It’s sunset time. From the nearly 100-meter-high rooftop terrace of the Torre Branca in Parco Sempione, in between chats the skyline of Milan, breathtaking from up here, changes color, tinged with pink and orange. The horizon line is barely evanescent in these early summer days. Here’s to summer. Cheers. It’s good to find ourselves again. It’s good to find ourselves right here.
The Torre Branca was the protagonist of one of the first private events we were finally able to organize in attendance last week. In the evening, after work, participants treated themselves to a relaxing guided tour in the greenery of Parco Sempione in the company of our Monica, an architect as well as a professional guide. An aperitif on the exclusively reserved panoramic terrace of the Tower, admiring the“Milan from above,” was a fitting conclusion to a moment entirely dedicated to being together and sharing.
And after all, the Branca Tower, a Milanese belvedere perhaps less well known than the Terraces of the Duomo but certainly more reserved and just as fascinating, was already originally conceived as a small living room suspended in the sky, with a panoramic restaurant with elegant finishes, when it still bore the name“Torre Littoria” first and “Torre del Parco Sempione” later.
In the heart of Milan’s historic center, among the monuments and treasures of what we can define as the” Hyde Park of Milan,” the Torre Branca is still an exclusive location for events, which can be reserved, for example, for toasts and aperitifs in height, for product launches, to celebrate a corporate anniversary; or even just to experience a moment of intimate conviviality made precious and unforgettable by the breathtaking view of the city.
In this article we tell you a few more historical-architectural (and other) trivia that you may not have known about the Branca Tower.
“Love architecture, the ancient, the modern. Love architecture for that which is fantastic, adventurous, and solemn it has created-it has invented-with its abstract, allusive, and figurative forms that enchant our spirit and enrapture our thinking, the setting and succor of our lives. “
Gio Ponti, Love Architecture, 1957
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One of the first modern towers in Milan
Designed in the 1930s by Italian architect and designer Gio Ponti and commissioned by the City of Milan, the Branca Tower is one of Milan’s first modern towers, slightly lower than the Madonnina of Milan Cathedral, in accordance with the now-discontinued rule that buildings should not exceed the height of the gilded copper statue that is the symbol of the city.
The Branca Tower in Parco Sempione, at 108.60 meters in total height, is now the tenth tallest building in Milan, surpassed by the buildings and skyscrapers that over the years have altered, and continue to reshape, Milan’s skyline, including the recent iron-and-glass architecture of the New Neighborhoods of Porta Nuova (Unicredit Tower, the “Diamantone” and the Bosco Verticale) and CityLife, as well as the Pirelli Skyscraper (known as the“Pirellone“) built between 1956 and 1960 also designed by Gio Ponti.
Torre Branca, a true steel work of art built in record time in the heart of Parco Sempione
“Not concrete, not wood, not stone, not steel, not glass is the most durable element. The most durable material in construction is art. “
Gio Ponti
The Branca Tower is considered to be a true work of art in which, in the words of noted architecture critic Edoardo Persico: “modern architecture and the new technique find a point of contact: neither pure architecture nor pure engineering, it is like the limit of a taste in which all the practical and aesthetic premises of an era are harmoniously resolved” (Edoardo Persico, from Casabella no. 8-9, 1933).
An architectural challenge and symbol of the modern “rising city, “ the Tower was built in just two and a half months, in the midst of the Fascist period. It was inaugurated with the fascist-sounding name of “Torre Littoria” in 1933, on the occasion of the Fifth Triennial Exhibition in Milan.
At the time of its inauguration, the Tower represents the most advanced technological level applied to architecture, achieved in Italy thanks to a static design that, taking into consideration the action of the wind, had defined its value with great precision, close to the most recent calculations.
Light and soaring, Torre Littoria has a load-bearing structure of Dalmine steel tubes assembled on a hexagonal plan with vertical development in the shape of a truncated pyramid (with an internal cage for the elevator), tapering upward in an elaborate weave to almost 109 meters in height. At an altitude of 97 meters was the restaurant floor with 48 seats and, above it, a small belvedere and lantern.
Early experiments in nascent television, decline and rebirth
The history of the Branca Tower is linked to the events of the birth of modern television. In 1939, in fact, theEnte Italiano per le Audizioni Radiofoniche – EIAR installed on the roof of the then Torre Littoria, in place of the lantern, an ultrashortwave radio transmitter that made regular phonic emissions and that, on the occasion of the 11th National Radio Exhibition in September ’39, was used to make experimental radiovision transmissions from the Tower to Milan’s North Park(La Radiovisione a Milano, Radiocorriere, Year 15, No. 39, EIAR, 1939).
Beginning in the World War II years, the Tower was neglected (perhaps because of its connection to fascism) until it was officially declared unfit for use (not for reasons related to the soundness of the supporting structure, but to the acceleration levels of the elevator system) and closed in 1972.
The well-known Fratelli Branca Distillerie S.r.l. was responsible for the recovery, eighteen years later, of the Tower, which was fully restored and made accessible to the public again starting in 2002 (hence the current name “Torre Branca”). The original panoramic restaurant, which could not be recovered in compliance with sanitation regulations, found a new home in an external structure at the base of the Tower (whose management is headed by fashion designer Roberto Cavalli), built by making extensive use of metal structures that recalled the modularity of Gio Ponti’s original structure and in spatial harmony with the existing monumental architecture of Parco Sempione.
Not just an observation tower: a location in height for aperitifs and private events
Torre Branca still remains one of Milan’s highest viewing terraces, from which you can enjoy a spectacular view of the city skyline, old and new, the Lombardy plain, the Alps and the Apennines. Even more fascinating at sunset.
But its beauty and uniqueness do not end there: the exclusively reserved Tower can be transformed into a true location for private and corporate events, from toasts and aperitifs for small groups in theintimacy of the glassed-in terrace to celebrate a special occasion or corporate anniversary, to custom temporary showroom setups and product launches, also taking advantage of the private spaces of the restaurant at the base of the Tower.
The Tower, moreover, enjoys a privileged central location, and is a point of interest of several thematic itineraries to discover Milan’s iconic places (as well as the most curious and unpublished ones).
In the heart of Sempione Park, the Branca Tower is, in fact, among the undiscovered treasures of the city’s green lung , along with iconic monuments such as theArco della Pace, theArena and theCivic Aquarium, or hidden corners rich in history and legends such as the Bridge of the Little Mermaids and the Fountain of the Marching Water.
In addition, the Torre Branca, a true steel work of art in itself, is definitely among the stops on a guided tour of the area focusing onarchitecture and places of design of Milan, along with the adjacent Palazzo dell’Arte, which houses the Milan Triennale and its Italian Design Museum), the Museum of Furniture and Design in the nearby Castello Sforzesco, and the not-so-distant Brera District, one of the major design districts of Milan Design Week.
Want to learn more about Torre Branca in Parco Sempione as a location for corporate events?
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