#BuildingInspo: The Palazzo Castiglioni in Milan, Italy

Michou and I always love walking around Milano on our way to meetings and dinning with friends post hard days work. The benefit to walking in Europe is you see historical buildings that make you stop and dream. 

The Palazzo Castiglioni is one of those very buildings. Thomas and I stopped and took detailed pics of the Gates, The Windows adorned with wrought iron snakes serpents and flowers! The buillding is currently the head quarters for Unione Confcommercio Impresse Per L'Italia.

 In 1900 the engineer Ermenegildo Castiglioni commissioned the architect Giuseppe Sommaruga with the construction of Palazzo Castiglioni. The choice of Corso Venezia, nestled amongst the eighteenth-century and neoclassical palazzi, reflected the bourgeoisie intention to create a break with the past with Art Nouveau - which in Italian is known as Liberty - the artistic movement that influenced the applied arts and architecture.

The palazzo is laid out over three floors with two facades: the main one faces Corso Venezia, the other faces Via Marina. The former plays with the contrasts of smooth plastered surfaces, the roughness of the stone and lively decorations and designs in wrought iron. The second features red bricks, glazed loggias and wrought iron railings.

The "Dragonfly Lamp" by Alessandro Mazzucotelli, located in the atrium, is the most significant of the wrought iron works together with the balustrade of the two-flight staircase. Both of these - along with the Sala dei Pavoni, with its stuccoed ceiling and decorative details that reflect the theme of peacocks - are amongst the few parts that remained intact after the bombings of 1943. 

Since the very inauguration of the palazzo the two female statues, created by the sculptor Ernesto Bazzaro, which decorated the entrance caused heated controversy because of their nakedness. Despite representing peace and industry, they became the subject of ridicule forcing the owner to move them to another location.

Enjoy our photos we hope they make you dream as much as they made us!