The Royal Palace, located in Milan's historic center on Piazza Duomo, in the 12th century was merely a small town hall. But when the Visconti family came to power, they turned it into a magnificent ducal palazzo, adorned with mosaics and frescoes by the great Giotto.
After the Visconti family, the palace was home to the Sforza dukes, the Spanish governor, and finally the Habsburgs, who transformed the palazzo even further. When architect Giuseppe Piermarini gave the palace a Neapolitan style, this place became a true center of court life.
Then Napoleon made Milan the capital of the Cisalpine Republic and settled his adopted son there in the palace - Eugene de Beauharnais, who spent enormous sums on balls and entertainments and, they say, was loved by the people of Milan precisely for that.
Closer to the 20th century, the palace building had already been falling into decline, and it underwent a large-scale reconstruction in which Benito Mussolini personally took part. Alas, after such interference, not a trace of the former magnificence of the palazzo remained.
During World War II, the palace was heavily damaged by bombing. Only in the late 1950s did the city authorities turn their attention to the historic monument and begin its restoration, which was completed only at the beginning of the 21st century.
Now the former royal palace houses the city museum, and various themed exhibitions are often held there.
