As you hop off tram no. 15 you’ll feel a bit displaced. In fact, this pretty block is one of the most unexpected sights in Milan, because among a block of very elegant Liberty-style houses you will spot a couple of super fascinating Tudor-style houses.
You see, these houses would be a common sight in England and Germany or Northern Europe for that matter, but they clearly are one-of-a-kind in central/South Milan.
Rumor has it that these timber-frame houses with sloping roofs were built either by a pair of German pianists who wanted a house that reminded them of their homeland or, as other people say, by an Englishwoman who asked a Milanese architect to put a little Tudor in her humble abode. Either way, the whole area was developed between the 1920s and 30s and the mixture of Liberty, eclectic and Tudor style really makes Via Giambologna a unique block.
Besides, right across Via Castelbarco you can check out the new campus and branches of famous Bocconi School of Management. These futuristic buildings were created by Japanese architects Kazuyo Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa from SANAA Studio with an eye to sustainability; they are part of a general renovation of this district, that was originally the home of Milan’s old Dairy factory (Centrale del Latte); the factory was only recently dismantled to make room for the campus. This area is a great example of Milan’s effort to strive towards a greener future while celebrating a bright and peculiar past.
