Milan is one of Italy's largest and most influential cities. Founded in 590 BC, it eventually became the capital of the Lombardy region. But for centuries it was somewhat overlooked as a cultural hub. Rome, Florence and Venice were widely seen as Italian seats of intellectual and artistic production, whereas Milan was primarily considered a grey, romantic city of industrial and financial. However, during the so-called Italian economic miracle, which was the boom following World War II, Milan emerged as a design centre. Large companies such as Pirelli, Olivetti and Fiat (tyres, office equipment and automobile manufacturers respectively) have begun sponsoring designers such as Gio Ponti and Ettore Sottsass. The rise of Milan into the fashion capital in the 1980s was added to its fame, with many of the architecturally significant buildings built since then being created and funded by major brands of manufacture, publication, and in particular fashion. Below are ten sights listed in the order of introducing the diversity of architecture over the centuries of Milan.
1. Milan's Duomo
Construction of the city's cathedral, the Duomo in Milan, began in the 14th century, but the building was not officially completed until 1965. The project was led by Gangareazzo Visconti, the first duke of Milan. According to the latest Gothic fashion. They built a tall, bright nave supported by flying buttresses. Work at the Cathedral continued for centuries and began for reasons including changes in fundraising and political leadership. However, there were significant advances in the early 1800s when Napoleon, who was chosen as King of Italy at the Duomo, ordered the city to finish the façade of the building.
2. Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II
This magnificent four-storey shopping arcade was designed in a neo-renaissance style by architect Giuseppe Mengoni, with an arched entrance, ornately carved pilasters and a large glass dome in its centre. Paris's flagship gallery Lafayette department store ended 30 years ago in 1877. It is sometimes compared and widely considered to be the oldest shopping centre in the world, hosting some of Milan's most renowned brands, including Prada, which has sold luggage and leather goods in arcages since 1913.
3. VillaNecki Campiglio
Located in the heart of Milan, Quadrilatero del Silenzio is one of the most exclusive regions in the city, filled with spectacular homes in Stile Liberty, an Italian art nouveau version. The center features Villa Necchi Campiglio, built between 1932 and 1935 for families of prominent industrialists. Architect Piero Portaluppi was known for combining geometric Bauhaus shapes with gorgeous materials. I liked rare marbles like the Jade-Green Verde Prato and were the latest technology. With a two-storey Villa Necki Canki Grio made of stone with marble trim, he incorporated an intercom, an elevator, a heating pool, walnut and rosewood floors and silk-covered walls. It is famous for being the background to Luca Guadagnino's film “I Am Love” (2009). The house is also the setting for T Magazine's annual party at Salone Del Mobile Design Fair.
4. VillaBorsani
Milan did not have a design school until the 1980s. Previously, home architects often designed furniture, decorative objects, and even tableware. Villa Borsani, located in the city of Valedo in northern Milan, is a prime example of this approach. Architect Osvald Borsani completed the house for his family in 1945 in a general rationalist style that has many similarities with the design of the Bauhaus. Along with curved plywood and industrial rubber works from Tecno, an experimental furniture company co-founded by Borsani and his brothers, the residence includes novel finishes from the time, including glass railings on the foyer staircase. Bathroom abstract mosaic. and a sculptural ceramic fireplace by artist Lucio Fontana, a close family friend.
5. CastelloSforzesco
Named after the Sforza family that ruled Milan in the 15th and 16th centuries, Castellos Forzesco is one of the largest fortified buildings in Europe. First built from bricks in the mid-14th century and protected by struggles and central watchtowers, the castle was the residence of the ruling Milan family until its unification in Italy in the 1800s. In 1948, after the castle, which was used as a civil library and museum, and after being heavily damaged by the Allied bombings during World War II, the Milanese government hired a well-known construction company BBPR to revitalize the site. In addition to incorporating a distinctive modern entrance and new staircase, the company designed a large scale of the castle hall and an oversized display case made of steel, glass and wood to mediate various historical objects within the collection, including wooden statues of living beings and decorative bowls and vases from the early 20th century.
6. Tore Velasca
When skyscrapers began to appear in Milan after World War II, as part of a wider push for renewing Italian cities, many locals resisted the idea that modern towers would be suspended, which would halt the landscape of traditional low-rise buildings. Torre Verasca in the city centre of Milan offered a compromise. Built in 1958 by BBPR, the 26-story skyscraper is reminiscent of a medieval watchtower, with a mushroom-like top supported by dark stone cladding, deep-set windows and visible struts. There is an open plaza in front. Another riff on medieval traditions that provide valuable outdoor space in Milan's increasingly dense urban centre. Still a predominantly office building, Torre Velasca currently houses short- and medium-term rental apartments and restaurants.
7. Santa Maria Anunciata Church
Over his nearly 60 years of career, polymeric architect and designer Gio Ponti developed several signature styles, including his version of neograduation and rationalism, but one constant was the use of diamonds as motifs. The shape of the facets informed everything, from his cutlery silhouette to the shape of the tower of Pirelli, the tallest tower in Milan for many years, to the tallest tower of his 1958 skyscraper. It also appears throughout the Church of Santa Maria Anunciata, which Ponti built as a place of comfort for visitors and patients at the adjacent San Carlo Borromeo Hospital between 1964 and 1969. Here, not only footprints, but also doorways, windows and altars are made in diamond-like shapes. Even the thousands of tiles covering the facade are faceted like cut stones. The church is one of the lesser known buildings of Ponti in Milan, but it is one of the most impressive examples of his enthusiastic modernist architecture.
8. DaGiacomo
Located on the edge of Milan's historic centre with delicate green-painted voyageries, handmade lace curtains and antique wooden cafe chairs, the restaurant Dagacomo appears to operate from the height of freedom of style at the end of the 19th century. In fact, this location has only been open since 1989. Its interior created ornate theatre and film sets for the elite of Milan before his death in 1998, and today the restaurant serves simple and fish dishes using simple and highest quality ingredients in an anti-filled space. Most of Mongiardino's works were either ephemeral stage designs or private apartments, so he designed several homes of Truman Capote swans, including Marella Agnelli and Lee Radziwill.
9. Boscovertical
In the newly developed Portanu Oba district, north of the Milan centre, built by architect Stefano Boeri in 2014, the experimental Bosco Vagere was envisioned as a new model of sustainable design. The innovative complex of 111 apartments, conceived by Boli as an alternative to traditional glass and stone skyscrapers, consists of two towers (19th and 27th floors, respectively) with steel-reinforced concrete balconies displaying over 90 species of plants, including over 700 trees. It was inspired by various historic locations such as Babylon's Hanging Garden and Casaner Bosco. This is a medieval forest, surrounded by the dense forests of Varese, designed by Bori's mother, surrounded by famous architect Chinibori.
10. Fonda Zion Prada
Approximately 30 years after taking over and transforming the family's leather accessories business in 2010, fashion designer Miuccia Prada decided to open a contemporary art centre in Milan, houses her vast art collection. She chose the abandoned former gin distillery in the Largoisarco district at the edge of the city as its site, renovating and expanding Dutch architect Rem Kourhaas and his avant-garde company OMA. The resulting complex of ten buildings offering venues for both temporary and permanent exhibitions juxtaposes incredible details and industrial materials. For example, Koolhaas was covered with a flame-resistant metal foam that surrounds the exterior and inside one of the new structures, Podium Building, created by injecting air into molten aluminum. Nearby is a haunted house named after the first time I saw a building that was derived from Coolhaas at the time. The unique use of materials and innovative exhibition spaces made the Fondazione Prada a model for displaying art in the 21st century.
