Palazzo Carmagnola, Milan — Visitor Guide & Things to Do Nearby

Palazzo Carmagnola has lived more lives than most buildings dream of. Originally a 15th-century Visconti residence, it gained fame in 1415 when Duke Filippo Maria Visconti gave it to Carmagnola, a celebrated military commander who renovated it extensively. Later, under Duke Ludovico Sforza, the palazzo was given to Cecilia Gallerani, and it was here that Leonardo da Vinci painted his masterpiece "The Lady with an Ermine," one of the most iconic portraits of the Renaissance, now housed in Krakow. Leonardo left another mark on the palazzo: a sundial he installed in the courtyard. The building's role shifted through the centuries, housing the Banco di Sant'Ambrogio from 1714, civic archives from 1770, and a tribunal from 1773. Then came its most dramatic transformation: in 1947, Paolo Grassi and Giorgio Strehler chose the palazzo as the home of the Piccolo Teatro di Milano, one of Italy's most important theaters. Architects Ernesto Nathan Rogers and Marco Zanuso redesigned the interior for theatrical use. In 2009, a magnificent Renaissance cloister named after Nina Vinchi was added to the complex. Today, the Teatro Grassi at Palazzo Carmagnola remains one of Milan's premier cultural venues, a building where Leonardo painted a masterpiece, where armies were planned, and where theater comes alive nightly. Questo's Milan tours weave past buildings like this, where every facade hides centuries of reinvention.