Atlas the Monumental Area

The area is structured around two voids, both inherited from the city’s lost defensive system: the buffer area around the Castle, now Piazza Verdi, and the buttress of Porta Portello, now Piazza del Popolo. Still partially unresolved due to the lack of definition of the open spaces traversed by the roads and railway, the area includes significant architectural works representing significant phases of the city’s history: the cathedral, the Teatro Sociale, the remains of Palazzetto Rusca and the Casa del Fascio.

Significant architectural works
Palazzetto Rusca (also called Palazzo Pantera), piazza Verdi/via Rodari 9, 14th-15th century.
Cathedral of Santa Maria Assunta, piazza del Duomo, on the site of the cathedral of Santa Maria Maggiore (11th century); nave and facade: 15th century; outer cladding and apses: 16th-17th centuries; dome 18th century.
Teatro Sociale, piazza G. Verdi/via Bellini, 1808-1813, engineer Giuseppe Cusi; successive extensions until 1855; stands on the site of the Castello della Torre Rotonda, 13th-16th-18th centuries.
Casa del Fascio, piazza del Popolo, 1932-1936, architect Giuseppe Terragni.
Palestra Negretti, via Partigiani 8, 1933-34, engineer Luciano Trolli.
Building of the Unione dei Lavoratori dell’Industria (now the ASL), via Pessina/via Partigiani, 1938-1943, architect Cesare Cattaneo, architect Pietro Lingeri, engineer Luigi Origoni; restructuring and extension in 1960-66.
Commercial, managerial and residential building, via Pessina 3, 1999-2002, architects Marco Balzarotti and Renato Conti.