The Palazzo della Ragione ("Palace of Wisdom" literally) is a historic building of

Milan Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city h ...

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

, located in Piazza Mercanti, facing the Loggia degli Osii. It was built in the 13th century and originally served as a

broletto In Middle Age Communes in Italy, a broletto was the place where the whole population met for democratic assemblies, and where the elected men lived and administered justice. ''Broletto'' is an ancient Italian word, from medieval Latin "broilum, bro ...

(i.e., an administrative building) as well as a judicial seat. As it was the second broletto to be built in Milan, it is also known as the Broletto Nuovo ("new broletto"). The palace is decorated with a relief representing Oldrado da Tresseno (

podestà Podestà (, English: Potestate, Podesta) was the name given to the holder of the highest civil office in the government of the cities of Central and Northern Italy during the Late Middle Ages. Sometimes, it meant the chief magistrate of a city ...

of Milan and fierce prosecutor of the

Cathar Catharism (; from the grc, καθαροί, katharoi, "the pure ones") was a Christian dualist or Gnostic movement between the 12th and 14th centuries which thrived in Southern Europe, particularly in northern Italy and southern France. Follow ...

heretics), and the

bas relief Relief is a sculptural method in which the sculpted pieces are bonded to a solid background of the same material. The term ''relief'' is from the Latin verb ''relevo'', to raise. To create a sculpture in relief is to give the impression that the ...

of the ''

scrofa semilanuta The ''scrofa semilanuta'' (in English language, Italian: "half-woollen boar") is an ancient emblem of the city of Milan, Italy, dating back at least to the Middle Ages — and, according to a local legend, to the very foundation of Milan. Several a ...

'' ("half-woolly sow"), which has been object of much controversy among scholars of the foundation and origins of Milan.

History

The building was constructed between 1228 and 1233Piazza Mercanti
/ref> for

Oldrado da Tresseno. It maintained a central role in the administrative and public life of Milan until the late 18th century. In 1773, under Empress

Maria Theresa Maria Theresa Walburga Amalia Christina (german: Maria Theresia; 13 May 1717 – 29 November 1780) was ruler of the Habsburg dominions from 1740 until her death in 1780, and the only woman to hold the position ''suo jure'' (in her own right). ...

, it was restored and enlarged to serve as legal archives. The structural changes were designed by architect

Francesco Croce Francesco Croce (1696–1773) was an Italian baroque architect. He was mainly active in Milan, where he worked for the Veneranda Fabbrica del Duomo di Milano. Among other things, he designed the highest spire of the Duomo, the ''guglia del ti ...

, who added a new upper floor with large round windows and restyled the whole building based on Neoclassic canons. Other major modifications of the buildings were done in 1854 by architect Enrico Terzaghi; these included glass panes that closed the ground floor

ambulatory The ambulatory ( la, ambulatorium, ‘walking place’) is the covered passage around a cloister or the processional way around the east end of a cathedral or large church and behind the high altar. The first ambulatory was in France in the 11th ...

, which was reopened between 1905 and 1907. Between 1866 and 1870, the building housed the headquarters of the

Banca Popolare di Milano Banca Popolare di Milano S.p.A. also known as Bipiemme or just BPM is an Italian bank based in Milan, Lombardy. The bank is a wholly owned subsidiary of Banco BPM. Banca Popolare di Milano S.c. a r.l., an urban area cooperative bank, was founded ...

, a major Milanese bank, but thereafter returned to its function as a legal archives seat until 1970. In 1978, Marco Dezzi Bardeschi restored the building again, but he strongly opposed any proposal of structural change, including that of removing the upper floor added by Croce. Palazzo della Ragione inspired the design of another renowned building in the Milanese area, the Arengario of

Monza Monza (, ; lmo, label=Lombard language, Lombard, Monça, locally ; lat, Modoetia) is a city and ''comune'' on the River Lambro, a tributary of the Po River, Po in the Lombardy region of Italy, about north-northeast of Milan. It is the capit ...

References

Sources

*Oscar Pedro Melano, ''Milano di terracotta e mattoni'', Mazzotta, 2002. {{Milan landmarks Ragione Buildings and structures completed in the 13th century Medieval Italian architecture Tourist attractions in Milan