Milan, the 'new' Palazzo Marino. Sala and Della Valle: 'Businesses, step up'

Now that the veil of dust, ferrous residue from trams and water infiltration has been removed, the friezes with floral motifs, 16th-century metopes and tympanums, with their succession of herms' heads, lions and bulls, symbolising the family, are once again on display.

Palazzo Marino is back with its best face, 40 years after the last restoration. The mayor of Milan, Beppe Sala, and Tod's patron, Diego Della Valle, announce the completion of the work and launch a joint appeal to other entrepreneurs: "come forward to support other projects".

Sixteen months of work, which began in April 2024; 7,500 square metres of internal and external facades, at a cost of €2.3 million, borne entirely by the Marche-based group. Some time ago, in fact, the scaffolding was removed from the building designed by Galeazzo Alessi, which belonged to a family of bankers from Genoa.

But the first citizen and the entrepreneur who financed the works now decide to celebrate the official return to the citizenship of what has been the seat of the municipality since 1861, in the hope that "someone will follow suit. There are so many realities in need," Sala anticipates. The thought goes 'to the Castello Sforzesco, which is in need of maintenance', but also to projects for young people, for example. "I'm thinking of students in a city where everything has become so expensive, the elderly, the suburbs," adds the Tod's chairman, who calls on his fellow entrepreneurs: "it's as if we were putting in place an enormous financial package that does not cost citizens money and that puts the country in a position to be even more attractive in a short time. Della Valle's idea, who confesses that he has some names in mind that are willing to come forward, is 'to launch a campaign, one that is not very striking but very effective, in establishing everything that can be done: it means having cities and a country in order'. A form of novel patronage also aimed at making up for those shortcomings in terms of hospitality that have recently been contested in the Milanese model.

For Tod's, which before Palazzo Marino contributed to work on the Colosseum and earthquake relief, "the restoration reflects an entrepreneurial vision in which companies are called upon to intervene actively in the social and cultural spheres, preserving those craft skills that constitute the beating heart of Italian history". Before the press conference, Sala did not overlook the fact that "the fashion sector in this historical phase has its problems," referring to the investigations into alleged cases of 'caporalato' (forced labour) that have involved several griffes including Tod's. "But they are also solid companies," adds the mayor, who asks Della Valle for "a hand in replicating this model with his colleagues".