Palazzo Carminati, Palazzo and Italian national heritage at Piazza Duomo, Milan, Italy.

Palazzo Carminati stands at Piazza del Duomo 17, on the west side of the square facing the cathedral. Its plastered facade is divided vertically by tall pilasters framing windows topped with triangular pediments, and a cornice with stone pinnacles aligned above the pilasters closes the top. A gallery called Passaggio Duomo splits the irregular plan, linking the piazza to via Orefici; the rear facade on via Orefici has no decoration.

Built in the late 1860s for Giacomo Cesati, a wealthy silver manufacturer, the palazzo took its name from the Carminati restaurant on the ground floor, which had replaced the Casanova brewery. In the 1920s advertising signs appeared on its facade, becoming dense and colorful in the 1960s and 1970s. Mayor Gabriele Albertini had the signs removed in 1999 after a campaign for the square's decorum, a decision often criticised.

The palazzo takes its name from the Carminati restaurant on its ground floor, which had earlier replaced the Casanova brewery. Its facade became a symbol of commercial Milan in the 20th century, inspiring Umberto Saba's poem Milano. In a 1960s Carosello advert, Ernesto Calindri sat at a table in the traffic in front of the building and its signs, sipping Cynar.

Palazzo Carminati faces the cathedral across Piazza del Duomo at civic number 17, on the square's west side. A covered passage, the Passaggio Duomo, cuts through the building and links the piazza with via Orefici, so you can walk through it rather than around. The rear facade on via Orefici, once little more than an alley, carries no decoration.

The signs were not removed during a restoration: in 1999 Mayor Gabriele Albertini had them dismantled after a campaign for the square's "dignity", a decision often criticised since. The Cynar advert with Ernesto Calindri at a table in the traffic, facing the palace, made the facade familiar across Italy.