Casa degli Atellani e Vigna di Leonardo

Opposite Santa Maria delle Grazie lies the garden where Ludovico il Moro gave Leonardo a vineyard in 1498 — a gift the painter remembered in his will. Reconstructed by Piero Portaluppi and replanted with the original grape for Expo 2015, the compound carries one of the city's most layered stories just across the way from its famous neighbour.

Why it matters

Casa degli Atellani grew from a ducal residence connected with the Barcho Ducale, Ludovico il Moro's hunting grounds. Part of the estate became a residential quarter for favoured courtiers, among them the Atellani family. Leonardo, working next door on the Last Supper, received the neighbouring vineyard as a ducal gift in 1498; Leonardo mentioned the vineyard in his testament, leaving portions to a servant and his pupil Gian Giacomo Caprotti, known as Salaì. The house that survives is largely the work of Piero Portaluppi, who restored it from 1919 for Senator Ettore Conti and rebuilt it after the wartime destruction of 1943, creating the perspective garden that shelters the rediscovered vineyard. It is that layered story — ducal gift, artist's bequest, architect's revival — that makes the site one of the most poignant addresses on Corso Magenta.

What to notice

The fifteenth-century façade combines exposed brickwork, a stone round-arch portal and trefoil-framed windows with Piero Portaluppi's five-storey postwar rebuilding, marked by medallions of Sforza dukes. In the first courtyard, fragments of the older house include terracotta ogival windows and octagonal columns with shield-shaped capitals. Portaluppi's wrought-iron gates, polylobed windows and zodiac mosaic floor reflect his decorative style. The garden holds the Malvasia di Candia Aromatica vines replanted for Expo 2015, within the perspective landscape Portaluppi designed.

Context and history

The vineyard was replanted for Expo 2015 after research, excavations and soil sampling conducted by the Fondazione Portaluppi with the City of Milan. University of Milan specialists Attilio Scienza and Silvia Imazio identified the grape as Malvasia di Candia Aromatica. At the end of 2022 the property passed from the Castellini Baldissera and Portaluppi heirs to the LVMH group, adding another chapter to the house's history.