Palazzo della Ragione | |
---|---|
General information | |
Town or city | Milan |
Country | Italy |
Construction started | 1228 |
Client | Podestà Aliprando Faba |
Design and construction | |
Architect(s) | Vincenzo Seregni |
The Palazzo della Ragione ("Palace of Reason") is a historic building of Milan, Italy, located in Piazza Mercanti, facing the Loggia degli Osii. It was built in the 13th century and originally served as a broletto (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 of Milan and fierce prosecutor of the Cathar heretics), and the bas relief of the scrofa semilanuta ("half-woolly sow"), which has been object of much controversy among scholars of the foundation and origins of Milan. [1]
The building was constructed between 1228 and 1233 [2] for podestà 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, it was restored and enlarged to serve as legal archives. The structural changes were designed by architect Francesco Croce, 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, which was reopened between 1905 and 1907.
Between 1866 and 1870, the building housed the headquarters of the Banca Popolare di Milano, 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.
Piazza del Duomo is the main piazza of Milan, Italy. It is named after, and dominated by, Milan Cathedral. The piazza marks the center of the city, both in a geographic sense and because of its importance from an artistic, cultural, and social point of view. Rectangular in shape, with an overall area of 17,000 m2, the piazza includes some of the most important buildings of Milan, as well some of the most prestigious commercial activities, and it is by far the foremost tourist attraction of the city.
Novara is the capital city of the province of Novara in the Piedmont region in northwest Italy, to the west of Milan. With 101,916 inhabitants, it is the second most populous city in Piedmont after Turin. It is an important crossroads for commercial traffic along the routes from Milan to Turin and from Genoa to Switzerland. Novara lies between the rivers Agogna and Terdoppio in northeastern Piedmont, 50 kilometres (31 mi) from Milan and 95 kilometres (59 mi) from Turin.
Palazzo del Podestà is Italian for "Palace of the Chief Magistrate" of a town.
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.
The Loggia degli Osii is a historical building of Milan, Italy. It is located in Piazza Mercanti, a central city square of Milan that used to be its centre in the Middle Ages.
Villas and palaces in Milan are used to indicate public and private buildings in Milan of particular artistic and architectural value. Milan has always been an important centre with regard to the construction of historical villas and palaces, ranging from the Romanesque to the neo-Gothic, from Baroque to Rococo.
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Oldrado da Tresseno was an Italian politician, podestà (mayor) of Milan in the 13th century. He is responsible for restructuring Piazza dei Mercanti and ordering the construction of Palazzo della Ragione, a prominent historic building of Milan, which served as a broletto in the Middle Ages. He is also remembered as a fierce prosecutor of the Cathar heretics.
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Piazza Mercanti is a central city square of Milan, Italy. It is located between Piazza del Duomo, which marks the centre of the modern city of Milan, and Piazza Cordusio, and it used to be the heart of the city in the Middle Ages. At the time, the square was larger than it is now and known as "Piazza del Broletto", after the "Broletto Nuovo", the palace that occupied the centre of the square. In the 13th century, there were six entry points to the square, each associated to a specific trade, from sword blacksmiths to hat makers.
Casa Panigarola, also known as Palazzo dei Notai, is a historic building of Milan, Italy, located in Piazza Mercanti, former city centre in the Middle Ages. It is named after the House of Panigarola, a family of notaries from Gallarate, that owned the building until 1741. The building thus served as a notary seat, and the activities therein were strictly related to those that occurred in the adjacent Palazzo della Ragione, where trials were held.
The Palazzo delle Scuole Palatine is a historic building of Milan, Italy, located in Piazza Mercanti, the former city centre in the Middle Ages. It served as the seat of the most prestigious higher school of medieval Milan. Many notable Milanese scholars of different ages studied or taught in these schools; Augustine of Hippo and Cesare Beccaria, among others, served as teachers in the Palatine. The current building dates back to 1644, when it replaced an older one, which had the same function and was destroyed by a fire.
The Giureconsulti Palace, also known as Palazzo Affari ai Giureconsulti or simply Palazzo Affari, is a 16th-century building of Milan, Italy. It is located in Piazza Mercanti, former city centre in the Middle Ages.
The Zone 1 of Milan, since 2016 officially Municipality 1 of Milan, is one of the 9 administrative divisions of Milan, Italy.
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 tiburio, on top of which the Madonnina statue is currently placed.
Piazza delle Erbe is one of the many squares in the historic center of Padua. For centuries, with Piazza della Frutta, it was the commercial center of the city. In the two squares is one of the largest markets in Italy. Unlike Piazza dei Signori, the civic theater of celebrations, Piazza delle Erbe was the site of the folk festivities. The square is dominated by the imposing Palazzo della Ragione.
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to Milan:
The Broletto or Broletto Palace of Pavia, Italy has for centuries housed the civic government offices of this city found in the region of Lombardy, Italy. The term Broletto refers to a buildings equivalent to the town hall or town assembly.