Albergo diurno Venezia

Albergo Diurno Venezia
Albergo Diurno Venezia
General information
Status in restoration
Type Public bath
Architectural style Art Deco
Location Milan, Italy
Address Piazza Oberdan
Current tenants FAI
Construction started 1923
Completed 1926
Opened 1926
Owner Milan Municipality
Technical details
Floor area 1200 mq
Design and construction
Architect Piero Portaluppi
Website
FAI
Invalid designation
Official name Albergo Diurno Venezia
Type Non-movable
Criteria Monument
Italy

The Albergo diurno Venezia is a structure built under piazza Oberdan in Milan, on the western side towards via Tadino.

Inside - the barber's shop

History

Article on the inauguration of the Diurno on the daily newspaper il Secolo of 19 January 1926 (first column from the right)
Advertisement of the Diurno on the daily newspaper la Sera of 29 March 1926 (second column from the right)
Price list of 1926 from the advertisement of the Diurno on the Guida Savallo

It was planned and built between 1923 ed il 1925 and opened on January 18, 1926.[1][2]

Its official name was Albergo Diurno Metropolitano and was opened every day from 7 a.m. to 11 p.m.[3][4]

The convention for the concession for thirty years of the square was signed on November 24, 1923 by the assessor to building of Milan Municipality Cesare Chiodi and the engineers Troiani, Cavacini and Masini referring to a project of engineer Troiani. The three engineers established the Società Anonima Imprese Metropolitane (S.A.I.M.) to manage the albergo diurno.

Over the Diurno it was forecasted to build a monument to Guglielmo Oberdan, that was never built. The square, called before Piazzale Venezia, was dedicated to Guglielmo Oberdan on July 19, 1923.[5]

The decorations, the furniture and a part of the general architecture has been attributed to architect Piero Portaluppi.[4][5]

The Albergo Diurno was approximately 88 meters long and 14 meters wide circa and occupied a surface of around 1200 sqm. It was divided in two parts, the public baths towards via Tadino and the hall of the artisans towards corso Buenos Aires. The public baths, with an access from the side of via Tadino, occupy two thirds of the length and have six luxury bathrooms with bath tub and the simple baths with shower with access from two parallel corridors.

From the main entrance towards corso Buenos Aires one could enter in the entrance, occupied in the last years by a travel agency and a photographer and to the main hall with two side naves where there were barbers for men and women, manicure and pedicure.[4] From the door at the end of the hall one could enter the baths section, with a central corridor ending with a bronze statue of Hygeia, goddess of health. The statue was made by the sculptor Luigi Fabris. The central corridor is connected to the two corridors of the baths, to the heating room and to a safety exit.

In the square two cement columns that contain the smoke chimneys can be seen.[4] Over the access staircases there were two platform roofs but only the one towards via Tadino has been conserved, but without the covering glasses. The platform roof towards corso Buenos Aires has been removed when the subway line 1 has been built in the fifties. The access to the Diurno has been opened from the staircase to the subway. A part of the entrance hall and the toilets have been demolished.

In 1985 the baths have been shut down. In 1990 the structure has been given in concession to the Consorzio Oberdan Servizi, created by the artisans that worked there. Most of the artisans left the Diurno in the middle of the years 1990, selling a part of the furniture that they considered their own. The last barber for men, Carmine Aiello, was sent away by Milan Municipality on June 16, 2006 because of a legal cause.[1] Afterwards, following the break of a skylight in glass by the wheel of a cleaning truck the skylights were covered with asphalt outside and reinforced inside. In 1995 the company GTS of Bergamo proposed to the Municipality to transform it into a beauty farm. The project was stopped by architect Italo Rota, who became in 1996 assessor to the urban quality in the Giunta Formentini and planned its transformation in a shop, conserving the hall, as a part of a project of renewal of Piazza Oberdan and modification of the Porta Venezia station of the subway line 1.

The Regional Direction for the Beaux Arts of Lombardy has put the Diurno under restriction as a national monument on October 25, 2005.[1]

Milan Province, starting from year 2000, asked for the Diurno to the Municipality to link it to Spazio Oberdan and put offices and archives of the Cineteca Italiana. The project could have been financed by the earnings of the participation in the Autostrada Serenissima, tied to cultural uses.

The Municipal Government approved on February 3, 2006 the text of an agreement 25 years long with the Province but the Province never signed it beause the money was used for the restoration of the spires of the Duomo di Milano. An attempt of the Province to start in 2010 a Programma Integrato di Intervento with the Lombardy Region, the Ferrovie dello Stato Italiane and Atm was abandoned for lack of interest by the various institutions. The offices of Cineteca Italiana were later transferred to the ex Manifattura Tabacchi in viale Fulvio Testi.

The property of the structure has remained to Milan Municipality which thought to restore it with its own funds, at least for the hall of the artisans or as an alternative the emission of a bid to rent it to private organizations.

Following the publication of a study by Stefano Masi and Pierfrancesco Sacerdoti attributing to Portaluppi the project of the furniture, the Fondo Ambiente Italiano (FAI) and Fondazione Portaluppi have organized a convention on the Diurno at Villa Necchi February 4, 2014.[1]

Following this convention FAI, in agreement with the Municipality, opened the Diurno Saturday and Sunday 22 and 23 March 2014 from 10 to 17 as an initiative of the Giornate di Primavera of FAI,[4][6] after FAI volunteers have cleaned and provided lightning to the Diurno.

In July 2015 FAI signed an agreement with Milan Municipality committing itself to plan and collect funds for a project of restoration and opening to the public of Diurno.[7]

December 4, 2015 the Municipality inaugurated the western side of piazza Oberdan over the Diurno, with the creation of a pedestrian area and the restoration of the columns and the platform roof under the monitoring of the Soprintendenza Belle Arti e Paesaggio di Milano .[8]

FAI opens the Diurno once a month to the public with guided tours and events like modern art installations and theater plays. Booking is managed by FAI website.[9]

Pictures

Notes

  1. 1 2 3 4 http://www.z3xmi.it/pagina.phtml?_id_articolo=5887-LAlbergo-Diurno-Venezia-un-progetto-dellarchitetto-Piero-Portaluppi.html L’Albergo Diurno Venezia: un progetto dell’architetto Piero Portaluppi?
  2. ↑ See il Secolo of 19 January 1926 in the following picture with the report of the opening
  3. ↑ As written on the advertisements on the newspapers of the time as the most elegant in Europe (newspaper la Sera of 29/3/26 in the next picture)
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 Riccardo Rosa http://milano.corriere.it/notizie/cronaca/14_marzo_17/diurno-venezia-luogo-dove-tempo-si-fermato-f0a1d674-adf3-11e3-a415-108350ae7b5e.shtml Il Diurno Venezia, un luogo dove il tempo si è fermato, Corriere della Sera, 17 March 2014
  5. 1 2 Il tempo sepolto. L’Albergo Diurno Metropolitano “Venezia” di Milano tra architettura e arti decorative. Proposte di recupero. Un primo approccio all’arte e all’architettura liberty. Tra conoscenza e restauro, a cura di Cesare Renzo Romeo, L’Artistica Editrice, Savigliano, 2013
  6. ↑ Giornate FAI, riapre l'Albergo Diurno di Milano
  7. ↑ http://www.comune.milano.it/wps/portal/ist/it/news/primopiano/archivio_dal_2012/lavori_pubblici/pza_oberdan_accordo_fai_albergo_diurno Piazza Oberdan. Accordo tra Comune e FAI per il rilancio dell’ex Albergo Diurno
  8. ↑ see press release by Comune di Milano http://www.comune.milano.it/wps/portal/?urile=wcm:path:ist_it_contentlibrary/sa_sitecontent/sfoglia_news/notizie_primo_piano/tutte_notizie/lavori_pubblici/rinasce_pza_oberdan_lavori_riqualificazione
  9. ↑ Booking of the visits to the Diurno organized by FAI

Bibliography

External links

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