European Pagan Memory Day

Most of representation of classical deities in Milan can be dated to the 18th century or beginning of 19th; in Milan the myth came with the Neoclassical fashion.

From the balustrade of Palazzo Rocca-Saporiti, in corso Venezia, nine statues of Gods are looking down on Milan. The building was designed at the beginning of the 19th century by Giovanni Perego, set designer at the theatre La Scala, and the statues were made by Pompeo Marchesi and Grazioso Rusca.

There are other buildings in Milan with statues of Gods, like the mail service main building in Piazza Cordusio and Palazzo Tarsis in via S. Paolo. The mail service main building in Piazza Cordusio has been built by Luigi Broggi in 1901 and at the beginning was the Stock Exchange building: this is why there are statues of Vulcan and Mercury on it, representing industry and trade. Hercules and Mercury adorn Palazzo Tarsis, house of a family who worked in trade too, built in the 19th century; these statues are a work by Luigi Clerichetti.

The statues on Porta Venezia, the historical gate to the city, called Porta Orientale (eastern gate) until 1860, have been made at the beginning of 19th century: there are four deities, Minerva, Mercury, Ceres and Vulcan, on the outer side, by Democrito Gandolfi and Benedetto Cacciatori; and four allegories on the inner side.

Nine statues of Muses, made during Baroque period and probably for a private garden, now adorn a building in via Morigi.

Back to the map of myth in Italian cities