Palazzo Marino is a palace in Milano city, named after Tommaso Marino, a banker and
trader from Genoa, who was the first owner of the palace in the 16th century.
Palazzo Marino is situated between Piazza Della Scala
and Piazza San Fedele.
The streets connecting the two piazzas, each on one side of Palazzo Marino, are
Via Case Rotte and Via Tommaso Marino. The
construction was
occasionally slowed down by the opposition of the population that had a very
conservative attitude towards the architecture of the center of Milan.
The four corners
of the ceiling were also decorated with paintings by Aurelio Busso representing
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 Ottavio Semini. 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, who was responsible for
the renovation of the entire area.
In 1848, 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 façade of Palazzo
Marino facing the plaza was renewed to become the palace's main façade on a
design by Luca Beltrami, completed in 1892.
In 1947, the façade
of Palazzo Marino was covered by large advertising hoardings that concealed the
damage caused by the 1943 air-raids. In 1873, the body of Alessandro Manzoni
was laid out in Sala Alessi, where the people of the city filed past to pay
their last tribute to the great writer. The Sala Verde Green hall is so named
from the color of the rich damask covering the walls. It is also known as the
Marriage hall, because here, on 4th July 1953, the first civil wedding in Milan
was held. The public can watch council meetings from the gallery that looks
into Sala Del Consiglio. A motto by Cicero appears in the Sala Del Consiglio
“The things performed in the footsteps of ancestors have to be discreet. The
reasons of peoples should be far removed from force”.
A
History of Western Architecture, 4th edition By David Watkin.
Architecture
in Italy, 1400-1500, By Ludwig H. Heydenreich
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