ITER - Palazzo di Giustizia di Milano

The project for the new courthouse was entrusted to Piacentini by podestà Marcello Visconti di Modrone.

A commission was established, chaired by Senator Pietro Alberici, president of the Court of Appeal of Milan, and formed by lawyers and magistrates that helped the designer with practical suggestions on the requirements of this structure and the consequent layout of the rooms.

The building site lasted for almost a decade.

The courthouse was built in the center of a 40,000-square-meter area, which was originally occupied by the S. Prassede barracks, fourteen private houses along Via Manara, and the complex of the Augustinian nuns at the S. Filippo barracks in Via Freguglia. This project was meant to be the largest building ever built by the Fascist regime, and also the top achievement of the personal career of the designer, an architect of international fame, expert in key projects in historical Italian towns.

In order to embellish and complete the architecture, Piacentini personally selected works of 52 different artists, with the purpose of making it a modern art museum and a court at the same time. The works of art in the building, however, stirred a lot of debate (especially because of the presence of biblical subjects and naked figures), so the glory of the building was, at least in the beginning, strongly criticized, to the astonishment of its designer.

Within the city, the size of the structure is comparable to the Castello Sforzesco and the Ospedale Maggiore. The building’s strict, austere look with smooth surfaces has been obtained through a play of deep shades cast by the oversize openings. On the inside, the lights and shades are like theatrical or mystical suggestions, tricks that give the building austerity and monumentality.

The main entrance on C.

so di Porta Vittoria is out of proportion, with a massive and heavy structure excavated in the external wall, its pillars stand on top of the access stairway. In the entrance hall, a sun, the symbol of truth, is carved on the rear front of the covering skylight. Piacentini organized the interiors according to a grid plan that follows the Justice administrative procedures. The rooms become less and less flamboyant as one goes from the representative areas to the more functional rooms. The repetition of some elements creates monotony and suggests severity again: pillars, reinforced concrete ceilings with open-face slabs and ribs and wide skylights are scattered throughout the building. The tower of the notarial archive stands on the right side of the entrance, while the Justice statue by Attilio Selva is located in the main courtyard. Along its length the building is divided into three sections: the Court of Appeal overlooking corso di porta Vittoria, the Court, with fronts on via Manara and via Freguglia, the Magistrate’s Court, with access from via San Barnaba. They are fully independent, with their own accesses from outside, but, at the same time, they are strictly interconnected inside, through two large parallel galleries that run along the whole length of the building.

The building has two main vertical sections – four floors and two mezzanines – the bottom part for the criminal courts, the top one for the civil ones. Presently the about 40 rooms, different from the initial project, are divided as follows: 4 criminal and 8 civil for the Court of Appeal, 3 for the Court of Assizes and Appeal, and a Great Hall for ceremonies; 9 criminal rooms and 12 civil rooms for the Court; 3 for the Composition; the remaining ones for the Civil and Criminal Magistrate’s Court, like the Resolution room, the office of the president of section, the offices for counselors, lawyers, etc. Additionally, there are a library, a bar, a press office and other facilities. Each section has a large space, called "ambulatorio", which gives access to all the rooms of the section.