Cà de sass, Renaissance Revival palazzo in Via Monte di Pietà, Milan, Italy.
Ca' de Sass is a bank palazzo on Via Monte di Pietà featuring rusticated stone walls, large windows framed by projecting cornices, and balustraded terraces on its upper floors. The structure displays multiple levels with careful architectural detailing along its roof line and window surrounds.
The palazzo was built between 1868 and 1872 to designs by Giuseppe Balzaretto, on the site of the demolished Palazzo del Genio Militare. Balzaretto modelled it on Palazzo Strozzi in Florence and on Renaissance bank buildings. Excavations for the foundations brought to light the remains of the church of Santa Maria d'Aurona and its convent, now kept in the Castello Sforzesco museums.
Milanese call it Ca' de Sass, "house of stone", after the rough rusticated blocks covering the facade. The name is also used in journalism as a metonym for Intesa Sanpaolo, which occupies the building today.
The building currently functions as the headquarters of Intesa Sanpaolo bank and is not open to regular visitors. The best way to appreciate it is from street level, where the facade details are fully visible.
The church found beneath the foundations was Santa Maria d'Aurona, an older Milanese church with an adjoining convent, not a Lombard building. Its excavated remains were transferred to the Castello Sforzesco museums, so the palazzo stands on a site that was sacred before it became a bank.
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