Galleria del Corso
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Galleria del Corso | |
|---|---|
 | |
 Interactive map of the Galleria del Corso area | |
| General information | |
| Type | Shopping center |
| Architectural style | Neoclassical |
| Location | Corso Vittorio Emanuele II, Piazza Cesare Beccaria, Milan, Lombardia, Italy |
| Coordinates | 45°27′53″N 9°11′42″E / 45.46472°N 9.19500°E |
| Completed | 1926, 1931 |
| Design and construction | |
| Architects | Mario Beretta, Ugo Patetta & Livio Cossutti, Eugenio Faludi, Pier Giulio Magistretti |
The Galleria del Corso is a major shopping arcade in the historic center (Zone 1) of Milan, Italy, one of five built in the city in the interwar period (1919–1939), along with the Galleria del Toro, Galleria Mazzini, Galleria Meravigli and the Galleria Gonzaga.
The first idea of building an arcade to connect the Corso Vittorio Emmanuele II to the Piazza Cesare Beccaria dates back to before World War I; the initial objective was to create—like other arcades conceived at the time—a covered connection between the street and the square, with a central octagon and a curved branch in the direction of Via Cesare Beccaria.
However, the general project designed between 1915 and 1918 by Mario Beretta was extensively modified during construction. In fact, the construction began many years later, in 1923, and was completed in stages, under the guidance of different architects. Beretta himself built, in 1923, only the Cinema Corso (with 2000 seats between the seats and the gallery), inaugurated on 3 December 1926 in place of the Provisional Cinema already built within the perimeter walls of the Galleria,[1] with the building above already eight floors tall.
The west side was built by Ugo Patetta and Livio Cossutti beginning in 1928 to plans which contained alterations to the original project.[2] By modifying the façade on the street and the recovering space from the Salone Concerto Varietà San Martino, the two architects added the Excelsior Theater.[3] In 1931 this space became the Cinema Teatro, a futuristic structure with a stage with movable floors (the first ever in Italy) which made it possible to modify the spaces.[4]
This modification was only the first of a series that transformed the structure completely from the original design. The construction of the portion on Via Cesare Beccaria was carried out by the Hungarian architect of Italian origin Eugenio Faludi,[5] also the designer of some pavilions of the Milan Trade Fair (SNIA Viscosa and Italviscosa), [6] while Pier Giulio Magistretti was responsible for the construction of the facades facing the Piazza Cesare Beccaria, on which stood the Cinema San Carlo, designed by Mario Ridolfi and later renamed the Cinema Ambasciatori.[7]
Since 2011, the Gallery has been partially restored and refurbished with a hotel and a shopping center inside.
