Palazzo Rocca Saporiti

The building was commissioned in 1800 by Gaetano Belloni, a gambler who got rich thanks to the contract for the management of gambling in the foyer of the Teatro alla Scala. However, overwhelmed with debts due to the prohibition of gambling once the Napoleonic domination was over, he was forced to sell the house to the Rocca-Saporiti marquises of Genoa.
The palace was built within a redevelopment project of the area around Porta Orientale, on land belonging to the order of the Capuchin friars, before the suppression of the monastic orders by the Austrian administration. As a plaque in front of the building recalls, on these grounds there was a convent, described in a passage from I Promessi Sposi.
The project, completed in 1812, bears the signature of Innocenzo Giusti: in reality it was carried out by Giovanni Perego, the famous scenographer of La Scala, who, not being an architect by profession, was unable to affix his signature.
The palace immediately brings to mind neoclassical forms of Palladian inspiration. The prominent element of the façade is the large Ionic-style colonnade that forms the spectacular grandstand loggia. The ground floor is in smooth rustication with little emphasis, while the central door is surmounted by a heraldic elephant. A bas-relief frieze is inserted between the first and second floors, depicting some episodes from the history of Milan.
Crowning the tribune we find a balustrade that supports nine statues corresponding to the parade of the Dei Consenti: statues created by Pompeo Marchesi and Grazioso Rusca. The statues represent, from left to right looking at the facade: Mercury, Venus, Juno, Jupiter, Apollo, Diana, Bacchus, Ceres and Janus.
Noteworthy is the ballroom which occupies the space of the front of the noble floor, adorned with stucco and frescoes.
The whole history of the building can be read in the monograph "Giuseppe Sommaruga (1867-1917). A progragonist of Liberty", edited by Andrea Speziali, CartaCanta editore 2017.