Milan and the defences from Napoleon to the 1900s: divestment, destruction, restoration

The Napoleonic occupation of Milan brought about the demolition of the ramparts of the castle, a new parade ground, a revolutionary and idealistic city plan (designed by Antolini). With a new concept of war, defense and attack, the city walls lost their main function and were preserved only as tax-borders; some gates of the city became monumental buildings, others became obstacles to be removed; troops were housed in the central part of Milan in a large number of monasteries expropriated at the time of Austrian rule. During the nineteenth century, there were no changes until the Unification of Italy. In the new political and socio-economic age, the population of Milan quickly grew, the city bypassed its walls, and the problem of a new urban plan arose, while unscrupulous property investors speculated wildly in the military zones. There were many paradigmatic events: the construction of a new Army District (Quartiere delle Milizie), the reiterated change of location of the parade ground, the agreements between the City and the central military Authority, who traded for military zones and barracks, the demolition of several city gates and pusterle, and of the Spanish walls. It was a process that generated many contradictions, some of which are still unresolved

Keywords: Castle Spanish Walls Destruction Restoration

Gianfranco Pertot, Milano e le difese militari da Napoleone al 1900: dismissioni, distruzioni, restauri in "STORIA URBANA " 136/2012, pp 29-67, DOI: 10.3280/SU2012-136002