Six years after Casa Ferrario, on the same short street, the flowers have gone. This is what Liberty looked like on its way out.
At a glance
Casa Giovini stands at Via Spadari 9, in the food-shopping street a few steps from the Duomo. It was built between 1908 and 1909 to a design by the architect Achille Manfredini, on a plot between Casa Vanoni — also his — and the former Hotel Lord. It rises through five levels, the topmost set back from the facade.
History
Via Spadari was rebuilt almost entirely in the first decade of the twentieth century, and it is the one street in central Milan where the whole arc of Liberty can be read from one pavement. Casa Ferrario, by Ernesto Pirovano with ironwork by Alessandro Mazzucotelli, went up at numbers 3 and 5 from 1902. Manfredini’s two houses followed at the end of the decade, when the style had been in Milan for long enough to be reconsidered.
What you see
The front is late Liberty already moving away from the floral repertoire: the curves are flatter, the ornament thinner and more evenly distributed, and the emphasis has shifted to the proportion of the openings and the setting back of the top floor. Read against Casa Ferrario, six years older and a few doors down, the difference is the whole point of the building.
Cultural significance
Styles are usually dated by their beginnings. Via Spadari lets you date the end: within a single street, and within seven years, Milanese Liberty goes from Mazzucotelli’s butterflies to a facade that has stopped believing in them. Casa Giovini is the second half of that sentence.
Key facts
- Architect: Achille Manfredini
- Built: 1908–1909
- Five levels above ground, the top floor set back
- Neighbours: Casa Vanoni (Manfredini) and the former Hotel Lord; Casa Ferrario at numbers 3–5
- Address: Via Spadari 9, Milan
- Coordinates: 45.4635 N, 9.1870 E
Practical information & getting there
Metro M1/M3 Duomo, five minutes on foot down Via Torino. The street is short and can be walked in both directions in ten minutes, which is the recommended way to see it: Casa Ferrario first, then Casa Vanoni and Casa Giovini.
Sources & resources
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