The statue of the "Madonnina", placed on the highest spire of the Duomo at 108.50 metres, is considered the symbol of the city of Milan. Made by sculptor Giuseppe Perego and goldsmith Giuseppe Bini, it has dominated and protected the city from what was once its highest point since 1774. From the eighteenth century to 2010, the primacy of "Milan's highest peak" changed only twice, in the 1950s, with the Breda Tower and the Pirelli Skyscraper. Since 2010 it has changed three more times: with the Palazzo Lombardia (2010), the UniCredit Tower (2012) and the Allianz Tower (2015), which currently holds the record as the city's tallest skyscraper at 242 metres (209 metres plus the antenna, which "steals" a few dozen metres).
Milan has grown. Vertical
Towers and skyscrapers have doubled in size in the city since 2010. This is the beginning of a new phase of renewal for Italy's economic capital. We report on it.
Courtesy Citterio-Viel
Courtesy Citterio-Viel
Photo: Laura Gargiulo
Photo: Max Terragni
Photo: David Bombelli
Photo: Marco de Bigontina
Photo: Flavmi/Wikimedia
Photo: Plflcn/Wikimedia
Photo: Saggittarius A/Wikimedia
Photo: Donato di Bello, courtesy Coima
Courtesy Regione Lombardia
Courtesy Regione Lombardia
Photo: Heinz Bunse
Photo: Alerove/Wikimedia
Photo: Roberto Angaroni
Photo: Roberto Angaroni
Courtesy MCA
Courtesy MCA
Courtesy Stefano Boeri Architetti
Courtesy Stefano Boeri Architetti
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- Salvatore Peluso
- 22 July 2021
- Milano
At 108.5 metres high, the Madonnina is the boundary that separates simple towers from skyscrapers: today we find 16 structures taller than the Duomo. Of these, half were built in recent years. If Torre Breda and the Pirelli Skyscraper are two of the tall buildings that tell the story of the economic and demographic boom of the Second World War, those erected since 2010 indicate the beginning of a new phase of renewal, modernisation and urban expansion.
The city's vertical growth is a spatial metaphor for the changes, ambitions and energies of a city that in recent years "Before Covid" seemed to never want to stop. Milan is increasingly confident of its centrality and its ability to be a protagonist in international relations and interconnections.
In addition to the aforementioned construction of several new skyscrapers in recent times, there is another urban fact that is significant in recounting the soul of the city: on 5 May 2012, the Art Workers collective illuminated the Torre GalFa – a skyscraper built in 1959 and abandoned for years – with blue light and transformed it for a few days into the beating heart of Milan's underground culture. Torre GalFa unites the two phases we have described: that of the 1950s and from 2010 until the arrival of the pandemic. The first skyscraper with a curtain wall in Italy, the GalFa tower has become a new and different symbol of progress, demonstrating that, in Milan, a skyscraper is not just a question of euros per square metre, but is the result of a desire to look upwards.
Since 2010, the new awareness of the possibility of a 'Vertical Milan' has generated a great – unprecedented – debate both locally and nationally. That same year saw the birth of the international conference Tall Buildings, which recently held its tenth edition at the Triennale Milano. How the design and construction philosophy will change, the relationship between tall buildings and the existing city, how to develop wide-ranging urban solutions: these are some of the topics addressed annually by the conference. Milano Verticale is also the title of a very recent publication by the Foundation of the Order of Architects of the Province of Milan, with critical contributions by Fulvio Irace and Jacques Herzog. The book deals with the theme of the high city in relation to the great challenges of the contemporary city, such as the emergence of the environmental issue, attention to urban quality, and the search for a different relationship between the natural and built contexts. How will Milan develop in the coming decades? For the time being, the city's race to sky does not seem to be stopping. The debate will therefore have to be as plural, complex and critical as possible. As always, Domus is available as a platform for discussion.
The skyscraper designed by Citterio-Viel will be built in the former Scalo di Porta Romana (south-east of Milan). It is therefore solitary and far from the others, which are mainly concentrated in the Garibaldi Porta Nuova area
The tower, 144 metres high and 28 storeys high, will be completed in 2023
The Vertical Forest consists of two towers 110 and 76 metres high. The most striking feature of the project is the vast selection of plants placed on the balconies
It has been named "the world's most popular green building" with 124,000 hashtag posts
The straight, the twisted and the curved: these are the nicknames of the three new Citylife skyscrapers rising in the area of the former Trade Fair Centre. They are 209, 177 and 175 metres high
The three buildings designed by Zaha Hadid, Arata Isozaki and Daniel Libeskind will soon be joined by a fourth one designed by Bjarke Ingels Group, which will become the new gateway to the area
140 metres high, the Diamond Tower is so called because of its irregular structure, with facets reminiscent of the cuts made on diamonds
Torre Diamante is an integral part of the large-scale redevelopment project called "Progetto Porta Nuova" and is part of a sub-project named Business District Varesine (or Porta Nuova Varesine)
It will be 120 metres high and will house the Milan headquarters of the Intesa Sanpaolo bank
Nicknamed the "glass splinter", the building will be a new addition to the Porta Nuova area, located along via Melchiorre Gioia
Palazzo Lombardia is a unitary complex of buildings, including a 161-metre high skyscraper. It is the institutional headquarters of the Regional Government
The area on which the building stands today was previously occupied by a nursery known as Bosco di Gioia
With its 143 metres, the Solaria Tower is the tallest residential skyscraper in Italy
Together with Torre Aria and Torre Solea, Torre Solaria forms the residential hub at the centre of the massive Porta Nuova urban regeneration project
Unicredit Tower, the headquarters of the Unicredit banking group, is part of a complex of three buildings that surround Piazza Gae Aulenti. With its spire it reaches a total height of 230 metres
At the centre of the complex is Piazza Gae Aulenti, which is the point of convergence of the new Porta Nuova district. The square is a junction linking Porta Garibaldi station, the Isola district, Corso Como and Repubblica
Another piece, under construction, of the Porta Nuova district is the UnopolSai Tower. The new headquarters of the insurance group will reach a height of 125 metres
Nicknamed "the vertical nest", the project is a tower made of steel, wood and glass, with a reticulated load-bearing structure on the facade. The completion of the tower is expected by the end of 2021
Pirelli 39 is located in the centre of the Porta Nuova Gioia area in a strategic position between Stazione Centrale, to the east, and Scalo Farini, to the west. Its architecture dialogues with the Parco Biblioteca degli Alberi (Library of Trees Park)
The project includes the redevelopment of an existing tower (to be used as offices), the addition of a second one (for residential use) and the transformation of the existing bridge into a public botanic garden. The residential tower will be a 110-metre-high vertical forest