Palazzo Marino

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Although you can't enter the Palazzo Marino (it's been the city government HQ since 1861), you can enjoy its interesting history from all four sides. The architect Galeazzo Alessi was commissioned in 1558 by Tommaso Marino, a Genoese banker who coll-ected taxes in Milan. Marino wanted to impress a noble Venetian lady, and Alessi was told, 'When finished, it should be the finest palazzo in Christendom.'

The plan seems to have worked, as Marino married her. However, his financial ostentation irritated the locals, who predicted the palazzo, 'built by stealing, would either burn, fall into disrepair, or be stolen by another thief'. Marino died in financial ruin, and the Austrian army took over the palazzo in 1814; but the building stands unburned for now.