If you take the No. 12 or 27 bus along Corso XXII Marzo, you’ve seen it a thousand times: the building with the large windows in the middle of Parco Formentano.
Perhaps you don’t know, however, that more than a century ago it was the café-restaurant of Milan’s produce market, where merchants would meet to close deals.
Closed to the public since February 2022, Milan’s Palazzina Liberty is set to reopen.
The city has announced its reopening by the end of 2026, with an event dedicated to Dario Fo, who staged plays right here in the 1970s. The exact date has not yet been set, but according to Culture Councilor Tommaso Sacchi, the main hall is ready.
In the meantime, you can already stroll around it: the park, located in Largo Marinai d’Italia, is open to the public.
You can get there by taking trams 12 and 27, which stop on Corso XXII Marzo.
In 1911, the Verziere was located here: the building housed the café where business deals were sealed
For centuries, the Verziere—known as the “verzee” to the Milanese—was held in the city center. In 1911, it moved here, next to the Porta Vittoria freight yard, into a complex of pavilions, sheds, warehouses, and stables.
At the heart of it all was the building designed by Alberto Migliorini in 1908: a café, restaurant, and bargaining hub for wholesalers and merchants.
Among Milan’s lesser-known curiosities is this: before the market was built, an Austrian fort stood on this site, commissioned by Radetzky after the Five Days of Milan.
It was supposed to be demolished in 1965: why today it is the last remaining building of the old market
In 1965, the market moved to Via Lombroso—where the Ortomercato stands today—and all the buildings were slated for demolition to make way for the park.
Italia Nostra wrote to the City to defend the building, and in December, the preservation order issued by the Superintendency halted the demolition work.
The 1924 canopies, too recent to be protected, were demolished. This is how the Palazzina became the sole surviving structure of Milan’s old market.
Dario Fo, the Skiantos, and thousands of young people on the lawn: the years when it was a hotbed of the Movement
After nearly ten years of neglect, in 1974 the collective La Comune, led by Dario Fo and Franca Rame, arrived with the slogan “The neighborhood decides.”
For the performances, thousands of young people would gather on the lawn in front of the entrance.
The band Skiantos also performed here, in their first concert outside Bologna, amid Freak Antoni’s provocative antics on stage. Then came the concerts organized by Milano Classica and the Casa della Poesia, and in 2017, the venue was named in honor of Fo and Rame.
Reopening by the end of 2026: what has been renovated and what still needs to be done
Work on the mezzanine level has involved asbestos removal, the replacement of electrical systems and skylights, bringing the hall up to fire safety standards, and cleaning graffiti from the facades. While awaiting the new spaces, temporary dressing rooms and restrooms have been set up in the apses.
The venue will once again host performances and cultural activities: in 2024, there was talk of approximately 200 seats.
The basement level, featuring dressing rooms, storage areas, and a food court, will be the focus of a second phase, for which no dates have been set yet.
Like many redevelopment projects in Milan, this one has also faced delays, and the venue’s management has not yet been announced.
And it’s not the only part of the area undergoing change: a few stops further along the No. 12 bus route, on Viale Molise, the former slaughterhouse is set to become the new ARIA neighborhood.
When it reopens, it will be worth visiting: you’ll finally be able to see from the inside a piece of the city’s history that you’ve only seen from the outside until now.
