Royal Palace of Milan

History

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

The palace became a key political centre under the Torriani, Visconti and Sforza households. After the construction of the Duomo Cathedral, the palazzo was heavily renovated thanks to the efforts of Francesco I Sforza's government.

Until the early 16th century, the Dukes of Milan had their official residence in Castello Sforzesco. When the Sforza dynasty ended and the French invaded Milan, this castle became progressively more a fortress apt for warfare rather than an elegant noble residence. It was therefore under the French rule of Louis XII and of Francis I that the court was moved to Palazzo Reale.

The palazzo flourished under Governor Ferrante Gonzaga, who took permanent residence in Milan in 1546. The Gonzaga family refurbished and transformed the ducal court into a palace suitable for a governor, with expanded and newly inaugurated rooms dedicated to official functions. To pursue these expansions, governor Gonzaga demolished the old church of Sant'Andrea al Muro Rotto, annexing its land to the palazzo's complex. An interior passageway in an enclosed courtyard was created to connect the royal palace to the Church of San Gottardo, which became at this time the official church of the court.

At the end of the 16th century, Governor Antonio de Guzman y Zúñiga, Marquis of Ayamonte, recruited Pellegrino Tibaldi to conduct further renovation at the royal palace. Tibaldi, Archbishop Charles Borromeo's trusted architect, was at the time already working on the Duomo, on the Archbishop's Palace and on Cortile dei Canonici. Between 1573 and 1598 he coordinated work at the royal palace which completed overhauled the pictorial decorations of the apartments' porticoes, of the private chapel and of the Church of San Gottardo. Several major artists of the time attended to this work: Aurelio Luini, Giovanni Ambrogio Figino, Antonio Campi and naturally Pellegrino Tibaldi himself. Some stuccoes and Gothic works were created by Valerio Profondavalle, a Flemish artist-impresario who had also worked on the windows of the Duomo. …

The Museum of the Palace

At the beginning of the 21st century, more than fifty years after its destruction, Palazzo Reale found a new central role in the social and cultural life of Milan. Three phases of restoration were completed, even if the palace did not fully recover its original magnificence. The original purpose of the restorations was to create a "Palace Museum" to show the four historical seasons the Palazzo went through: the Neoclassical era, Napoleon's period, the Restoration and the Unification of Italy. The first phase of restoration undertook the complex task of refurbishing of the original furniture, to provide a stylistic representation of the life of the Ducal Court. Then the neoclassical halls were restored, to bring back the vision of Giuseppe Piermarini and the splendor of the "enlightened" era, when the city had a major role in Europe. The third phase focused on the old Apartment of Reserve, to portray the life of 19th century Austrian royalty. Unfortunately the original idea was abandoned and the Museum of the Palace was never inaugurated, despite the completion of its third phase of restoration in 2008.

Cultural centre

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

The building plays an important role within Milanese artistic life, having hosted in recent years prestigious exhibitions including works by Claude Monet, Pablo Picasso and other internationally renowned painters and sculptors. Turn-point for its prestige as exhibition hall was the 2009 show to celebrate Futurism's centenary.

Since November 4, 2013 a wing of the palace was repurposed to host the Great Museum of Milan Cathedral.