Page 55 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - Milan & The Lakes

HIST ORIC CENTRE  53

6 Casa degli
Omenoni
Via Omenoni 3. Map 3 C5. q 1, 3
Duomo. v 1. Open to the public.
Eight telamones, which the
Milanese call omenoni (“large
men”), are the most striking
feature of this house-cum-studio,
built by the sculptor Leone Leoni
in 1565. The artist collected
many works of art, including
paintings by Titian and Correggio Part of the façade of Palazzo Liberty, at No. 8 Piazza del Liberty
and Leonardo da Vinci’s famous
Codex Atlanticus (see p61). in 1873 after a fall on the steps 8 Piazza del Liberty
A reference to Leoni can of San Fedele. The perfectly and Corso Vittorio
be seen in the relief under the preserved interior includes Emanuele II
cornice, in which Calumny is Manzoni’s studio on the
torn up by lions (leoni). ground floor, where he Map 8 D1. q 1, 3 Duomo, 1 San
received Garibaldi in 1862 and Babila. v 15, 23. @ 60, 61, 73.
Verdi in 1868. Next to this is the
room where poet and author Once past the arch at the
Tommaso Grossi had his notary end of Piazza Belgioioso,
office, while on the first floor is go through Piazza Meda (1926)
Manzoni’s bedroom. The house and past Corso Matteotti,
is now the seat of the National which was built in 1934 to link
Centre for Manzoni Studies, Piazza della Scala with Piazza
which was founded in 1937. San Babila, and then go down
It includes a library with works Via San Paolo, which will take
by Manzoni and critical you to Piazza del Liberty.
studies of his oeuvre, as This small square owes its
well as the Lombard name to the Art Nouveau
The entrance to the Casa degli Historical Society Library (Liberty) façade on No. 8,
Omenoni with over 40,000 restored by Giovanni
volumes. The brick and Lorenzo Muzio in
façade overlooks Piazza 1963 with architectural
7 Casa Manzoni Belgioioso, named after elements from the
and Piazza the palazzo at No. 2 Trianon café- concert,
Belgioioso (closed to the public). a building dating from
This monumental 1905 which was moved
Via Morone 1. Map 4 D5. Tel 02-86 46 palazzo was designed from Corso Vittorio
04 03. q 3 Montenapoleo ne. v 1. by Piermarini in 1777–81 Emanuele II. Go along
Open 10am–6pm Tue–Fri, 2–6pm for Prince Alberico XII di Via San Paolo to
Sat (guided tours only). Closed public Belgioioso d’Este. The The Omm de reach Corso Vittorio
hols. 7 façade bears heraldic preja statue Emanuele II. This
emblems. In the interior a is Milan’s main
This is the house where Italian fresco by Martin Knoller commercial street, and was
author Alessandro Manzoni represents the apotheosis once called “Corsia dei Servi”
lived from 1814 until his death of Prince Alberico. (Servants’ Lane). It follows the
course of an ancient Roman
street and in 1628 was the
scene of bread riots, described
by Manzoni in The Betrothed.
Near San Carlo al Corso, at
No. 13 is the Omm de preja
(local dialect for uomo di pietra
or “man of stone”) statue, a
copy of an ancient Roman
work. It is also called “Sciur
Carera”, a misspelling of the
first word of a Latin inscription
under the statue (carere debet
omni vitio qui in alterum dicere
Casa Manzoni, now home to the National Centre for Manzoni Studies paratus est).

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