Italy · 12th century
The Royal Palace of Milan (Italian: Palazzo Reale di Milano) was the seat of government in the Italian city of Milan for many centuries. Today, it serves as a cultural centre and it is home to international art exhibitions.
It spans through an area of 7,000 square meters and it regularly hosts modern and contemporary art works and famous collections in cooperation with notable museums and cultural institutions from across the world. More than 1,500 masterpieces are on display annually.
It was originally designed to include two courtyards but these were later dismantled to make room for the Duomo.
The palazzo is located to the right of the Duomo's façade, opposite to Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II. The façade of the palazzo creates a recess in Piazza del Duomo which functions as a courtyard, known as the Piazzetta Reale (literally, a "Small Royal Square").
The famous Hall of Caryatids can be found on the main floor of the building, heavily damaged by World War II's air raids. After the war the palazzo remained abandoned for over two years and its condition further deteriorated. Many of the palazzo's neoclassical interiors were lost in this period.
Text adapted from “Royal Palace of Milan” on Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Royal Palace of Milan ranks #653 of 9,079 worldwide in the atlas's castle fame ranking, and #48 of the 560 mapped in Italy. Founded c. 1188, it is older than 78% of the atlas's dated landmarks — one of 756 atlas entries founded in the 12th century. Its Wikipedia articles were opened 6,657 times in the last 60 days, more than 90% of the atlas. 18 more atlas landmarks stand within 25 km. The nearest day-trip guide is Milan, 1 km away. See how Italy compares in the castle statistics.
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