san lorenzo. romanesque buildings
“gloriose sacris micat ornata ecclesiis
ex quibus alma est laurenti....”
in the via ticinese, just within the twelfth century boundary of the city, there stands a magnificent row of corinthian columns, the only vestige above ground, in its original position, of the imperial milan, whose splendours were sung by ausonius. the roman building of which they formed probably the peristyle, has long vanished, but the place where it must have stood is now occupied by san lorenzo, the most ancient existing church in milan, though much restored and altered, especially in the sixteenth century. the large impressive interior, octagonal in form, and surrounded by a wide ambulatory with a gallery above, which opens into the body of the church through four double storied arcades, recalls the style of san vitale at ravenna. recent studies favour the theory that it was built in this form, as a church, in the sixth century, rather than the old idea that it was originally the great hall of maximian’s baths, and was converted to a christian temple by st. ambrose. however that may be, its form carries us back to a time which no other building in milan commemorates, when the roman empire still lived, and the church had but lately issued from its martyr struggles, and was still linked in its architecture with the old world.
san lorenzo has unfortunately preserved none of those splendours celebrated by historian and poet in 279the eighth century. arnolfo the chronicler weeps over the destruction of its roofs of mosaic and gold and starry gems, its paintings and sculptured marbles, in the calamitous fire of 1071. oh temple, which had not your like in the world, he cries. restored after the fire, it was again grievously damaged by fire in 1124, and again restored. the fall of a great part of the roof in 1573 gave cardinal borromeo and his favourite pellegrini an opportunity for interference. pellegrini was succeeded in the work of restoration by his pupil, martino bassi. the result of their labours was the present lofty cupola, supported on great pilasters between the openings into the ambulatory, and the heavy architectural decoration of neo-classic style, which impose upon the old building, bare now of the rich and glowing colour of its original design, a cold, austere and melancholy character.
fragments of antique capitals used upside down as bases of columns here and there, some columns of african marble in the chapel of st. ippolito behind the high altar, and a beautiful marble doorway with decoration of pagan character in low relief, at the entrance to the chapel of st. aquilino, show that the church is partly composed out of the wreckage of the roman city. the chapel last named, which opens off the ambulatory on the south, is of the sixth century, and has kept its ancient form. it is octagonal like the church, and is roofed with a shallow cupola. the circle of deep apertures high up, by which it is lighted, form outside those round-headed niches so familiar in later lombard buildings. the empress galla placidia is supposed to have founded this chapel, and to have intended to be buried there. a christian sarcophagus, of late roman workmanship, stands in a niche on the right hand of the entrance. but galla placidia lies in her gorgeous mausoleum at ravenna. this sepulchre 280is said, however, to enclose the remains of her first husband, athanulph, king of the goths. some mosaics in lunettes on either side of the apse date from the early days of the chapel—christ with the apostles, and the shepherds feeding their flocks. the sixteenth century tomb of st. aquilino occupies the apse, which is decorated with frescoes of the luinesque school.
there is little else of interest in the church. in the ambulatory is a tomb of 1411, and above it a much restored painting of madonna with ss. stephen and ambrose presenting to her members of the robbiano family, and in the chapel of st. ippolito, a tomb with the effigy of antonio conte, a priest of the church, who died in 1349, and the late fifteenth century monument of another of the same family, giovanni conte, who restored the chapel.
the fa?ade is of ornate late classic style, and the unfinished building on either side of the court in front was designed by ricchini, a seventeenth century architect. an interesting view of the exterior, from the piazza vetra, on the north-east side, shows the enormous dome rising with incongruous effect, above the brick mass of the building, between four low towers of lombard style, which survive from the eleventh or twelfth century reconstruction of the church after the great fires.
the archway and towers in the main street just beyond san lorenzo represent the old porta ticinese, built by the milanese consuls in 1171, and restored by azzo visconte in the fourteenth century. the structure was newly restored in 1858. upon the outer side of the arch there is a sculpture of madonna enthroned with the child, and st. ambrose presenting to her a model of the city, with ss. lorenzo, eustorgio and peter martyr, standing around. similar groups, now in the museo archeologico, were placed upon porta romana and porta orientale by azzo. they are 281the work apparently of the campionese followers of giovanni di balduccio of pisa.
the old porta ticinese.
283the porta ticinese corresponds to the original gate of the same name in the old circuit of the roman walls, which stood nearer into the centre of the city at a spot now called carobbio, a corruption of quadrivium, the four ways. the modern gate is some little distance further south. this is the way out of the city to pavia, the ancient ticinum, hence the name via ticinese. throughout the middle ages, from the time when pavia was a royal seat, this street was the scene of all the state entries of conquering kings, or princely visitors. barbarossa came this way, passing in majesty over the flattened earthworks and prone gates of the humiliated city. three centuries later, the victorious soldier of fortune, francesco sforza, made his state entry by porta ticinese, appearing with his wife, bianca maria, and his young son, galeazzo, upon a triumphal car beneath a canopy of cloth of gold, followed by the captains and chosen men of his army. less than fifty years after, the destroyer of the brief sforza domination, louis xii., passed up in unparalleled splendour, wearing the ducal cap of milan, having been presented by the constable of the gate with the keys of porta ticinese on the bridge over the canal immediately outside. he was preceded by all the clergy in pontifical array, and by a gorgeous procession of pages, musicians, men-at-arms, and courtiers. immediately before him rode gian giacomo trivulzio, the golden staff of a marshal of france in his hand, and in the throng of cardinals and ambassadors who followed, the most conspicuous was that warlike ecclesiastic, known then as s. pietro in vincula, who, as julius ii., a few years later became the scourge of the french intruders. so is the shame of milan and of italy written on the stones of that street.
284just beyond the gate the street crosses the canal—the naviglio it is called—which follows the medi?val circumference of the city, on the line of the great fosse dug by the milanese as a defence against barbarossa. it is the central mesh as it were of the network of waterways connecting milan with pavia and the other cities of the lombard plain. the narrow streak of water, with picturesque backs of houses descending into it, and women in bright coloured skirts and gay kerchiefs on their heads, washing by the edge, is a pleasant interruption to the crowded, rather squalid street.
houses on the naviglio.
further on, beside the modern gate, is the old basilica of st. eustorgio, once famous as the resting-place of the three kings, and later as the shrine of st. peter martyr. tradition declares that the basilica was built by the milanese bishop, st. eustorgio, in the fourth century, on the site of an ancient font used by st. barnabas himself to baptise his converts. the primitive church, whatever its date, was replaced later by a romanesque building, which exists in the main to this day, though with many alterations and modifications made by successive generations 285of devotees. recent restorations have cleared away the disfigurements which it suffered in the baroque period.
the exterior gives a striking record of the phases through which the church has passed. the fa?ade is in the characteristic style of the thirteenth century, but dates only from 1865. the south flank, which was restored at the same time, is of the fourteenth century, when the visconti, torriani and other great families, eager to show their devotion to the church where the recent martyr peter of verona was buried, built a series of sepulchral chapels on this side. with its slender pointed windows, and oculi deeply set within a rich framework of multiplied mouldings, its gables and characteristic ornamentation of interlaced archetti beneath the eaves, it is a very graceful example of the gothic brick building of north italy. a chapel projecting at the western end belongs to the fifteenth century, and was built by pietro solari. the apse of the church, with its deep-niched arcade, carries us back again to the romanesque period. beside it rises, in accordant style, the campanile, which was begun in 1297, and beyond, at the east end of the church, is a beautiful chapel, built nearly two centuries later—in 1462—for pigello portinari by a tuscan architect, probably michele michelozzo. the tall brick campanile, soaring in its direct simplicity and strength, each storey marked by a line of graceful archetti and of bricks set pointwise above them, making a sort of dogtooth ornamentation, and its angles faced with white stone, contrasts in an interesting manner with the proud little building below. the portinari chapel shows the new development of brick architecture in obedience to the classic ideas of the renaissance. the rotund cupola swelling upon the broad square base, the elaborate yet harmonious combination of curves and rectangles, 286the restrained decoration of moulded pilasters and flat-carved capitals, of rich terra-cotta cornices and deep-moulded oculi, the skilful arrangement of colour in the distribution of stucco and brick, all reveal new thoughts, new ideals, new knowledge, a sort of human pride undreamed of by the faithful souls of the earlier generation, who thought only of glorifying god and lifting their building as near to heaven as they could.
exterior of portinari chapel, st. eustorgio.
287the interior of the basilica, though the tribune and part of the side aisles are said to be late ninth century, is in the main of the twelfth or early thirteenth century. it has lofty semicircular arches, showing here and there the slightest inclination to a point; cross-vaulting, compound pillars, and at the lower end women’s galleries, or rather a restored semblance of them—all romanesque features. the capitals are sculptured in the style of the same period, with strange animals and grotesques. the large and noble architectural form, combined with the harmonious colour of the faded red brick and pallid stone, makes a very beautiful and impressive effect, which is enhanced by the dim light crossed by misty shafts of sunlight, and lost in deep shadows beyond, and by the silence, the spaciousness, the sharp note of voiceless prayer that rises up from a little group of shawled figures bowed before some altar, or from a solitary figure suppliant at the foot of a pillar. the very incongruities in the building and in the ornamentation add to the interest. here are fragments of old fresco peeling from pillar and vaulted roof; there newly restored gaudy figures; everywhere the past and the present joining in one living whole. you feel here the continuity of religious fervour, of christian love and faith, through all the changes of thought and taste during eight centuries.
288
interior of st. eustorgio.
the institution of a convent of dominicans for the service of the church in 1227, and the burial here of their famous prior, peter of verona, murdered by heretics in 1252, drew the attention of the pious to st. eustorgio just when art was showing a new vitality. the church still contains a number of sculptured monuments of milanese nobles, who were buried here in the chapels which they built in the centuries immediately following. these are of great interest to the student of lombard art. the first chapel on the right at the bottom of the church was not built till 1484, and the tomb within it is of the renaissance period, and is the work of the cazzaniga and of benedetto briosco. the tomb of a young fifteenth century knight, pietro torelli, who died in battle at the age of eighteen, is in the next chapel. his effigy lies on the top, and the madonna and child, with various saints, are sculptured on the front, perhaps by jacopo da tradate.[12] the canopy is later and inferior work. a chapel farther up has
12. mongeri, l’arte in milano.
289ruined fourteenth century frescoes in the vaulting, representing apparently the four doctors of the church in grand canopied seats. the next contains the rich gothic tomb of stefano visconte, son of the great matteo and father of bernabò and galeazzo. the monument dates from the middle of the fourteenth century. upon the front is a bas-relief of madonna and child, with the kneeling figures of stefano and his wife, valentina doria, the one being presented by his name-saint, st. stephen, behind whom stand peter martyr and peter the apostle, the other by st. john baptist, with st. john the evangelist and st. paul behind. beneath the cusped arch of the canopy is madonna again, a stately maternal type, smiling as she holds a fruit above the child, as if playing with his eagerness to seize it—a motive more graceful and natural than is usual in the rather stiff and heavy compositions of the lombard masters of that period. the dignity and naturalism of this sculpture altogether shows the hand of one of the most successful followers of the pisan giovanni di balduccio.
the monument in the next chapel is to gaspare visconte, of a collateral branch of the reigning house, who had been sent on embassies to england and was a knight of the garter. it resembles stefano’s in design, but the bas-reliefs are later and inferior work. opposite is the recumbent statue, torn from its right place and set up against the wall, of gaspare’s wife, agnese besozzi (died 1417), with her sons at her feet. above this stone is a sarcophagus, with a bas-relief of the coronation of the virgin, with angels and saints and devotees, also by some scholar of giovanni di balduccio. the snake emblazoned on it shows that it commemorates some of the visconte family, probably one uberto and his son giovanni, with their respective wives. the last chapel on this side is said to have been dedicated 290by martino della torre to his name-saint of tours. no trace of the great guelf house remains in it. it seems to have been usurped by their conquerors, the visconti, whose snake appears in the fifteenth century frescoes—much damaged by the whitewash which once covered them—upon the vaulted roof. in these, which represent the evangelic beasts and various saints, there appears on the left a woman’s figure carrying a shield with the letters ‘b. m.’ and a crown upon it, in homage, it would seem, to the duchess bianca maria visconte sforza.
the arch of the east wall in the arm of the church is covered with a large faded fresco of the adoration of the magi, attributed by some to bramantino. in the chapel of the magi below a massive and quite unadorned sarcophagus purports to be the tomb where the bodies of the three kings reposed. they had been brought hither, according to tradition, by home-returning crusaders, and here they lay, worshipped and plied with rich offerings by faithful pilgrims from all parts of christendom, until 1164, when they were carried off by barbarossa’s chancellor, the archbishop of cologne, as some of the most precious spoils of the conquered city. the old story of the wise men is sculptured over the altar by gio. di balduccio, or more probably by one of his scholars. it is a crowded composition, in which the vivacity and movement of the short thick figures show the growing tendency towards realism still restrained by classic traditions.
on the wall opposite this chapel is the fourteenth century tomb of protaso caimi, a noble milanese knight; it is decorated with the familiar composition of the occupant kneeling before madonna, with saints in attendance, among whom may be noticed sta. martina, holding her lion across her by its fore and hind legs. a coloured and gilded statue of st. 291eugenius, of rigid archaic style, but probably not earlier than the end of the thirteenth century, stands also in this part of the church.
the richly sculptured altarpiece of the high altar still shows the pisan influence. but it belongs to the end of the fourteenth century, when it was presented to the church by gian galeazzo visconte, and shows in the attitudes and draperies and long slender forms a new delicacy of workmanship and a new search for sentiment and grace, notably in the madonna with head turned and throat stretched, standing beside the cross, and the grieving st. john on the other side. the upper part, with the stucco statues, is a seventeenth century restoration.
passing behind the high altar, through the crypt or under choir, which was built in 1537 and is supported on columns once forming part of the cloister of the adjoining convent, and through a vestibule with remains of old frescoes on the walls, we come to the capella di s. pietro martire—the portinari chapel—the exterior of which has been already described. in this rich and complex structure, rectangular below and rising by the grand curves of wide-spanned arches to a lofty sixteen-sided cupola, in the delicate arcade and parapet running round it high up, in the beautiful terra-cotta decoration of frieze and cornices, the sculptured arabesques of the pilasters, the frescoes in spandril and arch, we recognise the new spirit of the renaissance. the architecture is of tuscan inspiration, though certain details, such as the point still visible in the rather ornate windows, are indicative of lombard taste. the chapel, which in form recalls the pazzi chapel in florence—though it lacks the perfect purity and restraint of that wonderful building—is always supposed, though without any positive evidence, to be by brunelleschi’s pupil, michelozzo. the general 292design may be regarded as certainly michelozzo’s, and much also of the ornamentation, especially the charming stucco frieze of dancing angels, light graceful forms instinct with winged motion and linked by a long chain from which depend great bells of fruit and foliage. the same great bells or tassels with fat putti swinging on them, compose the delightful arabesques on the pilasters. to vincenzo foppa, chief of the early milanese school of painters, was entrusted the fresco decoration of the chapel. the four fathers of the church, in tondi in the spandrils, figures of a robust and quiet realism, full of a naturally-expressed dignity and fresh and decorative in colour, are some of his finest work. the other frescoes, four large scenes representing scenes from the life of peter martyr—the saint preaching at florence; confounding a false miracle-worker at the altar; tending a youth who has fallen from the top of a building and whom he has miraculously saved from death; and being stabbed to death by heretics—are foppa’s design and in part his work, but they have been much restored, and in their present state are hardly worthy of him.
the monument of peter martyr occupies the middle of the chapel, which was built to enshrine his head only, and not this huge trecento tomb containing the rest of his body, which was moved here in the seventeenth century from its place in the church and is a superfluous and cumbersome feature, quite out of keeping with the finished little renaissance building. in itself the tomb is a very fine and important work, the masterpiece of giovanni di balduccio—though in parts the help of his scholars is visible—the model in thought and style for the monumental sculptors of the trecento in milan. the name of the sculptor and the date, 1239, are inscribed upon it. the sarcophagus is decorated with bas-reliefs narrative of the saint’s 293career, crowded and vivacious compositions, in all of which except that of the healing of the dumb boy an inferior hand has been traced.[13] figures of the virtues, stately and classic in type though characteristically thick and short, stand against the pilasters, each with feet planted on some symbolic creature. the different orders of angels are represented by figures on the top of the sarcophagus, and the pyramidal cover is decorated with more bas-reliefs—a king and queen kneeling, a bishop, friars and devotees, the saint crowned by angels and blessing the people of milan. the monument is completed by a beautiful gothic canopy with madonna enthroned between st. dominic and st. peter martyr.
13. ventura, storia dell’ arte, vol. 4, p. 562.
s. vincenzo in prato, to the west of san lorenzo, is a beautiful example of early romanesque. built by abbot gisilberto in 833, it was restored after 1000, and after undergoing the usual transformations of the baroque period it was reduced quite recently to its old lombard form of three aisles ending in three apses, the principal apse containing the sanctuary being raised above a deep crypt. the brick exterior, with the row of deep niches round the apse and the ornamental archetti beneath the roof, is very picturesque and characteristic.
another interesting building of the end of the tenth century is the abandoned fragment of the old church of s. celso, which gives its name to the great adjacent temple of sta. maria di s. celso. the principal part of the old basilica was pulled down in 1818 to give light and air to its overgrown neighbour, and there is little more than the apse now left, and some interesting capitals of romanesque style inside and outside the building. the fine old doorway has fortunately escaped destruction, and has been embodied in a new fa?ade, 294built in 1851. upon the architrave is a rude bas-relief depicting the story of san celso and his companion, san nazaro, who were martyred in the field of the three mulberry trees, the very spot where the church stands. the decaying wooden doors and the madonna and saints at the top are of the fifteenth century.
s. calimero, to the north-east, is also romanesque. s. nazaro, close to the last, one of the oldest foundations, standing in the days of st. ambrose, rebuilt in later centuries and again completely transformed by cardinal borromeo, has preserved some romanesque features in its exterior. within there are some old stained-glass windows of german workmanship. a very precious silver coffer, with beautiful reliefs of late roman workmanship, is also kept here. attached to the church is a sepulchral chapel, built for gian giacomo trivulzio by francesco da briosco in 1518. the tombs of the great marshal and of members of his family, with their recumbent figures carved upon them by sixteenth century sculptors, may be seen in it.
s. giovanni alla conca, also a very ancient church and much favoured by bernabò visconti, has a fine thirteenth century fa?ade, restored.
a very ancient church, said to have been the first built in milan, on the site of a temple to the sun, is the little s. babila, just opposite the column with the lion, which marks the place of the old porta orientale at the beginning of corso venezia. as seen now s. babila is a complete restoration, very scientifically accomplished in the last few years, and presents within and without a very perfect model of a lombard church of the early centuries after the 1000.
most of these early milanese buildings have indeed to be accepted on the faith of the modern restorer, but for whom these interesting churches would still be vested in the hideous baroque disfigurements of the 295seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. s. sepolcro, close to the biblioteca ambrosiana, is one of these. the towers, the crypt—studied with much interest by leonardo da vinci—and the exterior of the apse alone remained of the eleventh or twelfth century church, and these have been lately restored and a new fa?ade built in appropriate style to replace the borromean substitute for the original. the interior is quite spoilt. in the sacristy there is a nativity by gianpietrino, a characteristic work, with some infants of attractively soft contours, but curiously brown flesh colour in the foreground. sta. maria a beltrade, off via torino on the west side, is of very ancient origin, but has nothing of interest left except a twelfth century bas-relief of rudest and most childish style upon the wall outside, representing the old candlemas procession in which an image of madonna was carried from this church to the cathedral, a christian substitute for the pagan ceremony in honour of cybele.
another ancient milanese sanctuary, the chapel of s. satiro, built in 879, was restored in the renaissance period, and incorporated with the church of sta. maria presso s. satiro.[14]
14. see chapter xiii.
s. simpliciano, in the north of the city, has preserved three beautiful doorways of the romanesque period, enriched with sculptured marble columns and roll mouldings. the eleventh century interior was enlarged in the late fifteenth century, and transformed in later restorations. its chief interest now is the great fresco in the apse—the coronation of the virgin—an imposing composition by borgognone in his advanced years, rich and decorative in colour, and remarkable for quattrocento simplicity of treatment and feeling at a time when the great cinquecentists had already revolutionised artistic ideals.
296to the east of s. simpliciano, close to the palazzo di brera, stands s. marco, which in the exterior of the transepts alone shows traces of its original thirteenth century form. the beautiful pointed door, with the statues in gothic niches above, was built more than a century later. the rest of the fa?ade is modern, and the whole exterior wears a vesture of new red brick. the campanile, with its pointed steeple and frieze of interlaced archetti, is early fourteenth century and very characteristic of the brick building of that period. the interior is baroque, but in the north transept there are some fine sepulchral monuments of milanese nobles. they are all of the school of giovanni di balduccio, and the bas-reliefs upon them resemble in arrangement and style the tombs already seen in st. eustorgio. one is to salvarino aliprandi, of an ancient patrician family in the city, who died 1344. another commemorates lanfranco settala, general of the augustinian order and founder of the church, who died in 1264. his genial effigy is carved on the tomb, seated in his preceptor’s chair, with his devout and diminutive pupils around him. here is also the tomb of martino aliprandi, a man distinguished for his learning and eloquence, sent as envoy from azzo visconte to pope john xxii. in 1332, and yet another, that of giacomo bossi, a knight of the empire, who died in 1355. the monument of the birago family, which is placed above the last, though sculptured as late as 1455 by cristoforo dei luvoni, shows little artistic advance on the trecento works.
of secular buildings of the romanesque and early gothic period hardly anything is now left in milan. the palazzo della ragione, however, still stands, though disfigured in later days, on the spot which was once the broletto nuovo, the centre and citadel of civic life in the republican era, a space enclosed in 297defensive walls and pierced by six gates, corresponding in direction to the principal gates of the city. the walls were built and the seat of the podestà was transferred thither early in the thirteenth century from the broletto vecchio beside the cathedral, a move significant of the complete liberation of the commune from the old domination of the archbishop. the word broletto appears to be derived from brolo, signifying in milanese a garden, the old broletto having been once the garden of the archbishop; but the name followed the civic offices with which it had become inseparably associated—hence broletto nuovo. the move was in fact a return of the chief authority in the city to its old abode, since the broletto nuovo was apparently the citadel in roman times, and the seat later on of the military governors, called dukes, under the lombard rulers. the name of curia ducis, the court of the duke, still survives in the name cordusio, by which the big modern piazza close by is called.
the palazzo della ragione was built in 1228, with a vast open portico below and a great hall above, which was reached, not by a staircase in the building, but over the archway still existing at the north end. it was altered in later times, and an incongruous upper storey was added in the eighteenth century. it is now being restored. the palace stood till 1866 in the centre of a piazza—the original broletto in fact—which was enclosed on the north side by the great palazzo dei giurisconsulti. the modern via mercanti now runs between it and the last-named palace, but on the other side it faces into the little piazza dei mercanti, which represents all that remains of the broletto, and is still surrounded by old palaces. it is the one bit of medi?val milan left, apart from single buildings. on this side of the palazzo della 298ragione there is a little equestrian statue of the podestà oldrado da tresseno, with his name and the date, 1233, beneath, and some leonine verses in which he is lauded in an elegant rhyme for building the upper storey of the palace and for sedulously performing his duty of burning heretics.
qui solum struxit catharos ut debuit uxit.
statue of oldrado da tresseno
the statue is by benedetto antelami,[15] chief of the so-called comacine masters—predecessors of the campionesi—and best known by his sculptures on the cathedral and baptistery at parma. it is the work of his old age. it shows a feeling for nature and a power of expression immensely in advance of the twelfth century sculptors, and marks the gradual emancipation of thought from the strange terror and the sense of human littleness in the midst of natural and supernatural forces, which oppressed the middle ages. here is a work of art in honour of one who is neither god nor saint—a new conception of man’s importance in the scheme of the universe.
15. venturi, storia dell’ arte, vol. 3, p. 340.
on the south side of the piazza is the loggia degli osii, built, as a scarcely legible inscription in the wall records, in 1316, by matteo visconte, who had acquired the houses of the osii, a milanese family, for the 299purpose. built in and partly concealed in later times, the old features of this palace have been quite recently disclosed by careful restoration. the beautiful pointed arcade of the loggia rests upon a parapet decorated with the shields of the visconti and of the different divisions of the city, and in the middle projects the ringhiera or balcony, from which official harangues were made and decrees proclaimed. the statues of the virgin and various saints in the deeply-sunk niches of the storey above are of the school of giovanni di balduccio.
the palace on the right hand of the loggia, of heavy ornate style, replaced in the seventeenth century a much earlier building. the west side of the piazza is filled by a little palace, originally built by azzo visconte early in the fourteenth century for the bankers and money-changers. it is decorated with charming terra-cotta ornamentation, and has been partly restored, but it is much spoilt by modern occupation and use for business purposes.
300
palazzo dei banchieri
on this spot of the broletto nuovo all the busy excited life of medi?val milan once swayed and surged. this was the point upon which all the different parts of the city converged, and hither at the call of danger marched the militia of each division, called by the name of its gate, porta romana, porta ticinese, etc., to go forth again, each preceded by its gonfalon, to the defence of the respective gates and quarters. or if the decree of the republic were for an offensive expedition, the caroccio would be drawn forth from its place in the duomo and brought here, and the combined host, gathering round it, would pass out in order of battle. in the upper chamber of the palazzo della ragione public business was transacted, and the portico below was the assembly place for the citizens for the discussion of public affairs and for amusement and sport, all that common social life, shared together by noble and plebeian, of republican italy in the middle ages. here were brought the captured enemies of the republic—that is, of the party in power. in some dark and secure corner of the palace there were cages inhabited by living prisoners. the chroniclers relate how napo della torre, to revenge his brother paganino’s death at the hands of milanese exiles in vercelli, had thirteen noble prisoners carried to the broletto and their heads smitten off one by one, till 301his own young son fell at his feet and vowed that he himself would not live if the life of the thirteenth—a certain physician who had lately cured the boy of a mortal sickness—were not spared. but the statue of oldrado, burner of heretics, has not looked down on grim scenes only. here many great feasts took place, such as that one which francesco della torre made in 1268 to celebrate the passage through milan of margaret of burgundy, the bride of charles of anjou, when two oxen stuffed with pigs and sheep were roasted in the broletto, and more than three thousand persons were fed; tournaments also were often held here in honour of victories and joyful events. we read of tumults too, and of the milanese women on one occasion, when a rumour of new taxes had gone forth, besieging the palace with knives in their hands and seizing and selling all the salt, which was then as always a government monopoly and was stored in an adjacent building.
another monument of milan’s republican days, and of her noble struggles for liberty in the twelfth century, is the old porta nuova, often called the portone,—the massive arches at the end of the via manzoni. this is one of the gates built in defiance of barbarossa in 1171. it was originally decorated with rude sculptures representing the return of the milanese, after the destruction of the city in 1162, and with a figure of barbarossa seated cross-legged on a devil; these are now in the castello. the bas-relief with two roman heads, still to be seen on the gate, is said to be a relic of the older gate corresponding to this one in the roman walls. the old towers have been pulled down.