There are two noteworthy palaces in the Piazza del Duomo. The first is the former Palazzo Reale (now belonging to the mu nicipality) dating from 1772, but occupying the site of the earliest mansion of the Viscontis and the Sforza; its great hall is a hand some chamber with a gallery supported by caryatides. Built into the palace is the ancient church of San Gottardo (1330-36), a Romanesque building built by Azzone Visconti in 1328-1339, and the scene of the murder of Giovanni Maria Visconti in 1412. Its campanile is a beautiful example of early Lombard terra cotta work. The second palace is that of the archbishops, with a fine facade. It has a fine court with double colonnades. The Palazzo della Ragione, in the Piazza dei Mercanti, just west of the Piazza del Duomo, the central point of the mediaeval city, is a brick edifice (1223-1238) with portico on the ground floor and a large hall on the upper. Close by to the south is the beautiful Loggia degli Osii, erected in 1316, with two open por ticos, one above the other, in black and white marble.
Among the most interesting buildings in Milan is the historic church of S. Ambrogio. The church was built by St. Ambrose in 386-389, but as it stands it is a Romanesque basilica of the ith-12th century, with a brick exterior, galleries over the façade, and perhaps the most perfectly preserved atrium in ex istence. The wooden door belongs to the original 4th century church; it has carvings with scenes from the life of David. The pulpit is also fine (iith—I3th cent.). In a great silver reliquary (modern) in the crypt lie the bones of St. Ambrose, above which rises the high altar, which retains its original reliefs in gold and silver enriched with enamel and gems, and are the work of one Vuolfvinus, a German (835). The baldacchino, with sculptures of the I2th or early 13th century, is borne by four ancient col umns of porphyry, with 9th-century capitals. In the tribune are fine mosaics of the 12th century, and in the Basilica Fausta mo saics of the 5th. The lofty brick campanile is among the earliest in Italy. The court of the neighbouring canonica is by Bramante. S. Lorenzo, in the south portion of the town, dates from before A.D. 538, but was several times burnt down and restored. The chapel of S. Aquilino, possibly part of the original structure, contains mosaics of the 5th or 6th century; while ex cavations have shown that its foundations, and apparently those of the whole church, rest upon a mass of architectural fragments taken from Roman buildings; the pavement of a bath was laid over them at a later date, and over this again the chapel was built. In plan the church is an octagon, supported at the corners by four square towers in brickwork. The interior with its two orders is a very fine one, and its influence on Renaissance archi tects has been very considerable. The portico outside it with its i6 Corinthian columns is a later addition, with use of ancient materials. S. Eustorgio, one of the largest Gothic churches in Milan, dates, as it stands, with its campanile, from the 13th century. It has some interesting mediaeval sculpture, and a fine chapel (Cappella Portinari), with a good dome and a beautiful frieze of angels (1462-1468), and containing the splendid sculp tured tomb of Peter Martyr (q.v.), the masterpiece of Giovanni
di Balduccio of Pisa (1339).
S. Vincenzo in Prato (835) ; S. Satiro, founded in 879; S. Babila, etc., are interesting for their Romanesque architecture. The small domed structure on the left of S. Satiro is earlier than the church, while the campanile is part of the original structure. The reconstruction of the church of S. Satiro was Bramante's earliest work in Milan (after 1476). The choir is painted in perspective (there was no room to build one), the earliest exam ple of this device, which was so frequently used in baroque archi tecture. The octagonal sacristy (before 1488), has niches below and a gallery above, and stucco decorations by Bramante him self (the frieze with putti and medallions is by Agostino de Fondotis of Padua). The Cistercian abbey-church of Chiaravalle, m. south of Milan, is a fine brick building in the plan of a Latin cross, with nave and two aisles with round pillars, with a lofty domed tower, in the so-called Romanesque Transition style, having comparatively slender round pillars and cross vaulting, while the exterior is still quite Romanesque. It was founded in 1135 by St. Bernard and consecrated in 1221. It is interesting as the model for the plan of many other churches in Lombardy, e.g., S. Maria del Carmine and S. Francesco in Pavia. S. Maria Incoronata is unique as a double Gothic church, in the horizontal sense Of secular buildings of the beginning of the 15th century, the most notable is the Casa dei Borromei, which still preserves its Gothic courtyard. It has a good collection of Lombard pictures. The Gothic church of Santa Maria Belle Grazie was built by the Dominicans about 1460. The choir, crossing, and dome, with elegant external decorations in terra-cotta and marble, are by Bramante (c. 1492). Adjoining the church is the convent, with fine cloisters, by Bramante; in the former refectory Leonardo da Vinci (q.v.) painted his celebrated "Last Supper." The interior of San Maurizio has effective frescoes by Luini and his contemporaries. It was erected by Giovanni Dolcebuono, a pupil of Bramante, to whom is also due S. Maria presso S. Celso (the interior and the baroque façade are by Alessi to whom the fine church of S. Paolo is also due). The renowned Biblio teca Ambrosiana, rich in mss., was erected in 1603-1609 by Fabio Manzone, to whom the Palazzo del Senato is also due. There is also a picture gallery, in which is Raphael's cartoon for his fresco the "School of Athens" in the Vatican. The Ospedale Maggiore was founded in the reign of Francesco Sforza. The entire edifice is covered externally with terra-cotta; its façade was designed by the Florentine Antonio Averulino and begun in The city is rich in works of art, for Milan, with the introduc tion of the early Renaissance style by Filarete and Michelozzo after 1450, became the home of a Lombard school of sculpture among the chief masters of which may be mentioned Giovanni Antonio Amadeo of Pavia (1447-1522), Cristoforo Solari, and, the last of them, Agostino Busti, known as Bambaia (c. 1480 1548) whose work may be seen in the cathedrals of Como and Milan and in the Certosa of Pavia.