Piazza del Duomo (Milan)

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The Piazza del Duomo with the cathedral and the triumphal arch of the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II (2016)

The Piazza del Duomo (German Domplatz ) is the central main square of Milan and essentially a product of the 19th century.

history

The project by Giuseppe Mengoni
The square in the 19th century

Azzone Visconti had the Piazza dell'Arengo built for mercantile purposes around 1330 , a preliminary stage of today's square. It was located between the Basilica Santa Maria Maggiore and the Basilica di Santa Tecla . For this purpose, a number of taverns were razed. Gian Galeazzo Visconti had several other houses demolished in 1385 and also a baptistery . In 1458, at the behest of Francesco Sforza, with the approval of Pope Pius II, the Basilica di Santa Tecla was demolished to create a large, dignified cathedral square. In 1548 the square was expanded again. In the Napoleonic period, too, an enlargement of the square was considered, whereby the dominant role of the cathedral should be reduced in favor of other monuments (triumphal arches, courthouse). The lofty plans failed, however, due to a lack of funds and the imminent end of Napoleon's era. Even during the restoration period 1814–1859, relatively little happened. From 1865 to 1873, however, the cathedral square gained its present-day appearance thanks to the plan by the architect Giuseppe Mengoni . The square was significantly enlarged and the development of the square was confidently modernized.

1926: Piazza Duomo as a busy square, seen from the beginning of Via Torino

In April 1860, in exhilaration of the victorious unification of Italy, the citizens of Milan were invited to present ideas for the new cathedral square and a new street to be named after King Vittorio Emanuele II . An architectural competition in May 1861 resulted in 18 projects, four of which were awarded in the summer of 1862. Mengoni's project did not receive a prize, but it met with a lot of approval and in a second competition he was declared the winner. The municipal council also approved the draft on September 15, 1863. After a few modifications in 1864, the king laid the foundation stone on March 7, 1865 for the Galleria named after him , which was built within three years and opened on September 15, 1867.

The City of Milan Improvements Company Limited , a London company that had built the Galleria, soon showed financial weakness and the Galleria had to be acquired by the City of Milan. The city then had to play a larger financial role in redesigning the square than initially intended. The Palazzi dei Portici were completed by her in 1875. However, the planned two triumphal arches were still missing, for which there was not enough money. Mengoni fought for his project, also taking financial risks - and fell to his death on the construction site on December 30, 1877.

Piazza del Duomo: Bava-Beccaris' soldiers fighting against insurgents

In 1896 the equestrian statue of Vittorio Emanuele II created by Ercole Rosa was inaugurated and from 1938 the Palazzo dell'Arengario was erected in place of the two never realized triumphal arches .

In 1898 a rebellion was put down here by the military commander Fiorenzo Bava-Beccaris . He had his soldiers fired at the unarmed insurgents, and depending on the information, between 82 and 300 people were killed.

gallery

  • Project from 1841

  • Cathedral facade before 1866

  • Supporters of AC Milan celebrate title

  • View of the square from the cathedral.

Buildings in the piazza

To the east of the piazza is the eponymous cathedral. In the south-east is the Palazzo Reale . Next to it is the two-part Palazzo dell'Arengario . It was planned as the place of the popular speeches of Benito Mussolini , but the construction work started in 1939 was interrupted by the war and the building was not completed until 1956. Today it houses an art museum. This is followed by the Portici meridoniali , which, like their counterpart opposite, were built in the course of the redesign of the square, but were so destroyed in the Second World War that they had to be rebuilt afterwards. In the west of the square is the Casa Galli e Rosa , popularly known as Carminati. In the north of the square is one of the entrances to the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II. It is bordered by the Portici settentrionali built in 1873 .

traffic

There are several entrances to Milan's metro in the piazza . The lines M1 (linea rossa) and M3 (linea gialla) cross here . The square used to be a junction for the Milan trams ; today the tram lines only stop at the periphery. In the west of the square there are two non-accessible green areas. While the piazza itself is closed to car traffic, the streets surrounding it are not.

and display information about the image
Panorama of the square (2006)

Web links

Commons : Piazza del Duomo  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Adolphus William Ward , George Walter Prothero , Stanley Leathes (eds.): Riots at Milan . In: The Cambridge Modern History , Vol. XII, The Latest Age. University Press, Cambridge 1910, p. 220.
  2. ↑ See [1]
  3. ↑ Guida d'Italia - Milano, Milan 1998, p. 147.

Coordinates: 45 ° 27 ′ 51 ″  N , 9 ° 11 ′ 24 ″  E