Ca' Granda, Milan

Ca' Granda is the monumental building before you, created as Milan’s great hospital and now occupied by the University of Milan. Its story begins in 1456, when construction started under Francesco Sforza’s direction to bring care for the sick together in a single institution. The original design came from Filarete, a Florentine architect, and the complex became an influential early Renaissance work in Milan and northern Italy.

Look at the long façades and the courtyards: the plan was conceived as a large quadrilateral organized around internal open spaces. The principal entrance and the broad courtyard known as the Richini Courtyard belong to a later building campaign led by Francesco Maria Richini, with Giovanni Battista Pessina, Fabio Mangone, and the painter Cerano also involved. The result brings together Gothic, Renaissance, and Baroque elements rather than presenting a single uniform style.

Ca' Granda served as Milan’s main hospital until 1939. Bombing in 1943 destroyed entire wings, but the complex was rebuilt after the war using as much original material as possible. The university has officially occupied the building since 1958. Its long institutional life remains legible in the meeting of austere scale, courtyards, and richly worked architectural detail.