The architecture to see in Milan

Milan is among the largest and most important cities in Italy: founded in 590 BC, eventually became the capital of the Lombardy region. However, for centuries, it was somewhat overlooked as a cultural hub. While Rome, Florence and Venice were widely regarded as positions of spiritual and artistic production of Italy, it was mainly regarded as a gray, unlimited city of industry and finances. However, during the so -called Italian economic miracle, the explosion that followed World War II, Milan emerged as a design center. Large companies such as Pirelli, Olivetti and Fiat – manufacturers of tires, office and car equipment, respectively – began providing protection to designers such as Gio Ponti and Ettore Sottsass, resulting in examples of Italian design, such as former 1958 Tower Skyscraper. The capital of fashion in the 1980s was added to its prestige and many of the architecturally important buildings built since then were created and funded by the top brands of construction, publishing and especially fashion. Below are 10 attractions, mentioned in the order in which they were built, which present the diversity of the centuries -old Milan architecture.

1. Milan’s Duomo

The construction in the Duomo of Milan, the city’s cathedral, began in the 14th century, but the building was not officially completed until 1965. The work was led by Gian Galeazzo Visconti, the first Duke of Milan, who imagined a church that made the only white marble of Candoglia Quarry Nicolas Deanventure. According to the latest Gothic fashion. They created a tall, bright temple supported by flying buns. For reasons, including shifts in funding and political leadership, work on the cathedral continued to match and start over the centuries – though there was remarkable progress in early 1800, when Napoleon, who was crowned King of Italy at Duomo.

2. Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II

This large four-storey arcade purchases was designed by architect Giuseppe Mengoni in the style of neo-enjoyment, with imposing entrances, strangely carved pilasters and a large glass dome in its center. It was finished in 1877, three decades before the flagship of Paris Galeries Lafayette, in which it is sometimes compared, is widely regarded as the oldest shopping center in the world and has hosted some of Milan’s most historic brands – including Prada, which has sold luggage and luggage in 1913.

3. Villa Necchi Campiglio

The Quadrilatero del Silenzio in Central Milan is one of the most exclusive neighborhoods of the city, filled with large houses in The freedomThe edition of Art Nouveau, Italy. The center is Villa Necchi Campiglio, built between 1932 and 1935 for the prominent industrial family after which it was named. The architect, Piero Portaluppi, was known for the combination of Bauhaus geometric figures with luxury materials-sponge marbles, such as Jade-Green Verde Prato, was one of my favorite-and the latest technologies. In the two -storey Villa Necchi Campiglio, built of marble stone, it incorporated intercom, lift and heated pool, as well as walnuts and roses and walls covered by silk. The backdrop for Luca Guadagnino’s film “I Am Love” (2009), the home is also the stage for the annual T magazine during the Salone del Mobile design exhibition.

4. Villa Borsani

Milan had no design school until the 1980s. Before then, architects of a home often also design furniture, decorative objects and even frames. Villa Borsani, located in the municipality of Varedo north of Milan, is a primary example of this approach. Architect Osvaldo Borsani completed the house for his family in 1945 in the prevailing rational style, which has much in common with the design of Bauhaus: he emphasized geometric shapes and functional touches, such as Concrete Loggias that fits the sunny climate. Along with the bent plywood and industrial pieces from Tecno, the experimental furniture company founded by Borsani and his brother, the house contains trim that was innovative at the time, including Glass Kiglidas for the foyer staircase. Abstract mosaics in the bathroom. And a sculpture ceramic fireplace by artist Lucio Fontana, a close family friend.

5. Castello Sforzesco

It was named after the Sforza family, which ruled Milan during the 15th and 16th centuries, Castello Sforzesco is one of the largest fortified buildings in Europe. Originally built by the brick in the middle of the 14th century and protected by battles and a central observer, the castle was the residence for the Milan government families until the unification of Italy in the 1800s. Milan government hired the prominent BBPR architectural company to revitalize the area. In addition to incorporating distinctive modern entrances and new stairs throughout, the company designed oversized exhibition cases of steel, glass and wood to help mediate between the large scale of the castle halls and the variety of historical objects in the collection of historical artifacts.

6. Torre Velasca

When skyscrapers began to appear in Milan after World War II, as part of Italy’s broader push to inform his cities, many locals were resistant to the idea of ​​modern towers that interrupt the landscape of traditional low buildings. The Torre Velasca, located in the center of the city of Milan, offered a compromise. Built in 1958 by the BBPR, the 26 -storey skyscraper is reminiscent of a medieval observer, with dark stone, deep windows and a mushroom top -backed mushrooms. In front is an open square – another riff in a medieval tradition that provides valuable outdoor space to the increasingly dense urban center of Milan. Even mainly a office building, Torre Velasca now hosts short and medium -term apartments and restaurants in the short term.

7. Santa Maria Annunciata church

During his nearly 60 -year career, the multi -art architect and designer Gio Ponti developed various signature styles, including the publications of neoclassicism and rationality, but one was steadily using his diamonds as a pattern. The aggressive format informed everything from the silhouette of his knives in the form of 1958 Skyscraper The Pirelli Tower, for years the tallest tower of Milan. It also appears throughout the church of Santa Maria Annunciata, which Ponti was built between 1964 and 1969 as a place of consolation for visitors and patients at the adjacent San Carlo Borromeo Hospital, after which the church was originally named. Here, not only the footprint, but the doors, windows and altar are shaped into diamond shapes. Even the thousands of tiles that cover the facade are full of cut stones. Although the Church is one of the least known buildings of Ponti in Milan, it is one of the most impressive examples of its intense modernist architecture.

8. Da Giacomo

With the green painted, thin boiserie, handmade lace curtains and antique wooden cafes, the Da Giacomo restaurant, at the edge of the historic center of Milan, looks like it works from the height of Stile Liberty in the late 19th century. In fact, it is open to this position only since 1989. Its interior is a hand of the hand dreaming of the interior designer Renzo Mongiardino, who created fancy theater and cinematic sets as well as houses for Milan’s elite before his death in 1998. – Designed homes for several Truman Capote swans, including Marella Agnelli and Lee Radziwill – Da Giacomo offers a rare opportunity to see his work in person.

9. Bosco Verticale

Built by architect Stefano Boeri in 2014, in the then recently developed Porta Nuova area north of the center of Milan, the experimental Bosco Verticale was considered a new model for sustainable design. It was designed by Boeri as an alternative to traditional glass or stone skyscrapers, the innovative complex of 111 apartments includes two towers (which have 19 and 27 floors, respectively) with concrete balconies showing over 90 species of plants, including over 700 trees. Inspired by various historical spaces, such as the Babylonian hanging gardens and Casa Nel Bosco – a mid -century home surrounded by a dense Varese forest designed by Boeri’s mother, the famous architect Cini Boeri – Bosco Vertical It cools the apartments during Milan’s mother and juices.

10. Fondazione Prada

In 2015, four decades after taking over and conversion of her family’s leather accessories, fashion designer Miuccia Prada opened a permanent location in Milan to organize the arts she had founded in 1993 with her husband and business partner Patrizio Bertelli. He had chosen an abandoned former denim distillery in the Largo Isarco neighborhood on the edge of the city as a place and brought Dutch architect Rem Koolhaas and his pioneering OMA to renovate and expand. The resulting cluster of 10 buildings, which provides space for temporary and permanent reports, contrasts industrial materials with amazing details. For example, Koolhaas covered the outer and interior surfaces of the building on the podium, one of the new structures, in metal foam -resistant to flame in infusion of melted aluminum. Nearby is the haunted house-named by Koolhaas when he first saw the then rich building-which was completely coated on a 20-carat gold leaf. With its idiosyncratic use of materials and innovative exhibition spaces, Fondazione Prada has become a role model for the appearance of art in the 21st century.