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History

Origins

The royal palace has ancient origins. It was first called the Palazzo Vecchio Broletto and was the seat of city's government during the period of medieval communes in the Middle Ages.

The palace became a key political centre during the rules of the Torriani, Visconti and Sforza households. After the construction of the Cathedral, there was an important renovation under the government of Francesco Sforza.

16th century

Between the late 15th and early 16th centuries, with the fall of the Sforza governments and the French invasion, the Castello Sforzesco, which until then was the official residence of the Dukes of Milan had become increasingly more a fortress suited for weapons. It was under French rule of Louis XII before and of François I, which proceeded to move the seat of the court to the current Royal Palace.

It is thanks to the arrival of the Governor Ferrante Gonzaga in Milan, who took permanent residence in the city from 1546, that the building flourished, elevating the ducal court to a true palace and governor's residence in Milan. The Gonzaga were the first to inaugurate the work to complete the rooms of the complex.

To pursue these projects, we know that the Gonzaga governor demolished the old church of Sant'Andrea al Muro Rotto, annexing the land area of the building, while an interior road and enclosed courtyard leading from the church of San Gottardo.

New renovations of the building were chosen at the end of the 16th century with the arrival of Governor Antonio de Guzman y Zuniga, Marquis of Ayamonte, who was able to recruit Pellegrino Tibaldi, the architect for the archbishop Charles Borromeo, already engaged in the work of the Duomo in the archbishop's palace and the courtyard of the royalties. Tibaldi worked on the construction of the building from 1573 in 1598 and it was in these years which the pictorial decoration of the apartments noble porticos, of the private chapel and the church of San Gottardo was rebuilt. Several major artists of the time undertook this task, including Aurelio Luini, Ambrose Figino, Antonio Fields and naturally Pellegrino Tibaldi himself, while other stucco and grotesque works were built by Valerio Profondavalle, a Flemish artist-impresario who had also produced some windows for the Duomo of Milan.

This was the era when the first Court Theater was completed, the beginning of a long process that ended only in the 18th century with the final construction of La Scala.

17th and 18th centuries

The 17th century saw a substantial stall for the yard of the Palazzo Reale and indeed the structure was damaged by wars and the plague. On the night between the 24th and 25th January, 1695, the Court Theatre was burnt in a fire, which marked the interruption of theatrical practice in Milan for almost two decades.

After the War of Spanish Succession, Milan definitively passed to the Austrians who sent the first governor, the Count of Loewenstein, in 1717. Since April 26th of that year work started on the construction of a new ducal theater, bigger than its predecessor, with four tiers of boxes and a gallery, all prepared with the typical pattern of a horseshoe pit. The project was entrusted to Francesco Galli Bibbiena, who also employed Giandomenico Barbieri and Domenico Valmagini for its development. The structure was completed on 26 December 1717 and was inaugurated with the work of F. Gasparini Constantino. Next to this theatre in the Palace are redoubts dedicated to gambling, the sale of sweets and soft drinks as well as masks and costumes for the holiday gala.

A new fire hit the building in 1723 and this time it was disastrous, especially for the ceremonial halls. It was the Governor Wirich Philipp von Daun to inaugurate the new renovations in order to make the palace more decent, having the courtyard re-painted to remove the sombre aspect that the structure had assumed in the 17th century, with the walls painted in white.

In this period, the main floor was restored with the the Salone dei festini and that of the Audience (which now takes the name of the Salone degli Imperatori, or the Hall of the Emperors). The governor now stayed in the new rooms overlooking the northern and southern sides of the garden.

Pallavicini, the patron of the palace

In 1745, Gian Luca Pallavicini arrived to Milan as governor. Pallavicini was concerned first of the reorganisation of the interior of the palace.

At the same time the new rooms were restored around the garden by architect Francesco Croce.

The most significant change was made with the union of the Salone degli Imperatori with that of the Festini resulting in a huge ballroom 46 metres long and 17 wide (now the Hall of Caryatids), incorporating on the shorter sides of the hall boxes for orchestras.

Another addition would be the Salle à manger, a room intended only for lunches and gala dinners, according to a French fashion at the time still unknown in Milan. The new room, in order to be functional, was obtained by changing a room that looked out on the north side of the small courtyard of the palace. In 1752, anyway, before leaving Milan, Pallavicini managed to sell most of the of the furniture he had brought to the palace to the Regia Camera, and as such they became state property.

Renewal: restructuring by Piermarini

The façade of Palazzo Reale designed by Piermarini in the second half of the eighteenth century

In the second half of the 18th, under Austrian rule, the Royal Palace was a place of lavish court life and saw imporant artists and architects working on transformations inspired by the Baroque teresa.

A first project for the building's restoration was laid by Emperor Joseph II already during his visit to Milan on 26 June 1769, on which had initially thought of using even the architect Luigi Vanvitelli to implement the project but perhaps also because of lack of funds needed to complete the work, the building was left unchanged.

Ferdinand of Habsburg-Lorraine, a son of Maria Theresa, married Maria Beatrice d'Este in the cathedral of Milan on 15 October 1771, , who became the new governor of the Ontario in Austria, with duty then to take permanent residence in the Palazzo Reale. Probably influenced by the desire to compete with the large houses in Europe (first of all that of his brother at Schönbrunn). The initial idea of Ferdinand was to build a new royal palace where he resides, leaving the old building to accommodate offices of government that were widening. With this in mind, he moved with his wife Palazzo Clerici pending the approval of a compromise: the old building was then refurbished to finally have something worthy of reception of the Archduke and many offices would be transferred elsewhere to make way for the court. Meanwhile, in 1771 take place at Palazzo Reale some holiday for the wedding of Archduke Ferdinand including the recitation of The Insubria comforted by Maria Teresa Agnesi and the staging 'sAscanio in Albaby Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, which is also engaged in first as the Master of the Court in Milan, only to be rejected by the Empress Maria Theresa, who will send a letter to his son.

The work officially began in 1773 under the direction of Giuseppe Piermarini, supported by Leopold Pollack sent from Vienna to control costs and to become the pupil. The first act of the new architect would be to immediately lift the side of the courtyard to the Cathedral, with the other three, creating the so-called Piazzetta Reale, then the largest square of the Cathedral. Actually this was one of the solutions proposed restructuring by Nicholas Pacassi, the real architect of the Viennese court. The renovation of the building was indeed very troubled and Piermarini had to balance the demands of style and especially the economy of Maria Theresa of Austria and his architect with the needs and expectations of future residents: the prince and wife who refused to leave the palace Clerici if the restructuring did not take account of their desires. Externally, Piermarini gave a sober and austere character of the building, detached from the Baroque and inaugurated on neoclassical in Milan. In front, the medieval walls are properly into the openings, plastered and divided by stone pilasters, remain the three original plans (Vienna wanted to spend as little as possible). The centre of the body of honour, slightly protruding, is reinforced by entering four large semi and a triple portal surmounted by a balcony. Wreath was also laid on a great central crest and a series of statues and trophies (never realized). Striking the pavement of the new square built at the "authorized" and patterns of granite with a beautiful diamond pattern.

In full swing of the work, the Court Theatre was burned down again on the night of 26 February 1776. The theatre was thus decided to be moved and within two years the Teatro alla Scala was built in a different area of the city, which became one of, if not the first public opera house in the world. The space of the building formerly occupied by the ducal theatre was used for the reception of new shows to represent and extend westward to the Garden. Nevertheless, there was still desire to have a court theatre, therefore the nearby Scuola Cannobiana was demolished and, the Teatro Cannobiana, that had its façade on the Via Larga (the rising of the current Teatro Lirico) was built, yet again designed by Piermarini.

Even within the building undergoes many transformations, leading to a local distribution remained almost unchanged until later today. The largest-scale enterprise was undoubtedly represented by the famous Hall of Caryatids. Is simultaneously restored the ducal chapel of St. Gotthard getting a new altar and decoration inerna neoclassical style. It is saved only the bell tower, considered a model of architectural beauty of the idea of the time of Azzone Visconti.

Archduke of both new orders to buy more Gobelin tapestries with the stories of Jason and those of Raphael Pallavicini. Internally the rooms are decorated in stucco by Albertolli, painted by Julian Traballesi and Martin Knoller, a cycle of works that would end in the 19th century due to the intervention of Andrea Appiani before, and then Francesco Hayez.

The work of building a Piermarini officially ended on 17 June 1778, when Archduke Ferdinand Palazzo Clerici leave to go to live in the new Palazzo Reale.

Napoleonic era and restoration

In 1796 Napoleon Bonaparte, more generally, comes to Milan conquered and annexed it in spirit to France with the formation of the Cisalpine Republic. The Regio-Ducal Palace, therefore, called the National Palace and became the seat of the main governing bodies of the new republic, namely the military command, first and then the Directory.

When the Austro-Russians to regain control of Milan in 1799, the French government will be forced to hastily sell most of the furnishings of the building at auction as well as allowing the looting of other halls of the population.

It will only be in 1805 that the building will again rise, inter alia, reaching its peak of splendor. It would indeed be in the same year that Milan will become the capital of the newborn Kingdom of Italy consisting of Napoleon's adopted son Eugène de Beauharnais who was appointed Viceroy and take residence right in Milan's Palazzo Reale. Milan is the capital of a vast kingdom that includes all of northern Italy and as such also the home of the new government needs to be worthy of this privilege.

It is therefore repair damage caused by war and purchase new furnishings and lavish the same Eugène de Beauharnais about enlargement of the building at the rear thanks to a project entrusted to Luigi Canonica, which adds to the entire block now occupied by the council offices where they are fitted to the new stables, a large riding school and many local offices, all in austere neo-classical style (the project was completed years later by Tazzini that was also the author of the facade on Via Larga) from handling, known as "The Lady Knight" and the place of horse shows, was entered through a bridge on the court theater Restrelli (theatre Cannobiana) to Andrea Appiani was given the completion of the frescoes in the halls of representation that will be opened l '8 May 1805 during an official visit to Napoleon at Milan.

With the fall of Napoleon in 1814, the kingdom of Italy in Milan toppled the huge palace begins a slight loss of importance, immediately recovered with the restoration. Under the Austrians, was formed on Kingdom of Lombardy-Venetia and as such the Palazzo Reale in Milan will serve as the seat of the new viceroy of a wide realm. Adelaide, Queen of Sardinia was born here in 1822.

The building era and loss of the Hall of Cariatidi

With the annexation of Lombardy to Piedmont domains in 1859, the palace became the seat of the new governorship of the city of Milan, led by Massimo d'Azeglio who start up the 13 February 1860 to leave his post later that year. With the proclamation of the kingdom of Italy in the 1861, the palace became the property directly from the Savoy family, but they tended to stay there very little since Milan was no longer the capital of a kingdom. Umberto I, resided mainly in the Villa Reale di Monza and how this little trodden ground of Milan and after his assassination in 1900 the son Vittorio Emanuele III will tend to stay away from hot environments Milan. The last official receipt dates back to 1906 for the Universal Exhibition.

In 1919 the last official visit to the palace was that of U.S. President Woodrow Wilson, who was welcomed in Milan by Victor Emmanuel III of Savoy. On October 11 of that same year, the palace was sold by the House of Savoy to the Italian state, however, on the condition that the apartments remain available to the royal family.

With the sale to the public land Averre the second massacre at the palace Piermarini. The first was the case in the creation of the new Piazza del Duomo, when it shortened the sleeves east of the palace is spoiling the proportions of the palace square. Second havoc, aveviene neglianni '30, when is shortened by at least another 60 metres, the so-called "long sleeves" to build the Arengario. This has definitely ruined beauty of the building, linked largely to the proportional relationships between the bodies. Same goes for the square. Other destruction of 1925 included demolishing the works of Canonica and Tazzini to build the municipal offices.

The whole building was heavily damaged during the night of 15 August 1943 when the city was hit by a bombardment English against the Nazi occupiers. In fact the bombs were not directly hit the building, but it was destroyed by fire unleashed in neighbouring buildings that erode the attic of the Hall of Cariatidi, burning the wood warping and causing the collapse of large trusses that in their fall overwhelm the time, the balcony and split in several places and the floor. The high temperature in the room overheated unleashed stucco and turned the color and the constituent material, permanently ruining the famous hall, including Appiani paintings that were kept.

Will be after the war in 1947 that the Superintendence of Cultural Heritage will give the start to the work of recovery of the building and specifically the Hall of Caryatids. It is thus achieved a new flooring and a new roof of the hall floor, without the reconstruction of earlier decorations (of which, however, has ample documentation) in the choice of leaving a testimony of the war in Milan.

The room repurchases great reputation from 1953 when, in a show of Picasso in Milan, the Catalan artist chooses it as the venue to welcome his work, Guernica, with a clear symbolic purpose.

Only from 2000, moreover, the room has regained the actual former glory with a very careful restoration that has removed the blackening on the walls caused by the fire of the 1943 and ordered consolidating all surfaces (structural and painting). On the cover of the ceiling, previously white, have been reported to drawing sketches of how the ceiling of the room had to appear before the collapse.

The Museum of the Palace

Only at the beginning of 21st century, more than fifty years by the destruction of war, the Royal Palace is finding a central role in social and cultural life of Milan.

Although still under the third stage of restoration, which will return the entire building to its former glory, the first two batches are completed, allowing visitors the chance to admire the halls of the Palace Museum in therearrangedwith an itinerary through the four seasons of the historic Palazzo: the era Teresiana and Neoclassical, the Napoleonic era, the Restoration and l 'Unification of Italy.

The restoration took place through a complex task of reconstruction of the original furniture to allow a wider and more articulate historical and stylistic reading of court life. The first visible halls belonging to the neoclassical period, ranging from reconstruction of Piermarini to Napoleonic times, are those that best explain the splendor of an era "enlightened" in which the city had a major role in Europe.

The third phase of restoration still in progress will return to the museum rooms of the old apartmentreserve, in which they are documented and maintained the royal ways of living of the 19th century.

Cultural centre

The Royal Palace is a cultural centre in the heart of the city coordinated with three other exhibition venues: the Rotonda della Besana, the Palazzo Region and Palazzo dell'Arengario.

The building played an important role with regard to art in Milan, as shown by the great success of the exhibition of recent years that have included Claude Monet, Pablo Picasso and other painters and sculptors. Fundamental is the exhibition opened at the Palazzo Reale in 2009 on the centenary of the birth of Futurism.

References

Melano, Oscar Pedro Milano di terracotta e mattoni, Mazzotta, 2002.