Palazzo delle Stelline - Corte
The monumental complex making up Palazzo delle Stelline includes street numbers 59,61 and 63 in Corso Magenta, each wing has its own cloister. The origins of the name of the building go back to the fifteenth century Benedictine convent of Santa Maria della Stella which was rented by the nuns following a directive from Saint Carlo Borromeo in 1578 in order to create a "Spedale dei Poveri Mendicanti e Vergognosi della Stella" (a hospital to give succour to the shameful and poor beggars). From the first half of the seventeenth century the Stella hospital concentrated on taking in and sheltering needy children and above all orphans inevitably limiting the presence of adults. This criteria was dictated partly by choice and partly by necessity. In fact in the city of Milan the number of illegitimate and abandoned children of both sexes had increased considerably as had requests for assistance that the City had to meet. This is the moment in which the structure objectively became a real public institution officially administered by the "Società dell'Obbedienza" composed of nobles and ecclesiastics. In the building, restructured by the famous architect Fabio Mangoni, young female orphans renamed "Stelline" recalling the Convent of Santa Maria della Stella were raised. Its transformation into an exclusively female orphanage took place in 1788 through the efforts of Giuseppe the second leading to the foundation of the "Orfanotrofio Femminile della Stella". The girls only left the historic seat in Corso Magenta in 1971allowing the beautiful central palazzo to be put to other uses. Institutional orphanages had become outdated and it was considered more suitable for the "Stelline" structure to ensure assistance in family size groups looked after by house-parents and more integrated in the community, alternatively in residential care homes or halfway houses. Nowadays the building in Corso Magenta has undergone radical structural alterations and is destined for very different uses but without any doubt its centuries-old historical tradition continues in a way as it still represents a real and precise point of reference in Milanese life. The palazzo was bought by the Comune di Milano (Milan's Municipality) to provide a seat for the "Istituto Internazionale per la Gestione della Tecnologia" (the International Institute of Technology Management). The project for restructuring the part of the complex corresponding to street number 61 was by architect Jan Battitstoni. All interventions have to take into account the need to respect the original structure of the historic palazzo maintaining the original characteristics and the great stone staircases, the cloister corridors and the old magnolia tree in the central courtyard which has become a symbol. The charitable objectives of the structure have obviously changed completely as now the edifice has been turned into a convention centre hosting congresses and cultural initiatives. There is still however a kind of secular continuity in the ways in which the use of this space is designated for the social good. The "Palazzo delle Stelline" continues to be at the heart of Milan and in the hearts of the Milanese. It is meeting place somewhere to socialize and an elegant quiet environment hosting training courses and cultural initiatives. At the present time the "Stelline" complex hosts the "Istituto per il Commercio con l'Estero", the European Community Representative Office in Milan, the French Cultural Centre, the "Fondazione Enrico Mattei", the Centro Congressi, the Galleria del Gruppo Credito Valtellinese, the Sede Milano Stelline del Credito Artigiano and the seat of AIM "Associazione Interessi Metropolitani" offering computer courses to the over sixties.
