Marino Palace - Alessi Hall

Built to a design by Alessi between 1558 and 1563 for Tommaso Marino, a wealthy and unscrupulous salt tax collector and banker of Genoese origin, the Palace upset the fabric of the urban center of Milan, with the demolition of the block located between the Palace and the Teatro alla Scala, to make space for a square and a new road leading to the area where Palazzo dei Giureconsulti was built. The fortune of the Marino family was short-lived, less than thirty years: following their fall, after having changed many hands, the Palace became the seat of the Municipality of Milan in 1861. The Hall of Honour, known as the Sala dell'Alessi, after the architect who created it, was characterized by the contribution of the Genoese artists Andrea and Ottavio Semino, who frescoed the walls and ceiling with mythological figures while large busts of Mars and Minerva stood guard at the entrance. The new lighting project was motivated by the need to adapt the system to the different occasions of use of the room, now the center of cultural events and official meetings: the basic idea was to preserve the original style of the architecture and restore the intact perception of space, eliminate the visual disorder produced by the overlapping of foreign elements. At the same time, the room has been equipped with a technologically advanced system, for coordinated management of light with extreme flexibility of use. Five different lighting scenarios have been envisaged: daily lighting - light for events, meetings, conferences and special ceremonies - lighting for receptions, parties and TV recordings - other scenarios - emergency lighting. ( FLARE, nr. 32, April 2003 )