Casa degli Omenoni, Milan — Visitor Guide & Things to Do Nearby

Casa degli Omenoni is one of the most startling buildings in Milan: eight colossal stone giants stare down at you from the facade, and you cannot help but stare back. The palazzo was designed around 1565 by sculptor Leone Leoni as both his residence and private art gallery. The name "omenoni" comes from Milanese dialect for "big men," referring to the eight enormous telamones (male caryatids) carved by Antonio Abondio that dominate the ground floor. These stone giants, believed to represent defeated barbarians, stand between arched windows with an intensity that borders on intimidating. The upper floors feature elegant Ionic columns and Renaissance proportions, while lions appear repeatedly throughout the decoration as a play on the owner's family name. One particularly dramatic relief shows two lions savaging a satyr beneath the cornice. Giorgio Vasari, the great Renaissance biographer, visited the house and called it "full of capricious inventions." Leone Leoni and his son Pompeo were legendary art collectors who filled the palazzo with works by Titian, Correggio, drawings by Leonardo da Vinci, and plaster casts of classical sculptures. The house was a private museum before the concept really existed. Today, the facade remains one of Milan's most photographed architectural surprises. Questo's art-focused Milan adventures take you past buildings like this, where Renaissance personality bursts from every stone.