Palazzo Litta, Milan

The construction of Palazzo Litta began in 1648, designed by Francesco Maria Richini, commissioned by the then president of the Senate of Milan, Count Bartolomeo Arese. Passed down to the Litta Visconti Arese dukes, the palace had its façade renovated between 1752 and 1763 by Bartolomeo Bolli. from 1873, it was the headquarters of a private railway company (and was extended towards the garden), and later became the headquarters of the Behavioural Management Department of the State Railways. The building is currently owned by the State and is the headquarters of the Regional Directorate of the MiBAC. The façade has two two-storey wings framing the taller central section with giant pilasters. These, together with the window frames and the portal flanked by two telamons supporting the upper balcony, are reminiscent of a somewhat naive version of the façades of late Baroque Viennese palaces. Inside, the courtyard with paired columns and architraves dates back to Ricchini's design. the three-flight grand staircase is by Carlo Giuseppe Merlo (1740); the Red Salon, the Hall of Mirrors and the Duchess's Salon have retained their original 18th-century tapestries, gilded stuccoes and paintings, all the work of Martin Knoller and the brothers Giuseppe and Agostino Gerli.