Former seat of the monastery of the benedictine nuns of Saint Mary, the monumental complex assumed the role of Public Institution. In 1578 Saint Carlo Borromeo founded a hospice which in the following century became an orphanage. Beginning in the second half of the 1700’s, the institution was reserved for young girls, called “stelline” (little stars) from the name of the old monastery. The succession of additions and transformations, with our intervention, led to the integration of the preexistent architectonic entities, bestowing the complex with a healthy equilibrium between restoration and modernization.
The project substantially maintained the general image of the building, preserving the fenestration and the design of the principal elements of the original architecture, dating mainly from the 1800’s. The  project also accentuated the connective role of the courtyards upon which all of the functions gravitate (bank, foreign commerce institute, EU commerce offices, bar-restaurant, art gallery “the refectory”, French Cultural Center and ENI-Enrico Mattei Foundation) intervening at a structure as well as on the functional and decorative elements.

Client: Credito Valtellinese
Project: Antonio Zanuso
With: Carlo Chambry, William Pascoe
Structures: Mario Carmana
Gardens: Giulio Crespi
Consultants: Piero Castiglioni (illuminazione),
Stefania Giannotti, Federica Zanuso
Job site supervision: Giovanni Del Curto
General contractor: Bertani & Baselli
Net floor area: 20.000 mq