The loggia

The “Loggia” is one of the most distinctive elements of the entire Courtyard of Honor and consists of a sequence of three double bays with arches supported by columns and Doric pilasters. The structure is the result of the architectural renovation of the south-eastern wing carried out in the eighteenth century with the aim, among other things, of connecting the rooms of Bartolomeo III Arese and those of his wife Lucrezia Omodei Arese, separated according to a typically noble use of the palace spaces.

The architectural volume, open and airy, features a pictorial decoration consisting of fake architectural partitions placed around the doors and depictions of putti placed in the medallions of the vaults that cover it, clearly referable to the subjects painted in the covering of the “Gallery of Statues”. The themes linked to the glory of the family and the death of one of its exponents, his son Giulio II Arese, suggest a dating of these figures that can be placed around 1665 and an autograph that critics consider very close to Federico Bianchi (1635-1719), already active on the ground floor of the palace.
The decoration of the overdoors, on the other hand, consists of mixtilinear frames with a broken triangular tympanum, which leaves room for sculptural busts painted according to a model already proposed in the fake openings of the “Gallery of Statues”. On the south-west door stands the bust of the sovereign Charles V, while on the north-west one appears the effigy of the emperor Octavian Augustus, thus creating a direct link between the greatest emperor of Christianity and the founder of the Roman Empire, to underline once again the loyalty of the Arese family to the Habsburg dynasty. These painted elements, however, are to be referred to the rich iconographic project of the Roman emperors and the monarchies present in the facade overlooking the park and in the portico of the same “Noble Court”, which is still to be fully studied. The figures painted here, inserted in fake architectural decorations, are also connected with the “Hall of Roman Fasti”.

Particularly refined and suggestive is the layout of the decoration of the frescoed vaults, in which large celestial backgrounds surround the central oval and octagonal medallions, in which the aforementioned fluttering putti stand out. These are specially painted so that, at certain evening hours, the painted vault merges with the celestial vault, creating an enchanting emotional involvement in the observer, once called to participate in the scene also thanks to a skillful use of torches and lamps.