Via Monte Napoleone

Via Monte Napoleone, also spelled Via Montenapoleone, is an upscale shopping street in Milan, Italy, Europe's most expensive street (2022) and the third most expensive street in the world.[1] It is famous for its ready-to-wear fashion and jewelry shops, and for being the most important street of the Milan fashion district known as the Quadrilatero della moda, where many well-known fashion designers have high-end boutiques. The most exclusive Italian shoemakers maintain boutiques on this street.

Via Monte Napoleone
A narrow street slightly curving rightwards in the distance, above which are overhead wires and a blue sky. On either side are low multistory buildings painted in light colors with ornate architectural decoration. In the foreground are several men in police uniforms clustered in front of a motorcycle with a man in plain clothes, their backs to the camera. People are walking along both sides of the street.
Former name(s)Monte Napoleone
NamesakeMonte Camerale di Santa Teresa, a bank located on the street
TypePublic
Maintained byCity of Milan
Length350 m (1,150 ft)
AreaQuadrilatero della Moda
LocationMilan, Italy
Postal code20121
Nearest metro stationMontenapoleone, San Babila
Coordinates45.46826°N 9.19520°E / 45.46826; 9.19520
West endVia Alessandro Manzoni
East endCorso Giacomo Matteotti
Other
Known forHigh fashion boutiques

In 2009, architect Fabio Novembre designed a months-long art installation, titled Per fare un albero, ‘To make a tree’ in conjunction with the city of Milan's Department of Design, Events and Fashion and Fiat — featuring 20 full-size fiberglass planter replicas of the company's 500C cabriolet along Via Monte Napoleone.[2]

In 2002, the Street Association started a media project[3] including the Radio and the Portal, in order to relaunch the Made in Italy brand. Sponsored by the Department of Fashion, Tourism and Major Events of the Municipality of Milan, Italy Fashion System, and Assomoda, today it is the first instrument of revival and information on Made in Italy worldwide.

History

The street traces the Roman city walls erected by Emperor Maximian. In 1783, a financial institution known as the Monte Camerale di Santa Teresa opened there in Palazzo Marliani, with the function of managing the public debt. In 1786 the street itself was named after the monte.[4] The bank was closed in 1796 but re-opened in 1804, when Milan was capital of the Napoleonic Italian Republic, as the Monte Napoleone: from this the street derived its current name. During the first part of the 19th century the street was almost entirely rebuilt in the Neoclassical manner with palaces inhabited by the highest of the aristocracy. Notable buildings from this period are Palazzo Melzi di Cusano, Palazzo Gavazzi, Palazzo Carcassola Grandi, and Palazzetto Taverna. The much earlier Palazzo Marliani however, regarded as one of the finest houses to survive from the era of the Sforza, was preserved until its destruction during the Allied bombing campaign of 1943.[5][6][7][8]

After World War II, Via Monte Napoleone became one of the leading streets in international fashion, somewhat equivalent to Paris' Rue du Faubourg-Saint-Honoré, Rome's Via Condotti, London's Bond Street and Oxford Street, Los Angeles' Rodeo Drive, Florence's Via de' Tornabuoni, Berlin's Kurfürstendamm and New York's Fifth Avenue.

Caffè Cova, founded in 1817 and one of the city's oldest cafés and confectioners, relocated to Via Monte Napoleone in 1950 from its original premises next to the Teatro alla Scala.[9]

  • Gucci Shop, Via Montenapoleone
    Gucci Shop, Via Montenapoleone
  • Moncler Shop, Via Montenapoleone.
    Moncler Shop, Via Montenapoleone.
  • An arcaded boutique in Via Montenapoleone
    An arcaded boutique in Via Montenapoleone
  • The Caffè Cova delicatessen serving traditional Milanese cakes and desserts in Via Montenapoleone
    The Caffè Cova delicatessen serving traditional Milanese cakes and desserts in Via Montenapoleone
  • Via Montenapoleone during the Christmas period.
    Via Montenapoleone during the Christmas period.

See also

References
  1. "Most expensive retail locations worldwide as of June 2019, by annual rent".
  2. Dave Pinter (August 14, 2009). "Fiat Greens a Milan Street With Car Shaped Planters". PSFK.com.
  3. "via Montenapoleone - Made In Italy". Retrieved 2 April 2016.
  4. For a monte as a financial institution, cf. Monte di Pietà.
  5. Alberto Trivulzio, ‘Via Monte Napoleone, perché si chiama cosi?’, Corriere della Sera, 5 October 1994, p. 47.
  6. Davide Gorni, ‘Montenapoleone, la guerra degli sfratti milionari’, Corriere della Sera, 23 June 2003, p. 49.
  7. Vittore Buzzi and Claudio Buzzi, Le vie di Milano: dizionario della toponomastica milanese (Milan: Hoepli Editore, 2005), p. 270
  8. Milano, Guida d'Italia del Touring club italiano, 10th edn (Milan: Touring Editore, 1998), p. 292.
  9. ‘The old Cova Café in the history of Milan’ Archived 2010-03-26 at the Wayback Machine, pasticceriacova.com.
  10. "Official Buccellati Website - Fine jewelry, luxury watches, bridal and silverware by Buccellati Milano, since 1919". Official Buccellati Website. Retrieved 2 April 2016.
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