Palace with porticoes

The height of the palace reconstructed in the model was equivalent to the width of the roads. The porticoed palaces were reserved to the "gentlemen", while the lower roads were for trade and for the transport of wares. The broad, airy streets surrounding the lower part of the 'palazzo' were destined to animal traffic and, again, to trade. This solution actually reflected the need to wipe out or, at least, to reduce the number of Milan's narrow, unhealthy streets, after the 1484-1486 plague had swept away one third of the city's population.