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Visconti Palace
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Show an other treasure of art and history in Milan:
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 Mostly represented styles: Rococò - Neorococò
Visconti Palace, already Bolagnos Palace, Viani Palace and Tinelli Palace, was built at the beginning of the eighteenth century, on behalf of the noble Spaniard Giuseppe Bolagnos, senator in Milan and Milanese by adoption. The construction lasted for four decades and Giuseppe Bolagnos did not see the end of the works.
The history of the palace is complex. After the death of his son Carlo, it became the property of the Major Hospital (called "Ca 'Granda"). In 1759 it was auctioned and bought, already deprivated of its interior furniture, by Marquis Giuseppe Viani, who enlarged it, incorporating adjacent palaces.
In 1833 the palace was sold to Carlo Tinelli as nominee for his brother Luigi, who wanted to remain incognito because of his revolutionary activities.
On the ground floor, the Tinelli planted a porcelain workshop from which Richard Ginori would be born later.
After only a few years, however, Carlo Tinelli gave the palace to the patrician family of Visconti of Vimodrone, who embellished it with the addition of Viscontean coats, still present, and rented it to private people of varying social rank (from shops and workshops in the groundfloor to luxury apartments on the first floor).
During the Second World War, air bombardments caused heavy damages. After the war a part could be restored and brought back to the ancient splendor. Other parts, however, were unfortunately speculatively abandoned.
In 1958 the apartment on the ground floor (the first floor, the one visible on the photos on this page) became the seat of the Carlo Erba Foundation, an important scientific institute in Milan founded by Professor Carlo Sirtori.
At present, the palace's noble floor is owned by Socrea , which organizes high-level events in it.
Visconti Palace is one of the best examples of Lombard barocchetto, the Lombard version of the rococo.
When it was completed, it made a stir, because it was much richer in decorations than the typical palaces in Milan at that time, which were typically rich inside but sober outside.
Visconti Palace comprehends three floors. The windows are surmounted by timpani of varying shape but always characterized by curved and imaginative lines.
Above the entrance there is a large balcony of irregular shape. The entrance is connected to the first courtyard, which is surrounded by a portico bordered by arcades supported by twin columns. Passing through it you will reach the second courtyard, where there is a small artificial cave occupied by a fountain surmounted by a statue of Venus.
From the second courtyard you can also access the small private theater of the palace.
Unfortunately, for the fact that the owners are more than one, for now it was only possible to photograph what is visible from the outside and the interior of the noble floor.
The present form of the palace, and in particular of the latter, is due to the decision of Duke Giuseppe Visconti at the beginning of the twentieth century to restore the original rococò plant. In order to realize his project he called the architect Alfredo Campanini, more famous for his accomplishments in art nouveau style, starting from his own home, House Campanini.
Noble Floor
The proper rooms are seven, but one of them is used as warehouse and one as kitchen. At the center there is the large main hall ("Visconti Hall").
One element that have all the rooms in common is the beautiful "a seminato" ("sown") marble floor, consisting of small pieces of marble of different color distributed in a similar manner to the seeds on the field (hence the name).
Apart from the main hall, the other rooms are characterized by decorated coffered ceiling and large crystal chandeliers.
On the noble floor you arrive passing through the grand staircase (Fig. 6), characterized by wide polychrome marble rococo balustrades in which the viscount coat is inserted.
- Hall Room (Fig. 5): The lobby of the main hall for those arriving from the grand staircase. It is richly decorated with stuccos, frames and frescoes depicting biblical and mythological scenes. The door to the main hall is flanked by two large showcases
- Large Mirror Room (Fig. 8,9): It is characterized by the presence of a large mirror placed over a fireplace with walls covered with white ceramic tiles decorated in blue.
- Presidency Room: Also equipped with a fireplace with by a large mirror above it, it houses numerous paintings of characters related to the history of the palace.
- Visconti Hall (Fig. 4, 10 and larger picture): The main hall, in its current version, was completed in 1909 and represents a real gem of rococo and neorococo. It extends over two floors and almost every surface is covered with stuccos, paintings and frescoes. The most noteworthy thing is that although some decorative elements are original of the rococo period and others are of a century and a half later (neorococo), they all mix harmoniously to give a complex characterized by a perfect unity of style!
Original rococo are the teleri on the walls, which are oil painted canvases then applied to the walls. Of the year 1760, they are the work of Nicola Bertuzzi called Anconetano and come from a palace in Bagnarola di Budrio, near Bologna. Four Biblical episodes are represented: the Encounter between Esther and King Ahasuerus, that of King Solomon with the Queen of Sheba, the Banquet of Balthazar and the Triumph of Marduk. Some of the paintings are actually mutilated, for the presence of doors and windows.
All the remaining decorations are of the early 1900s, starting from the splendid ceiling, frescoed by Gersam Turri in neorococo style. The artist proved adherent to the original rococo at the limit of falsification and was able to create a magnificent illusion in which it is difficult to distinguish what is false from what is real. The large fresco, painted using the trompe-l'oeil technique, depicts a sky populated by flying figures, in particular two putti holding the Visconti coat of arms, and enclosed within a fantasy-shaped colonnade that fits perfectly with the real decorative elements placed between the walls and the ceiling, so that the boundary between these two disappears. At the four corners there are four real balconies, while in the middle of the long walls there are two fake balconies, fake in the sense that there is no access to them, although the balconies and the beautiful wrought iron balustrades are real. In the contrary the two balconies are in the middle of the short walls are real!
Visconti Palace was, until the Second World War, one of the most important theaters of the Milanese mundane life and, more generally, one of the focal points of the social life of the good Milan society, with meetings, parties and balls.
If you are interested in a guided tour of this monument send an email!
Categories: Villas und palaces
Via Cino del Duca, 8, 20122 Milano |
Further pictures of the Visconti Palace in the section Photography |