Palazzo Marino is a 16th-century palace located in

Piazza della Scala Piazza della Scala is a pedestrian central square of Milan, Italy, connected to the main square of Milan, Piazza del Duomo, by the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II passage. It is named after the renowned Teatro alla Scala opera house, which occupie ...

, in the centre 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. It has been Milan's city hall since 9 September 1861. It borders on Piazza San Fedele, Piazza della Scala, Via Case Rotte and Via Tommaso Marino. The palace was commissioned by Tommaso Marino, a wealthy 16th-century Genoese banker and merchant. It became a property of the state in 1781.

History

Galeazzo Alessi, Progetto originario per la facciata di Palazzo Marino a Milano

The palace was built from 1557 to 1563 for Tommaso Marino. It was designed by architect

Galeazzo Alessi Galeazzo Alessi (1512 – 30 December 1572) was an Italian architect from Perugia, known throughout Europe for his distinctive style based on his enthusiasm for ancient architecture. He studied drawing for civil and military architecture under the ...

from

Perugia Perugia (, , ; lat, Perusia) is the capital city of Umbria in central Italy, crossed by the River Tiber, and of the province of Perugia. The city is located about north of Rome and southeast of Florence. It covers a high hilltop and pa ...

. Its main facade originally faced Piazza San Fedele, as Piazza della Scala at the time was a warren of medieval houses. The construction was occasionally slowed down by the opposition of the population, that had a very conservative attitude towards the architecture of the centre of Milan. Several sculptors from the Fabbrica del Duomo were involved in the decorations this Palazzo. In the courtyard, sculptures were erected representing the

Labours of Hercules The Labours of Hercules or Labours of Heracles ( grc-gre, οἱ Ἡρακλέους ἆθλοι, ) are a series of episodes concerning a penance carried out by Heracles, the greatest of the Greek heroes, whose name was later romanised ...

and the

Metamorphoses The ''Metamorphoses'' ( la, Metamorphōsēs, from grc, μεταμορφώσεις: "Transformations") is a Latin narrative poem from 8 CE by the Roman poet Ovid. It is considered his ''magnum opus''. The poem chronicles the history of the ...

. The ceiling of the main hall (now known as "Salone dell'Alessi") had frescos and stuccos with the ''Marriage of

Cupid and Psyche Cupid and Psyche is a story originally from ''Metamorphoses'' (also called '' The Golden Ass''), written in the 2nd century AD by Lucius Apuleius Madaurensis (or Platonicus). The tale concerns the overcoming of obstacles to the love between P ...

'' by

Andrea Semini Andrea Semini (or Semino) (1525-1594) was an Italian painter of the late-Renaissance, active mainly in his native Genoa. He was born in Genoa, son and pupil of the painter Antonio Semini. After studying some time under his father, together with h ...

and

Ottavio Semini Ottavio Semini (c. 1530–1604) was an Italian painter of the late-Renaissance. He was born and trained in Genoa and died in Milan. He was the son and pupil of Antonio Semini, and was influenced by Perino del Vaga. Aided his brother Andrea in ...

. The four corners of the ceiling were also decorated with paintings by Aurelio Busso representing allegories of the four seasons. Further frescos as well as bas reliefs decorated the walls, with mythological themes such as the Muses, Bacchus, Apollo and Mercury by

. The reliefs depict the story of Perseus. When Marino died leaving his family bankrupt, the palace became a property of the State, but in 1632 it was sold to another banker, Carlo Omodei. The House of Omodei never inhabited the palace, which maintained its original name "Marino" and was rented to several notable Milanese. In 1781, the palace was once again bought by the State (the notable Milanese scholar Pietro Verri had an important role in convincing the authorities to buy the palace) and became the seat of administrative and tax offices. The palace was then restored, with the supervision of architect

Giuseppe Piermarini Giuseppe Piermarini (; 18 July 1734 – 18 February 1808) was an Italian architect who trained with Luigi Vanvitelli in Rome and designed the Teatro alla Scala in Milan (1776–78), which remains the work by which he is remembered. Indeed, "il P ...

, who was responsible for the renovation of the entire area. PalazzoMarinoDanteGalleriaScala

In 1848, after the

Five Days of Milan The Five Days of Milan ( ) was an insurrection and a major event in the Revolutionary Year of 1848 that started the First Italian War of Independence. On 18 March, a rebellion arose in the city of Milan, and in five days of street fighting ...

, the palace was temporarily used as the seat of the new government of Lombardy. It was finally elected as Milan's city hall on 19 September 1861. The acquisition of the palace by the city administration marked a new thorough restoration of the building and the surrounding area. The block that occupied what is now Piazza della Scala was demolished to create the plaza; the facade of Palazzo Marino facing the plaza was renewed to become the palace's main facade (on a design by Luca Beltrami, completed in 1892). A second major restoration, directed by Arrigo Buonomo, occurred after the end of World War II. The original stuccos and frescos in the Salone dell'Alessi (which had been severely damaged by

bombings A bomb is an explosive weapon that uses the exothermic reaction of an explosive material to provide an extremely sudden and violent release of energy. Detonations inflict damage principally through ground- and atmosphere-transmitted mechanica ...

) were recreated ex novo by notable artists of the time.Vergani, Guido, Palazzo Marino. Milano e il volto del suo governo, Comune di Milano 1989

Footnotes

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Marino Houses completed in 1563 Marino

Palazzo Marino Palazzo Marino