Corso Buenos Aires: a 1600 meter long promenade
“The Corso Buenos Aires district in its architectural structure has a welcoming and affable aspect with a discreet elegance that is typical of Milan”.
This is how the Milanese poet Maurizio Cucchi describes Corso Buenos Aires where he was born, among historic buildings, railing houses, shops, bars, bookstores that are located along the pleasant promenade that goes from Porta Venezia to Piazzale Loreto.
The street was born in 1782 as Corso Loreto as it led to the sanctuary dedicated to Santa Maria di Loreto and was then renamed Corso Buenos Aires during the Universal Exposition of 1906 when the city assumed an international image.
Today with its lively sobriety Corso Buenos Aires mixes modern and ancient buildings creating a watershed between the old popular district of the Central Station, and the bourgeois residential area around Via Morgagni, in an amalgam of urban and pop, both ancient and modern.
Let's walk the 1600 meters walk together starting from Piazza Loreto. Attracted by the many sparkling windows, we do not fail to raise our gaze to number 66 where the Casa Centenara stands, a small jewel of the Art Nouveau style designed by the architect Giovan Battista Bossi, where sinuous female figures on the facade frame the windows of the top floor between wrought iron balconies.
Continuing the walk on the opposite sidewalk, it is worth stopping at number 53 where La Stilografica is located, a shop awarded as a historic; here, among the furnishings of the early twentieth century, you can discover an infinite variety of pens and fountain pens.
Arriving right next to the Best Western Hotel City we find the building that houses the Elfo Puccini Theater, an institution of the city's cultural life. Born in 1902 and then renovated several times up to today's construction with 3 rooms and 800 seats, it boasts a program of contemporary art theater performances that is unique in the Milanese panorama.
Walking towards Porta Venezia, the shops follow one another uninterruptedly occupying the ground floor of fine buildings, for example from number 18 to number 26; while on the other sidewalk the building of the Benetton brand, at number 19, stands out for its structure built by the Austrians in the nineteenth century.
Let's now take a small detour from our itinerary and take Via Felice Casati on our right, a street full of small restaurants and clubs including Pavè, a pastry shop started by a team of young and talented cooks, where you can taste excellent desserts (also in mono-portion) in a young and informal atmosphere.
Back on Corso Buenos Aires, we stop at number 5 at the Mutinelli Hat Shop, founded in 1888, in which, among ancient furnishings and wrought iron, you can buy handcrafted hats of the most varied shapes.
Almost in Porta Venezia, we conclude our visit with one of the most characteristic nineteenth-century buildings in the area: Palazzo Luraschi, at number 1 of Corso Buenos Aires, also known as the "House of The Betrothed" since there are 12 busts from the courtyards of the novel by Manzoni in honor of the events that in this district were set. Inside the courtyard there are 4 columns of the ancient Lazzaretto reused by the architect Luraschi to preserve the memory of that place, as well as wrought iron, Lombard terracotta decorations and a beautiful wooden portal. The building is private but you can peek some valuable details from the front door.
Here we are at the end of our walk! We can choose whether to continue towards the Duomo or go back, looking at the many windows full of lights and colors and savoring the unique atmosphere of this lively and timeless neighborhood.
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