Palazzo della Ragioneria Municipale. Piazza della Scala, Milano

Some of the most significant buildings in the history of Milan look out onto Piazza della Scala: alongside the Theatre, Palazzo Marino, the palazzo of the former Banca Commerciale Italiana, now Intesa Sanpaolo, and Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II, it is home to the Municipal Accounting Office, housed in a building built between 1923 and 1927 by Comit for use as its Headquarters. The “New Building” was designed by Luca Beltrami, the architect also responsible for building Comit’s original headquarters and the facade of Palazzo Marino in the Piazza. In late 1938, following the crisis that hit Banca Commerciale Italiana, the “New Building” was bought by the Municipality of Milan. Retracing the steps in this rich history of residencies, transformations and continuities – sourced by consulting documents in Intesa Sanpaolo’s Historical Archives and the Archives of the Municipality of Milan – the book reconstructs the economic and financial events of the time as well as episodes in the life of the project and its launch. A photographic album dating from the inauguration is accompanied by a recent series of photos (by S. Lombardi Vallauri) which show the quality of the decorations and furnishings, many of them well-preserved originals. The book was presented in the Sala dell’Orologio at Milan’s Palazzo Marino on 20 October 2005 by Professor Enrico Decleva, Rector of the Università degli Studi, Milan, and Aldo Castellano, Professor of Architectural History at the Politecnico di Milano; contributions were made by the city mayor, Gabriele Albertini, and Mario Talamona, Councillor for Budgets and Privatisation and the man behind the research.