Palazzo Marino has served as Milan’s town hall since 1861, though it began as a sixteenth-century palace built for merchant Tommaso Marino. Its unfinished construction and later completion leave a layered civic building beside La Scala, where private ambition became public administration.
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Palazzo Marino began as one man’s statement of wealth. Genoese merchant Tommaso Marino commissioned the palace in 1558 as a prestigious residence, designed by architect Galeazzo Alessi. Work stalled when Alessi left in 1570, and the building was completed only at the end of the nineteenth century.
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UpgradeQuick facts
- The palace was founded in 1558 to a design by Galeazzo Alessi.
- It was commissioned by merchant Tommaso Marino as a prestigious residence.
- Palazzo Marino has housed Milan’s municipal administration since 1861.
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