Arco della Pace, Milan

Construction began under Napoleon I in 1807, based on a project by Luigi Cagnola, and was initially conceived as the Arco della Vittoria to celebrate the French victory at the Battle of Jena. Work was interrupted by political events but resumed in 1816 at the behest of Francis I, Emperor of Austria. Cagnola, now working under the new government, was commissioned to continue the celebratory project and to modify the allegorical bas-reliefs by adding his own dedicatory inscriptions. After Cagnola’s death in 1833, construction continued under the direction of Carlo Giuseppe Landonio, Giuseppe Peverelli, and Domenico Moglia. Cagnola’s design, inspired by the typology of a triple-arched structure, is a work of striking visual impact, entirely built of Ornavasso marble, and located at the end of Via del Sempione, with a clear view of the Castello Sforzesco. The majestic arch was inaugurated on 10 September 1838 by Emperor Ferdinand I for the coronation of the King of Lombardy–Venetia. On that occasion, the monument took the name Arco della Pace. Of particular monumental and symbolic significance is the bronze quadriga on the attic, crafted by Abbondio Sangiorgio, depicting Peace arriving on a chariot pulled by six horses. With the accession of Vittorio Emanuele II, who in 1859, together with Napoleon III, drove the Austrians from Milan, the monument received a new dedication—its current one—inscribed on the front facing Corso Sempione.