequently on opposing With the reorganization plan of the sides in Milan’s cultural debates, was both civic museums, in 2001 the City launched surprising and convincing, thus it must have the restoration project of the Arengario appeared to constitute a reasonable and – by architect Italo Rota (winner of a precautionary programmatic mediation. The competition) – for the construction of the project did not prolong the southern Mengoni new Museo del Novecento, the permanent arcades, proposing two twin buildings that, seat of the City’s collections of Twentieth being 8 metres taller than the neighbouring Century Italian art. The project is based on Mengonian building front, like Propylaea, two objectives: to organise a straightforward would mark the transition to the new fascist and simple museum distribution system; city. The two buildings were characterised to return a strong and attractive image on by architraved openings in the taste of the square, so as to transform the museum Roman monumentality and with a distinct into one of the privileged cultural sites of metaphysical allure. the city. The vertical space of the tower The building on the left was the real has been freed from the mezzanines and Arengario, extended in plan to connect miscellaneous other additions that had been directly to Piazzetta Reale. The façades added in the fifties and organised around a were completely clad in Candoglia marble spiral ramp that reaches down to the Sala and the first and second floors continued a delle Colonne underground and up to the theme beloved by Muzio, the semi-circular terrace overlooking Piazza del Duomo. arch. At the base of the buildings, however, A spiral glass enclosure, the “cathode rectangular portals were opened with tube” of communications for the Museo decorative frames by the sculptor Arturo del Novecento, is the centerpiece of the Martini. The saga of the construction of the exhibition spaces. Ascending a full four floors two Arengario pavilions, which began in 1939, overlooking Via Marconi, it reaches two new will unfold only after the war (1956), when by floors above the Sala delle Colonne, which then, the political and functional motivations house the Lucio Fontana collection and his of the two buildings had been irrevocably big, glowing neon work of art facing Piazza altered and they will struggle to find their role del Duomo. within the square. The Arengario, damaged PAOLO GALUZZI by bombing in WWII and deprived of the

MILAN AND THE UNIFICATION OF ITALY FONDAZIONE DELL’ORDINE DEGLI ARCHITETTI, PIANIFICATORI, PAESAGGISTI E CONSERVATORI DELLA PROVINCIA DI MILANO Cb. 261 /itineraries

Giardini pubblici (Giardini Indro Montanelli) / 1783-1881 / G. Piermarini, G. Balzaretti, E. Alemagna

Corso Venezia, Via Palestro, Piazza Cavour, Via Manin, Bastioni di Porta Venezia, Milan

The first Giardini pubblici (Public style plan, ending in a staircase rising up the Gardens) in the city – which occupy ramparts. In 1787, the “Woods” were realised, an area of just over 16 acres – were the with two sets of five rows of trees (lindens, organic result of four separate phases elms and chestnuts). The Gardens were of construction. The first is the original designed as a space for recreation and, after layout, designed on a neoclassical basis by Italian Unification, also for commodity fairs Giuseppe Piermarini, containing the area (1871, 1881). The steps, fences and football that runs along Corso Venezia (1783-1786). pitch all date back to Piermarini’s project. The second, a large-scale expansion and redesign with an English garden designed The expansion and redesign (1857-1862) by Giuseppe Balzaretti (1857-1862). The After the insurrection known as the third, a restoration and reclamation project Cinque Giornate di Milano (1848), the carried out under the guidance of Emilio City commissioned Balzaretti to design the Alemagna (1881). The fourth, addition expansion of the Gardens into the area of of park facilities (1888-1930), including the Palazzo Dugnani and its related assets, the Natural History Museum and the which the City had acquired in 1846. The Planetarium (1888-1930). Gardens were inaugurated in 1862, with an English style design. The Hall was The original layout (1783-1786) restored for exhibitions, creating a on the In the second half of the Eighteenth Century, southern side and a picturesque one to the the site of the present-day Giardini pubblici north, with a system of artificial rocks to was a slightly sunken parcel of land owned take advantage of the difference in height, by the Dugnani family on the northern edge embellished with fountains, designing the of the Spanish walls. In the southern part Pavilion Coffee on top of Monte Merlo of the area there were two monasteries, (1863), which as transformed into a nursery suppressed by the Habsburg government. after renovation in 1920. The landscaping began with a project by Piermarini to build the Royal Palace here The restoration and recovery (1881) (Cavalchina plan, 1770). The gardens, built Much damage was caused to the Gardens on a smaller scale (4.5 hectares), occupied the by the Exposition in 1881. It was northern part of Marina Road and the areas therefore necessary to restore them, a of the former monasteries with an Italian job commissioned to Emilio Alemagna

MILAN AND THE UNIFICATION OF ITALY Giardini pubblici (Giardini Indro Montanelli) / 1783-1881 / G. Piermarini, G. Balzaretti, E. Alemagna and Bignami Sormani, who made some The project was designed by Giovanni modifications to Balzaretti’s project: the Ceruti (1888 - 1893, completed in 1906- pond was doubled in size and the flower beds 1907), in Romanesque Revival style, using in front of Palazzo Dugnani and Villa Reale ornamental terracotta and iron structures were eliminated. The steps by Piermarini embedded in the masonry. Lastly the were replaced by a double ramp. Balzaretti’s planetarium was built within the garden moat in front of the Villa Reale was modified grounds, a donation by the publisher Ulrico to create continuity between the various Hoepli and designed by Piero Portaluppi gardens, the Villa and the “Woods” were (1930) with classical forms, an octagonal redone in English style, with a sparse and plan and capped off by a semispherical irregular arrangement of plants. dome. Damaged during the war, it was restored and modernised in the post-war Equipping the park (1888-1930) period (1954-1955). The Natural History Museum was PIERGIORGIO VITILLO established in 1838, with the City’s purchase of two natural history collections.

THE CAVALCHINA PLAN, G. PIERMARINI, 1770 (IMAGE COURTESY OF THE BIBLIOTECA COMUNALE DI FOLIGNO)

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Casa-Museo Poldi Pezzoli / 1789-1797, 1850-1853 / Simone Cantoni, Giuseppe Balzaretti

Via Manzoni 12, Milan

The Poldi Pezzoli Museum complex connected to the first by a portico-shaped – built, altered and renovated in various serliana, which separates the road from historical, economic and social phases – the garden. During the second World War, can be seen as a true urban palimpsest: bombing seriously damaged the building; originally a Seventeenth Century palace, it fortunately, the works of art that could was expanded and adapted at the end of the be moved had already been transferred Eighteenth Century, restored and integrated elsewhere. At the end of the war, the with a new building in the Mid-Nineteenth Italian government decided to finance Century, partially destroyed by bombing in its renovation, which was done by the the second World War and renovated after Superintendent Fernanda Wittgens with it ended. Ferdinand Reggiori. The less-damaged parts were recovered with philological care. The urban palimpsest VIEW OF THE COURTYARD (PHOTO BY STEFANO SURIANO) The original building (at Via Manzoni 12) was built for Giovanantonio Parravicini in the Seventeenth Century and subsequently added on to throughout the following Century by his heir Giovanni Porta. At the end of the Eighteenth Century, Giuseppe Pezzoli commissioned Simone Cantoni (a Swiss architect), to do a neoclassical adaptation of the building, creating a new entrance staircase decorated with statues and a large garden in the rear. Gian Giacomo Poldi Pezzoli hired Giuseppe Balzaretti to renovate the building, a job that lasted from 1850-1853. In parallel, renovation was completed of the apartment that was intended to house his burgeoning art collection. Balzaretti also designed the adjacent building in 1853-1854, inspired by the Seventeenth-Century mannerism,

MILAN AND THE UNIFICATION OF ITALY Casa-Museo Poldi Pezzoli / 1789-1797, 1850-1853 / S. Cantoni, G. Balzaretti

In 1951, the House-Museum was once again institute a self-supporting art foundation. opened to the public. The directorship was entrusted to Giuseppe Bertini, who inaugurated the House- The collector and the House-Museum Museum in 1881, during the National Gian Giacomo Poldi Pezzoli (1822-1879) Exhibition. Bertini increased the amount descended from a dynasty, related to of works” considerably, yet did so without the Trivulzio family, that had amassed altering the collection’s characteristics. considerable wealth as tax contractors for In 1898, management was transferred to the Austrian government. Upon reaching the president of the Brera Art Academy, adulthood, he came into possession of a Camillo Boito (1836-1914), who proceeded large fortune. A patriot, he sympathised to reorganise the museum according to and supported the uprisings of 1848 and standards of the day. following the repressions by the Austrian PIERGIORGIO VITILLO authorities, he traveled to various cities throughout Italy and Europe. Switzerland, THE ENTRANCE ON VIA MANZONI (PHOTO BY STEFANO SURIANO) France, England and Germany constituted an important opportunity for him to keep abreast of international developments in the world of collecting. At the time, the first World Expos were being organised in Paris and London, while the first museums devoted to the decorative and industrial arts were also being opened across Europe. Upon his return to Milan, Gian Giacomo started his project to build a House- Museum in the spirit of collectionism at the time: richly decorated rooms were prepared to contain his collections of art works and furniture, which were organised as a single, idealised unit in a project entrusted to the most renown artists of the time, Giuseppe Bertini and Luigi Scrosati. In 1879, Gian Giacomo died at only 57 years of age, having made arrangements to

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Piazza della Scala, Palazzo Marino e Banca Commerciale / 1858-1911 / Luca Beltrami

Piazza della Scala, Milan

The Teatro alla Scala is definitely the restoration of its façade (1892), for designing dominant building of its namesake square, the two buildings for the Banca Commerciale which was inaugurated in 1858 after the Italiana on opposite sides of the square demolition of a dense network of houses (1907-1911), as well as the street furniture and that had occupied the area. If we exclude lighting design. the existing neo-classical building by Gutting the neighbourhood in order Piermarini and the entrance to the Galleria to achieve the current shape of the square Vittorio Emanuele, the square is entirely substantially changed the perception and attributable to Luca Beltrami, who in the sight lines of the theatre. Originally conceived following decades would also be responsible by Piermarini as the lateral proscenium for the completion of Palazzo Marino and the along a narrow street, the new arrangement

VIEW FROM THE SQUARE TO TEATRO ALLA SCALA PALACE MARINE (PHOTO BY STEFANO SURIANO)

MILAN AND THE UNIFICATION OF ITALY Piazza della Scala, Palazzo e Banca Commerciale / 1858-1911 / L. Beltrami transformed it into a backdrop with its main be demonstrated in his work on the Castello façade in full view. Sforzesco and in the numerous restoration With the opening of Piazza della Scala, projects of monuments in Milan that he will City Hall was relocated from Via Rovello to work on. Only dating back to 1906, the project Palazzo Marino (1872). At the same time, for the construction of the headquarters consultations began “to give completeness of the Banca Commerciale (built between to the façade”, which was considered too 1907 and 1911) was the result of complex unseemly for such an important municipal negotiations to define its configuration in institution. Widely varying opinions on which plan and to come to an agreement on a land design solution to pursue oscillated between exchange with the Banca d’Italia, which was that favouring an elegant, philological relocating to Piazza Cordusio. Beltrami, who completion of the building and an inclination must be recognised for the positions he took towards restoration in order to emphasise in defense of the preservation of monuments, its symbolic meaning, which would be at this juncture ruled in favour of the accomplished by adding a portico to its main demolition of the ancient Richiniana church façade and a tower. The most convincing of San Giovanni alle Case Rotte in order to position will be expressed by Beltrami, in facilitate the expansion of the headquarters favour of a philological approach based on a of the Banca Commerciale. Similar to Piazza careful study of architectural organisms by Cordusio, in order to ensure decorum and Alessi, on design inferences rationally founded monumentality for the square, he conceived on the certainty of historical data, addressing the sides of the Banca Commerciale in the issues of the project within the framework Italian Renaissance style. The new office of a “simple problem of restoration.“ buildings’ proximity to other works of high For Piazza della Scala, as was also seen in architectural and symbolic value, led Beltrami Piazza Cordusio, the stature of Beltrami to choose a decidedly classic style, a modern as an architect, but more importantly, as a interpretation of the Sixteenth Century palace man of culture and an influential politician, applied to a large office building. In this way will be crucial in defending and supporting he adopted a simple but imposing formal the completion of the urban form, which scheme, based on the primacy of the three is found in the most significant features of bays of the central portion of the building the Beruto plan. He was also decisive in topped by a pediment resting on a base of supporting an updated position on the idea arched and protruding windows. of restoration as a means of research for an PAOLO GALUZZI organic performance of historicity, as will also

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Reform of Piazza Duomo and the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II / 1861-1878 / Giuseppe Mengoni

Piazza Duomo, Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II, Milan

Since the Mid-Eighteenth Century, precisely the connection with Piazza della the issue of Piazza del Duomo had Scala that will drive the feasibility of the inspired a long-running debate about the entire post-unification operation, which fate of an area that was simultaneously was supported by a civic lottery and by the most symbolic place in the city but public consultation to define a programme also its most stratified and perpetually brief shared by all: the creation of a unfinished precinct. The square was rectangular piazza, 122 metres wide with originally characterised by low-rise houses arcades on three sides; a gallery (or a road) that surrounded the cathedral, further linked with Piazza della Scale; an isolated amplifying its grandeur. Their proximity building at the end, on the opposite side prevented a full view, multiplying the of the Cathedral’s left flank; a new avenue infinite perspectives offered by the connected to Piazza Missori (Via Mazzini). surrounding roads. The original piazza The series of design competitions was an irregularly-shaped space that was that continued up until 1862 eventually poorly connected to the national road proclaimed a young Bolognese as the system due to the cathedral’s east-west winner, Giuseppe Mengoni, who was orientation, which conflicted with south- commissioned to finalise the project. west/north-east orientation of the ancient Mengoni’s design was considered the most Roman layout. convincing in terms of town planning Today’s appearance is essentially because of its adherence to competition the result of a transformation in the brief, its economic feasibility and its site Nineteenth Century that led to the management strengths offered by its demolition of two blocks immediately in articulated massing of the project into front of the Duomo, radically transforming distinct, separate buildings. the urban scene and, at the same time, The centrepiece of Mengoni’s proposal was irreparably altering the perception of the covered, cruciform gallery, whose main the Cathedral and its topological effect. branch assured the connection between The creation of Piazza della Scala (1858) the two squares. The overall spectacular quickly led to the hypothesis of connecting space was defined along its principal it with that of the Cathedral by means of sides by continuous arcades, while the a road that would rip through the urban monumental entrance of Galleria Vittorio fabric separating the two squares. It will be Emanuele was symmetrical to the Loggia

MILAN AND THE UNIFICATION OF ITALY Reform of Piazza Duomo and the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II / 1861-1878 / G. Mengoni

Reale (the future Arengario). In front of the Neo-Renaissance façades, opposes the Duomo, the square was closed off by a the “modernity” of the Gallery and in monumental, isolated building, the Palazzo particular its interior with the glass and dell’Indipendenza iron roof, the discrete decorations in cast In 1865, the foundation stone of the iron and the polychrome marble floor Gallery’s octagon was laid and, in just depicting the symbols of the nation. three years, it was opened to the public, PAOLO GALUZZI although the monumental arch facing Piazza del Duomo was still missing. The Gallery would soon become the square’s public place par excellence, with the ability to unify, give identity and act as a fulcrum of Mengoni’s plan. The remaining SCORCIO SULLA PIAZZA E VISTA DELLA TESTATA DELLA GALLERIA (FOTO DI STEFANO SURIANO) work, however, was completed less quickly, slowed down by the bankruptcy of the British company, “City of Milan Improvements Company Limited”, which in 1864 had been contracted to do the construction, but was forced to surrender the property to the City. Mengoni’s death in a construction accident in 1877 definitively froze construction and led to abandoning parts of the project: the Loggia Reale; the continuation of the arcades beyond Via San Raffaele to the Palazzo dell’Indipendenza, which would have made the longitudinal dimension of the square 57 metres shorter. The style adopted by Mengoni for the buildings that frame the square is a rather eclectic mélange of styles aspiring to strike a solemn and monumental tone, with solutions that are based on Lombard Renaissance style. The Historicism of

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Cassa di Risparmio delle Provincie Lombarde (Ca’ de Sass) / 1868-1872/ Giuseppe Balzaretti

Via Monte di Pietà, Via Romagnosi, Via Andegari, Via Verdi, Milan

The Ca’ de Sass was designed by Giuseppe designed with a practically open budget, Balzaretti and built between 1868 and used innovative technical and technological 1871. The need to expand came from an solutions and seemed to embody Milan’s increase in business resulting from both the ambitions of becoming not only the economic unification of Italy, and the construction of and financial capital of the country, but a silk warehouse. This imposing structure – also socially and in terms of the arts as well. the first cornerstone of the future financial One of the most significant examples of centre in Piazza Cordusio – is trapezoidal eclectic architecture from the late Nineteenth in plan, totaling 3,600 square metres on Century, the bank’s headquarters was each of its three, above-ground floors. It was inserted into an area whose identity had

VIEW OF THE FAÇADE ON VIA ROMAGNOSI (PHOTO BY STEFANO SURIANO)

MILAN AND THE UNIFICATION OF ITALY Cassa di Risparmio Provincie Lombarde (Ca’ de Sass) /1868-1872 / G. Balzaretti mutated throughout history: from a fortified stone boulders of uniform size laid out in area in late-Roman times into the centre horizontal bands along the entire length of of monastic and religious life in medieval the building, that contributed to the building’s times; from an administrative and service nickname, Ca ‘de Sass (House of Stone). The district in the Habsburg era into a military cladding is Ceppo di Brembate, albeit in its garrison by the Cisalpine Republic; and rustic version, whereas the finishing elements finally, into a financial district in the early (doors, balustrades, cornices and the base’s years of the Unification of Italy. The building skirting), are in Ceppo gentile, which is easier was constructed on the existing structures of to work with; Quinzano stone from Verona the offices of the Army Corps of Engineers, frames the bifore windows. which, after an initial idea of conservation The plan is organised around a central and/or restoration, was demolished. The courtyard, which is accessed through a area was originally occupied by the Convent hallway facing via Monte di Pietà. The ground of Santa Barbara, which was demolished floor is intended for account holders and in the Eighteenth Century as part of the cargo, but also for the central teller and the suppression of religious institutions. vault, as well as for the accounting section The building is an expression of the neo- and accompanying functions. A second Renaissance architectural style, inspired by entrance from Via Romagnosi provides access the tradition of the Florentine palaces in the to the Hall of Depositors through an oval 1500s, in the style of the Palazzo Strozzi. vestibule. The first floor is for administration The use of “bugne” (cladding of large stones and executive offices, with the adjoining protruding from the surface) has symbolic Council Hall. The second floor houses the value alluding to the solidity of the Institute bursar, the control office of the branch and to the Bank’s original function as a “safe”. offices, the headquarters’ branch warehouses, The Ashlar “bugne” works well with the large, the archives. The decorative work and rectangular windows on the ground floor and ornamentation were carried out by Joseph the mullioned windows on the floors above: Speluzzi, specialising in the processing of the openings are furnished with balustrades gold-plated metal. The most interesting and framed by a pointed arches. A projecting interior space is that of the Hall of Honour, cornice and corbels serve as a crowning band, Reggiori restored by the mid-fifties. The six with small, alternating rectangular windows. entrance doors are surmounted by marble The terraces at the corners of the building lunettes by Lorenzo Vela. are used to attenuate its mass. It is precisely PIERGIORGIO VITILLO its characteristic rustication, using very wide

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Lazzaretto District / 1883-1910 / Società Fondiaria Milanese

Via Lazzaretto, Via Vittorio Veneto, Corso Buenos Aires, Via San Gregorio

The Lazaretto complex was one of the landscape from the ramparts (especially of most impressive artifacts in Milan for four the Resegone). The houses of the Lazaretto centuries during the reign of the Sforza. In were intended for the lower-middle class, 1881, the Banca di Credito Italiano acquired small businesses and artisans. They had a it at public auction (1.8 million Lire) in decent exterior appearance, but often hid a degraded and underutilised state with shoddy, run down interiors. Construction the intent of demolishing it and building of the district can be summarised briefly a large, new urbanised area. Shortly after in three stages: large-scale development, the purchase, the Bank sent the municipal completion, substitutions. administration a rough draft of the project with the attendant Economic Agreement. In it, the approximately 6-acre area would PLAN OF THE CEMETERY OF PORTA VENEZIA (IMAGE COURTESY OF THE BIBLIOTECA NAZIONALE BRAIDENSE) be subdivided with streets laid out on a grid and 5- or 6-storey buildings lined up along the streets that would completely occupy the small, dense city blocks (less than 100 metres per side, 1,500-2,000 inhabitants/ hectare), leaving only the bare minimum of open space established by the Building Regulations of 1876. In 1882, the City Council unanimously adopted the plan; it was approved the following year. The subdivision worked in synergy with the “Contrada della Misericordia”, which had been built to the west a few years earlier. Unlike the latter, however, consisting of low-rise houses, the Lazaretto did not respect the so-called “Servitù del Resegone” (the Resegone easement, named for the mountain near Lecco ), which required that buildings north of the city not exceed 2-3 floors in height so as to protect views of the

MILAN AND THE UNIFICATION OF ITALY Lazzaretto District / 1883-1910 / Società Fondiaria Milanese

Large-scale development road network were also planned: a new With the project approved, the complex road, the extension of Via Napo Torriani, was demolished over the first six years cut diagonally across the district, allowing a (1883-1889) and a large part of the area was direct connection between the new station occupied by buildings. and Porta Venezia. Secondary streets branched off of this road, resuming their Completion original layout. Except for the substitution The definitive closure of the Cimitero di of a few buildings, however, the plan San Gregorio (1893), which prevented the was not implemented and the street grid construction of buildings in a zone to the remained unchanged. In only a few cases, northwest of the area, allowed the Società façades were rebuilt, replacing the original Fondiaria Milanese, promoter of the plan materials with those typical of the period (the same company responsible for the (marble, brick, stone). During the Second speculation of Parco Sempione), to also World War, the area along Viale Vittorio subdivide the area that had originally been Veneto was damaged by bombing and the protected by zoning laws. open areas were saturated by new buildings. The building heritage dating back to the Substitutions original allotment, today accounts for Several years later, three facts initiated a approximately 70% of the buildings. series of substitutions in the original urban PIERGIORGIO VITILLO fabric and its : moving the railway belt to the outskirts; the 1934 Master Plan; the wartime bombing. Moving the train track PLAN OF THE LAZZARETTO (IMAGE COURTESY OF THE farther from the City centre invalidated the BIBLIOTECA NAZIONALE BRAIDENSE) constraints on the areas subservient to the doubling of the viaduct, the demolition of which freed up the railway areas that had remained undeveloped. The proximity to downtown and the new Central Station (1931) meant that the area of the Lazaretto became very attractive: the Albertini plan programmed the densification of the city blocks, with the creation of new and more prestigious buildings. Modifications to the

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Piazza Cordusio and the Milanese Financial District / 1886-1899 / Cesare Beruto

Piazza Cordusio, Milan

Together with the reform of Piazza del Bonaparte with the religious and symbolic Duomo, the realisation of the Cordusio- centre of Piazza del Duomo, passing Via Dante-Foro Buonaparte complex was through the financial district and service one of the main urban operations in the sectors of Piazza Cordusio. Furthermore, second half of the Nineteenth Century. the Beruto Plan tended toward extending The Cordusio area was one of the oldest it to the north-west, in the direction of the parts of the city, home of the Ducal future Corso Sempione, which would only Court, designated by the Beruto Plan to be completed in the following Century. become one of the key hubs of the city The axis of Via Dante, however, will be that was being renewed in the direction constructed between 1886 and 1901 of the Castello Sforzesco. The straight following the demolition of the medieval stretch of Via Dante, already outlined urban fabric, in order to facilitate the in the Napoleonic plan, connected the acquisition of land and buildings with the monumental housing schemes of Foro application of the law in Naples in 1885.

VIEW OF PIAZZA CORDUSIO (PHOTO BY STEFANO SURIANO)

MILAN AND THE UNIFICATION OF ITALY Piazza Cordusio and the Milanese Financial District / 1886-1899 / C. Beruto

In Beruti’s design of the city, at the end of central element – formed by the sequence of Via Dante opposite the Castle, the streets the portal with the balcony, the niche being from the Cathedral intersected via Dante framed by robust pillars, complemented with a change of direction, forming a large by the large-scale relief of the lion of San triangular open space, which Beltrami Marco – and the dome, which was imposed would resolve in a stylish, elliptical square by the municipal authorities. and in a new street aligned with the side The building is distinguished by the arm of the Gallery. technical skills of its construction: the use At the same time that the definitive of prefabricated floor slabs (Hennebique) masterplan was approved, noting that the allowed large spans and the elimination numerous streets that came together in of cross bracing; the use of stones for the the new square compromised its overall base (val Màsino gneiss) and the niche of clarity, Beltrami’s advice was to enact a the mosaic-clad façade (Viggiù stone) also special zoning rule that would guarantee had a constructive function. Consisting of a architectural uniformity by coordinating double main building with a central hallway building heights, eave lines, construction leading to the internal rooms, the building materials and decorative elements in was gutted internally in the mid-sixties to order to confer an general sense of provide a modern, open office plan. monumentality to the area. PAOLO GALUZZI Two of the buildings facing the square were designed by Beltrami himself: Casa Dario-Biandrà and Palazzo delle Assicurazioni Generali Venezia. Different from each other, they are unified by an identical compositional grid of proportions and stylistic similarities. In particular, the Palazzo delle Assicurazioni, at the base of the elliptical square and a visual hinge toward Piazza del Duomo, was subjected to many constraints by the Municipal Commission, which will lead to elevating the central part of the façade, despite the architect’s opinion to the contrary. The ordering reason is constituted by the

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Teatro alla Scala / 1778, 2002-2004 / Giuseppe Piermarini, Mario Botta

Piazza della Scala, Milan

Behind a neo-classical façade that has renewal of their ownerships, commissioned maintained a certain stylistic unity over Giuseppe Piermarini to design one of the time, the Teatro alla Scala is a veritable two new opera houses (the other will be architectural palimpsest having been Teatro Lirico), on the site of the suppressed altered, updated and rebuilt several times collegiate of the Church of Santa Maria alla throughout its history. Scala. The Teatro alla Scala was founded on Piermarini, inspired by the theatre the initiative of the owners of the boxes of the Reggia di Caserta by Vanvitelli, at the previous Teatro Ducale (destroyed designed one of his most famous creations, by fire in 1776,) who, in exchange for notable also for the extremely limited time

FAÇADE OF THE TEATRO ALLA SCALA (IMAGE COURTESY OF THE BIBLIOTECA COMUNALE DI FOLIGNO)

MILAN AND THE UNIFICATION OF ITALY Teatro alla Scala / 1778, 2002-2004 / G. Piermarini, M. Botta frame he was afforded. Opened in 1778, severe damage to the ceiling and walls was the theatre quickly distinguished itself caused as the roof caved in. The building for the remarkable acoustical quality the was quickly rebuilt and opened again in architect was able to obtain, as well as for 1946 with a memorable concert by Arturo the implications of its visual reception. The Toscanini. auditorium was laid out in a horseshoe plan The ceiling’s accelerated reconstruction, with five tiers of boxes and a gallery. The coupled with the complex system of beams façade has a ground floor with horizontal supporting it, prevented the builders striations, while the main floor and the from finding materials consistent with attic are punctuated by pilasters and the original components. Instead, hybrid half-columns, emphasised by a triangular solutions in reinforced concrete were pediment, in which the sculptural group of adopted that had a negative impact on the “the Chariot of the Sun” is inscribed. The auditorium’s acoustics. All subsequent portico, requested at a later date by the changes made during modernisation of client, consists of a covered entrance for the complex backstage mechanisms and carriages. upgrading security systems have altered the Renovation work began immediately. original typological layout, preserving only In 1808, Luigi Canonica intervened by the façade facing the street. increasing the depth of the stage by 16 In December 2001, an overall metres. Then, in 1814, he proceeded to restoration and renovation project headed demolish some buildings along present by Mario Botta began that entailed the day Via Verdi (including the convent conservative repairs of the theatre’s of La Scala) in order to make way for monumental elements: main auditorium, the construction of new scenography foyer, boxes and galleries. Furthermore, studios and new facilities for the singers, the stage, rehearsal rooms, dressing dancers and extras. In 1830, Sanquirico rooms, offices, and facilities along via added the two lateral wings with terraces, Filodrammatici were reconstructed and embellished the interior decoration, which the new fly tower was added. The design of had already been completely replaced in the interiors for the new offices and service 1807, and designed the central chandelier, areas was done by Riccardo Blumer. itself renovated in 1860. The foyer, which PAOLO GALUZZI had been modified in 1878, was further renovated in 1936 by Lorenzo Secchi. La Scala was bombed in 1943 and

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Breda Tower / 1954, 2009 (renovation) / Luigi Mattioni, Ermenegildo Soncini, Eugenio Soncini

Piazza della Repubblica 32, Milan

The Breda Tower, inaugurated by the symmetrical layout calling for a mirror President of the Republic Gronchi and image of the existing building on the west first Milanese building to overtake the side of the square to be built. Madonnina in height (116.25 metres), The project proposed the construction is located at the intersection of Viale of an open building, but at the same time, a Tunisia and Via Pisani, the monumental building for “luxury flats”, ones that would axis that connects the central station avoid, however, the flaws that Mattioni with Piazza della Repubblica. A Planning Agreement stipulated before WWII and VIEW OF THE SKYSCRAPER (PHOTO BY STEFANO SURIANO) based on the Albertini Plan (1934) had been partially implemented with the development of a portion of the allowed buildable area the plan had allotted to land previously occupied by the railway and the construction of a building on the west side of the square. Winners of an invitation-only competition of ideas in 1950, in which they participated with two separate entries, the three young architects (Luigi Mattioni and brothers Eugene and Ermenegildo Soncini) were selected by a group of entrepreneurs who constituted the company, Grattacielo di Milano S.p.A.. Particularly noticeable among the group was the leadership of RDB (Rizzi, Donelli, Breviglieri), a manufacturer of cement and building components. The construction company was headed by an engineer, Pio Capelli, who was able to successfully lobby the City to modify the Urban planning guidelines and Building codes. As a result, the project was no longer required to adhere to the original plan’s

MILAN AND THE UNIFICATION OF ITALY Breda Tower / 1954, 2009 (renovation) / L. Mattioni, E. Soncini, E.Soncini attributed to residences for the wealthy while the supporting structure, set back (lack of common services, promiscuity from the façade, allowed the possibility of of the entrances ). The building, which placing the glazing either flush with the separates the entrances (the offices on exterior or the interior of the façade The Viale Tunisia, the residences from Via base is clad in polished Dubino gneiss, Pisani and the garage from Via Casati), is while the cladding of the residential tower a total of 31 storeys tall (including the two- is in small, grey-blue stoneware tiles. The storey penthouse in the oval tower on the building had very modern equipment roof) and intelligently integrates with the and technologies for the time, explicitly context, proposing significant urban value. confirming the reputation of a luxury The tower rests on a pedestal 8 storeys tall building. The recent renovation (2009) has (which rises above two underground floors distorted the character of the residential which house the garage and part of the tower, replacing the small stoneware tiles supporting technical equipment), reaching (which had problems of detachment), with upwards asymmetrically for 21+2 floors. an exterior cladding in grey panels which The base, which houses the shops on the has flattened the modular grid and made ground floor and offices from the second the façades colder and less stylish. to the eighth floor, respects the alignments PIERGIORGIO VITILLO flush with street along Via Pisani and Viale Tunisia, incorporating the portico THE BASE (PHOTO BY STEFANO SURIANO) on via Pisani, constituting its beginning. The flats occupy a rectangular area that is smaller than the base, 730 and 1,300 sq m resp.. There are two flats per floor, placed symmetrically around the lift shaft, with a large living room (north or south) and the sleeping area and bathrooms (east or west). They are accessible from individual atriums off the landings positioned like a hinge between the main wing and the service entrance. The east-west heliothermic orientation led to large windows on the long façades. The façade is characterised by a thin framework in reinforced concrete,

MILAN AND THE UNIFICATION OF ITALY THEMES Themed tours through the city other itineraries (www.ordinearchitetti.mi.it)

Art and architecture Claudio Camponogara and Elisabetta Dulbecco

Social housing Marco Lucchini

Water cycle: purifiers in Milan Cesare Salvetat

The Milanese apartment blocks Paolo Brambilla

Working sites Laura Montedoro

Milan: what is left of the urban plans Federico Oliva, Paolo Galuzzi and Piergiorgio Vitillo

Cultured professionalism in the postwar period Maria Vittoria Capitanucci