Palazzina Liberty
A successful intervention to restore and modernize "Palazzina Liberty" allowed the delightful construction to regain both practical functionality and its original architectural elegance. Work on the building was completed in 1992. It is an attractive, graceful edifice with ceramic and "floral style" relief decorations. Architect Migliorini's original project for the construction dates from 1908. The "Palazzina" was built inside the old "Verziere" (Verzée in Milanese dialect) situated in Corso XXII Marzo. This was the historic fruit and vegetable market which functioned here from 1911 up to 1965. It had been transferred from the very central Piazza Santo Stefano and became Milan's "Mercato Ortofrutticolo".At first the "Palazzina" was used as a café-restaurant. It was a meeting and bargaining point for fruit and vegetables wholesale traders and in fact almost became an improvised commodity exchange in this sector. After the market was moved to its present premises in via Lombroso the area it had previously occupied was transformed into a public park covering almost 70,000 sq. metres. During the nineteen-seventies the "Palazzina Liberty" became the seat of Dario Fo's popular unofficial Theatrical Company "La Comune" but then in 1980 the Civic Administration decided that the area should be used for recreational and cultural purposes and immediately set in motion interventions and procedures to restore the edifice. At the present time the structure situated within "Parco Formentano" is the permanent seat of the "Civica Orchestra di Fiati" (Civic Orchestra for Wind Instruments) and hosts musical seasons and periodically concerts, meetings, conferences, fashion shows, theatrical performances and cultural manifestations of various kinds. In particular over the last few years chamber music concerts and modern musical performances are very much a feature of the selective activities held at the "Palazzina Liberty". Since 1993 it has provided a seat for the concert season of the "Orchestra Milano Classica" and numerous musical events.
