In October 2020 I spent a soggy Sunday walking around central Milan looking for interesting buildings. I’m a big fan of Stile Liberty (the Italian version of Art Nouveau) so that was my main focus (more Liberty in Milan info here) but I’ve included a few buildings of various other styles as well. Apologies for the light quality in some of the photos, it was raining quite hard at certain points! I’ve put the buildings in geographical order so you could follow this post on a walk. All the buildings mentioned are on my Google map (key top left).
I started off on Via Mozart, in a neighbourhood between the San Babila Palestro metro stations.
Villa Mozart (1930s)
Address: 9 Via Mozart
Architect: Piero Portaluppi
Style: Rationalist and Art Deco
Hard to see anything under all that ivy but apparently the interior is lovely and can be viewed during the Salone del Mobile Milano.
Palazzo Fidia (1929)
Address: 2 Via Luigi Amedeo Melegari
Architect: Aldo Andreani (1887 to 1971)
Style: late Art Deco and Neo-Eclectic style.
Apparently the concierge is very kind and will let you inside for a look. Next time!
This impressive Art Deco thermometer window can be seen at the rear of 14 Via Gabrio Serbelloni, access on Via Melegari, opposite Villa Mozart.
I should have looked in on Villa Necchi Campiglio over the road as part of the Case Museo di Milano (house museum tour) but only found out about them while writing this!
Palazzo Sola Busca (1924-1927)
Address: 10 Via Gabrio Serbelloni
Architect: Aldo Andreani (1887-1971)
Style: Art Deco and Neoclassical?
Check out the bronze ear intercom by the door of #10! It was made by sculptor Adolfo Wildt (1868-1931) who gained the nickname L’Oregiàt (the Ear) because of the number of ears he carved in his career (over a thousand). Hence the building has been renamed by the Milanese as Ca ‘dell ‘Orgy (the House of the Ear).
Address: 17 Via Mozart
Architect: unknown
Style: Liberty Stile
Casa Berri-Meregallì (1911)
Address: 7 Via Barozzi
Architect: Giulio Ulisse Arata (?)
Style: Neoclassical
The house was built at the same time as the Berri Meregalli palace and the second Berri-Meregalli house on Via Mozart (both below) but was built in a more classical style, with Modernist elements. The ground floor is decorated with rustic ashlar, while the upper floor is made with stone blocks of different size. The balconies are corbels decorated with the heads of mythological animals while the windows have triangular tympanums with masks inside.
Casa Berri-Meregallì (1911)
Address: 21 Via Mozart
Architect: Giulio Ulisse Arata (?)
Style: elements of Stile Lberty, Eclecticism and Art Deco
The ground floor is decorated with a rusticated ashlar made of irregular stones of different sizes. In the center of the façade there is the main balcony decorated with mighty shelves and ram’s heads, while the French window is decorated with a broken tympanum with a ram’s head inside. The two frescoed figures of a man and a woman either side of the balcony are by Pietro Adamo Rainoldi.
Palazzo Berri Meregallì (between 1911 and 1913)
Address: 8 Via Cappuccini
Architect: Giulio Ulisse Arata
Style: Eclectic
Romanesque elements can be seen in the exposed bricks, arches and loggias. Also Gothic and Renaissance features mixed with Stile Liberty style with sculpted cherubs, frescoes and wrought iron by Alessandro Mazzucotelli. The kind concierge let me in to see the entrance hall to see the mosaics by Angiolo D’Andrea and the ceilings by Adamo Rimoldi and another famous sculpture by Adolfo ‘The Ear’ Wildt called The Victory of 1919.
While you’re here, look through the railings of the private residence Palazzo Invernizzi at 7 Via Cappuccini to see the flamingos in the garden.
Norwegian Consulate
Address: 2 Via Cappuccini
Architect: no info sorry!
Style: Postmodernist
Here’s a brochure with some old photos of the neighbourhood from when it was first built.
Next we head up Corso Venezia for Part Two of the walk…