Overview
Piazza San Babila is located a stone's throw from the Duomo, in the heart of Milan, and contains a piece of the city's history. Here are the first Milanese skyscrapers built in the 1930s and there is the Basilica of San Babila, which gives its name to the square.
The square was enlarged in the 1920s by demolishing old historic buildings known as Venetian Houses, because they were built in the Venetian neo-Gothic style. Rationalist buildings such as Palazzo Toro, erected by Emilio Lancia between 1935 and 1939, were built around it. There is also the first Milanese skyscraper, Torre Snia Viscosa, also known as Torre San Babila. It was built by Alessandro Rimini in 1937 with 15 floors and 60 meters high.
The symbol of the square is the Basilica of San Babila built on an older early Christian church and dedicated to the bishop of Antioch. Over the centuries the church has been remodeled several times, especially in the nineteenth century when the Baroque facade was replaced with a neo-Romanesque style.
San Babila, Milano MI, Italia
