Begun in 1456 as a hospital for the poor of Milan, the Ca Granda, or Great House, is one of the most remarkable surviving Renaissance buildings in the Lombard capital and now serves as the main seat of the University of Milan. The complex was founded by Duke Francesco Sforza and his wife Bianca Maria Visconti as a single great hospital to consolidate the many smaller charitable institutions of the medieval city. The original design was the work of the Florentine architect Antonio Averlino, known as Filarete, who laid out a vast rectangular plan with two cross-shaped wards for male and female patients separated by a central courtyard housing the church. The form was revolutionary in its time and influenced hospital design across Europe for the next several centuries. Construction continued for more than three hundred years, with major contributions from Francesco Maria Richini in the seventeenth century, who completed the great central courtyard, the monumental triple-arched portico and the church of Santa Maria Annunciata at the rear. Funding came in waves, mostly from charitable donations and from a special biennial Festival of Forgiveness that channelled indulgences into the building. The hospital served the city until its near-total destruction by Allied bombing in August 1943, when much of the original Filarete work was lost. After the war the complex was rebuilt and ceded to the University of Milan, which has occupied the buildings since 1958 and has carried out a long programme of restoration to recover the original courtyards and porticoes. A self-guided tour around the courtyards is open to all visitors during university hours, with information panels explaining the history of the building. The crypt of the rear church, where the bodies of around ten thousand former patients were laid to rest, has been the focus of a long-running scientific study, recovering identities, lifestyles and diseases from a remarkable Renaissance burial population. For visitors interested in the wider history of Milan or in the architectural history of Italian hospitals, the Ca Granda is one of the more rewarding stops in the city, blending Renaissance elegance, post-war reconstruction and an active student life within the same set of porticoed courtyards a short walk from the Duomo.

Type: Tourist Attraction

Address: Via Festa del Perdono 7, Milan, Italy

Website: https://www.unimi.it

Opening Date: 04/04/1456