Nobleman who used family power to bring prosperity to the city
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| Azzone Visconti's rule saw Milan prosper and expand in the early 14th century |
Azzone Visconti, a nobleman sometimes described as the founder
of the state of Milan and who brought prosperity to the city in the 14th
century, was born on this day in 1302 in Ferrara.
The Visconti family ruled Lombardy and Milan from 1277 to
1457 before the family line ended and, after a brief period as a republic, the
Sforza family took control.
Azzone was the son of Galeazzo I Visconti and Beatrice d’Este,
the daughter of the Marquis of Ferrara.
Galeazzo was descendant from Ottone Visconti, who had first
taken control of Milan for the family in 1277, when he was made Archbishop of
Milan by Pope Urban IV but found himself opposed by the Della Torre family, who
had expected Martino della Torre to be given the title.
Ottone was barred from entering the city until he defeated
Napoleone della Torre in a battle and, apart from a brief period in which
forces loyal to Guido della Torre drove out Galeazzo’s father, Matteo, the
Visconti family held power for the next 170 years.
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| Ambrogio Ficino's 1590 painting of the apparition of St Ambrose at the Battle of Parabiago |
A crisis faced the Visconti rule in 1328 when Louis IV, the
Holy Roman Emperor – known in Italian as Ludovico il Bavaro – had Galeazzo and
other members of the family arrested following the death of Galeazzo’s younger
brother, Stefano, in a suspected assassination.
Azzone’s uncle, Marco, was said to have betrayed Galeazzo by passing on information
that implicated his brother at the heart of the plot.
Ludovico confiscated the Visconti territories, handing
control of the smaller cities in Lombardy to local families. It proved the end
of Galeazzo, who died later in the year.
On their release, Azzone was involved in a power struggle with Marco for
control of Milan.
Azzone gained the upper hand when, with the help of another
uncle, he raised the sum of 60,000 florins which he paid Ludovico for the title
of Imperial Vicar of Milan, which effectively made him the ruler of the
city. When Marco was killed soon
afterwards, Azzone was named as the chief suspect, although he was never prosecuted.
This development angered Pope John XXII, who excommunicated
Azzone. As a solution, Azzone was forced to submit to the Pope and renounce his
Imperial Vicariate, reaching a compromise under which he retained political
power under the title of Lord of Milan.
Azzone’s rule lasted only nine years until his death in 1339 from
gout, but during that time he enhanced the wealth and power of the city.
By joining the League of Castelbaldo, he brought the
Lombardy cities of Bergamo, Novara, Cremona, Como, Lodi, Piacenza and Brescia back
under the rule of Milan, establishing the city’s predominance in the region.
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| The bell tower of the church of San Gottardo in Corte in Milan |
He also defeated a plot to unseat him by his uncle,
Lodrisio, who escaped a crackdown that saw several accomplices arrested and
locked up in prison in the Castle of Monza but suffered defeat in the Battle of
Parabiago, where a Milanese army led by another uncle, Luchino, was said to
have been facing defeat but was saved by the divine intervention in the form of
an apparition of St Ambrose on horseback, which caused the enemy army to flee.
Away from the battlefield, Azzone Visconti is credited with beginning
an artistic renewal of Milan.
He rebuilt the Palazzo del Broletto Vecchio, opposite the Duomo, formerly the
municipal seat, as Visconti palace - later the Royal Palace - and moved the town hall to the Palazzo
della Ragione.
Azzone commissioned the Cremonese architect Francesco
Pecorari to construct the church of San Gottardo in Corte, with an octagonal
bell tower, which remains today, that was probably inspired by the drawings
Giotto made for the bell tower of Santa Maria del Fiore in Florence.
He hired Giotto himself to execute a number of frescoes in
the Visconti palace, although none remain today. His commitment to the architectural embellishment
of Milan continued under his successors, notably with work beginning on the magnificent
Duomo in 1386 under the rule of Gian Galeazzo Visconti.
Azzone was also credited with rebuilding the city of Lecco, at
the southern end of the eastern fork of Lago di Como, known as Lago di Lecco. The
city had been destroyed by his grandfather, Matteo, in 1296.
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| The monumental tomb of Azzone Visconti |
Travel tip:
The church of San Gottardo in Corte can be found in Via Francesco
Pecorari, just a few yards from the Duomo. Built as a ducal chapel, it was originally
dedicated to the Blessed Virgin but Azzone, who had gout, later changed the
dedication to St. Gotthard of Hildesheim, patron of those with gout. The
interior has been partially restored but in the original church part of the a
fresco of the Crucifixion, thought to have been painted by a pupil of Giotto
remains, along with the monumental tomb sculpted for Azzone by the Pisan
sculptor Giovanni di Balduccio.
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| The Palazzo della Ragione in Piazza Mercanti |
The Palazzo della Ragione (Palace of Reason), which Azzone
established as Milan’s town hall, is located in Piazza Mercanti, just off Piazza
del Duomo, facing the Loggia degli Osii. It also served as a judicial seat. Built
between 1228 and 1233 for the podestà (chief magistrate) of Milan, Oldrado da
Tresseno. It maintained a central role in the administrative and public life of
the city Milan until 1773, when it was enlarged to accommodate legal archives. Between 1866 and 1870, the building hosted the
headquarters of the Banca Popolare di Milano, a major Milanese bank, but returned
to its function as house of legal archives until 1970.
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