Sleeping in the midst of history

Milan’s famous shopping arcade, the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele, along with the adjacent building facing onto Piazza del Duomo are owned by the city council. The new TownHouse Duomo 21 hotel is one such example. Housed in a building adjoining the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele but with its entrance located at number 21 inside the arcade, it is owned by the Alessandro Rosso Group which in 2007 opened SevenStars Galleria, a seven-star hotel located inside the Galleria itself. Extending over several floors, the suites in TownHouse Duomo 21 have private balconies overlooking Piazza Duomo and the cathedral. This newcomer to the Milan luxury hotel scene also boasts a restaurant, private meeting rooms, a wine cellar and a café that in the evening is transformed into a lounge bar. Indeed the most spectacular view can be enjoyed right here, on the bar terrace that looks out over the square and the surrounding buildings.
The hotel itself is a kind of manifesto of Italian excellence, starting out from the furnishings and the mood that reigns in the suites, which the management had the astute idea of entrusting to the talent and good taste of a group of emerging and original Italian architects rather than established figures. The architects were given full creative freedom, resulting in a variety of styles, materials and design products that represent the best of Italian manufacturing. Each suite is a world unto itself: one features a minimalist four-poster bed, another a bed framed by neoclassical tympana, one dominated by dark tones, another with portholes and spaceship-style lights. Suite number 11, designed by the young Milanese architect Massimo Magaldi, is one of the most balanced and restrained, fitting in perfectly with the refined interior design culture that has characterised the city since its resurgence in the fifties and sixties. As Magaldi himself told us, his project brings together two powerful existing features: the historic building itself and the window looking out over the piazza and the splendid cathedral. With this in mind, he opted for burnished oak floors and woodwork in keeping with the Lombard tradition, Magnum Oversize large-format ceramic tiles from the Stones&More collection by Casa dolce casa for the main wall, laid flush with the wooden boards that frame the headboard of the bed, and simple but high-quality wood furniture from the Riva 1920 collections. Guests can enjoy views of the piazza both from the bed and from the specially oriented bath, screened only by a curtain. The Magnum Oversize ceramic tiles are also used on the walls of the bathroom, which can be opened and closed by sliding clear glass doors. The overall design expresses a sense of discreet luxury, as evidenced by the colours inspired by the great architect Gio Ponti, the fabric panels that serve as a backdrop with splashes of blue and sage, and the mustard colour curtains over the window, which in turn has been restored with vintage fixtures.