Società del Giardino

With the advent of peace, the building of churches and mansions resumed. Around 1550, young Leonardo Spinola arrived in Milan from Genoa and started work with a Genoese banker, Tommaso Marino. He eventually married his niece, won his trust, and became rich. In the pursuit of his grand plan to build what would become Palazzo Spinola, he purchased land and buildings in the San Paolo district of Milan. In 1562, he bought a house that became his family’s home, then in 1582 he bought the Porro house, an adjacent property, and added a garden. Probably due to Spinola’s financial difficulties, the construction was not completed until 1597; the date is still visible under the cornice of the mansion. After Leonardo’s death, the mansion changed hands several times. First it passed to the Marino family; in 1643, it went to Don Domenico Odescalchi; in 1646, it became the property of Abbot Giacinto Airoldi. Finally it went to the Cusani family, from whom the palazzo was officially purchased by Società del Giardino on 9 February 1819. It had already become the home of the Società del Giardino on 29 September 1818, and has remained so ever since.