Page 138 - Exploring Taste Magazine N.2

EXPLORING TASTE—SANTA MARGHERITA GRUPPO VINICOLO

efore 1645, Milan could not boast of est architecture that the Milanese can enjoy while rupted horizontally by a cornice for each floor. At
what would become one of the great- walking down Via Santa Maria Valle, in the down- the opposite side of the building, overlooking the
est examples of baroque art in the city. town area of Piazza San Babila. street, there is a rectangular courtyard with Doric
B In that year Giovan Battista Durini There is an element that stands out from the main columns and other simple shapes. In the corners
was in Milan and was enjoying a rich inheritance facade of the residence belonging to the noble of the courtyard it is possible to see the family’s
from his father, Gian Giacomo, though without a family from Monza: its imposing rusticated main coats-of-arms, which are curiously absent from the
noble status. To obtain it, he had to create a work entrance (blocks of stone placed one on top of the facade. The courtyard is not the only green space in
worthy of the “generous” nobility – the highest rank other and in relief, used in many other architectural the complex - behind it is a garden.
in the Milanese hierarchy. For this reason, he com- settings of the time). The main entrance supports The side of the house overlooking the garden is also
missioned the project of an elegant palace from not an equally majestic balcony with three windows very sober, although its rooms boast some of the
just any architect but one of Lombardy’s most well- close together (and, therefore, more visible), with most important treasures of Palazzo Durini. The pi-
known: Francesco Maria Richini, the ten-year mas- pediments of rectangular and curvilinear shape ano nobile especially (and the ground f oor too, with
ter builder of the Duomo at the peak of his career. alternating above it. In order to counterbalance its hall and a vault depicting Love’s Triumph) is char-
Presumably, he showed Durini a previous design of the iconic entrance, Richini inserted two rusti- acterized by ceiling frescoes from the 17th and 18th
his, which was suitable for a nine-window palace. cated elements at both ends of the facade, which centuries portraying Aeneas and Dido, the seven la-
The initial idea, recorded in a document stored in become lighter towards the cornice. The vertical bors of Hercules, Achilles and other characters and
the Raccolta Bianconi book collection, was very dif- thrust of the palace is also obtained through four scenes of ancient Latin and Greek literature.
ferent from what would become Palazzo Durini or window styles, perfectly connected to each other, Of course, we contemporaries are not the only
Palazzo Caproni di Taliedo - an example of the fin- which give its elevation a peculiar rhythm, inter- guests to appreciate the colors and beauty of these

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