Porta Nuova (; literally "New Gate"; ) is one of the main business districts of Milan, Italy in terms of economy, and part of the Zone 2 administrative division. Named after the well-preserved Neoclassic gate built in 1810 on this site, it is now one of Italy's most high-tech and international districts, containing the country's tallest skyscraper: the UniCredit Tower.

Porta Nuova has a 2017 city GDP of €400 billion, which makes it Europe's richest district within any city. A concentration of companies are based in Porta Nuova, with 4% of all institutions and conglomerates found in Italy, while Milan has 40% of all these business, and Milan's Lombardy Region has 53% of it.

Industrialization is also increasing within the district. Three Fortune 500 companies are located here, namely Alfa Romeo, Pirelli and Techint, with a lot of other significant companies, including luxury fashion house Versace and italian football giants Internazionale. Geographical Porta Nuova was the main engine of the global invention of "polypropylene", or plastic, by Giulio Natta, popularized by several companies within the city during the 1950s. Porta Nuova began manufacturing trams, buses, and trains, as part of Milan's public transport system which now gave Milan Europe's most advanced light rail system.

In 2019, Milan is on course to have several tax-free or flat tax services, as part of attracting domestic and international businesses which will be initiated in the area of Porta Nuova. It is also an integrated response to gain several European Union agencies from United Kingdom following Brexit and to prevent a possible economic fallout.

History

Porta Nuova is named after the Napoleonic gate which was erected in 1810 from a design by Giuseppe Zanoia.

In the 1990s Milan, a former heavy-industry powerhouse, was filled with about 6 million square metres of industrial wastelands and unused railroad tracks; transforming such places following the example set by London and other post-industrial cities had become a primary objective for the municipal administration.

The Porta Nuova business district project was born in 1997 in collaboration with American real estate developer Gerald D. Hines and his partners, Micheal Topham and Riccardo Catella; the new district took fourteen years to develop and has been built on a large area of central Milan affected by decades of urban decay, after a series of failed development plans in the 1970s.

The 290,000 square metres (later increased to 346,500), US$2.5bn mixed use project was definitively approved in 2005 and was designed by three masterplanners, Pelli Clarke Pelli, Boeri Studio and Kohn Pedersen Fox.

In 2013 Qatar Holding LLC, a unit of the Persian Gulf emirate's sovereign wealth fund, agreed to buy a 40 percent stake in Milan's newly built Porta Nuova business district to expand its Italian real estate holdings. In 2015 Qatar Investment Authority agreed to buy the 60 percent of Porta Nuova it did not already own.

At the end of 2017 construction works began for "Gioia 22", a new 26-story, 120 metres high tower designed by architect Gregg E. Jones of Pelli Clarke Pelli and scheduled to be completed by 2020.

Area specifications

Pelli Clarke Pelli designed the largest part of the development, the "Garibaldi" area (near Garibaldi railway station), with office and retail compounds extending over 230,500 square metres. It is centered on the UniCredit Tower complex, that features three office towers, of which the largest, a 31-story, 231 metres high asymmetrical tower culminating in a sculptural, 80m stainless steel spire, is currently (as of 2017) the tallest building in Italy.

The "Varesine" area, named after a now demolished railway station that once connected Milan to Varese, has been designed by Kohn Pedersen Fox Associated and occupies 85,000 square metres. The main building of this area is Torre Diamante, a 130 metres high, diamond-shaped tower that is Italy's tallest skyscraper with a steel structure.

The "Isola" area ("island" in Italian, owing its name to the fact that it was once encircled by railway lines), designed by Boeri Studio, extends over 31,500 square metres. Its most distinctive feature is Bosco Verticale, a pair of residential towers covered in trees and vegetation.

+Proposed use and area Porta Nuova Garibaldi Porta Nuova Varesine Porta Nuova Isola m2 ft2 m2ft2 m2 ft2 Office Residential Commercial Exhibitions -- -- Culture -- Hotel ---- Total Car parks

Buildings

Towers and other buildings Name Architect Type Height (m) Floors Year Headquarters Notes UniCredit TowerTower A Cesar Pelli Offices 231 35 2012 UniCredit The tower is ranking as eighth in the Emporis 2012, that rewards skyscrapers for excellence in their aesthetic and functional design.It is 151 m tall without the spire. Palazzo Lombardia Pei Cobb Freed & Partners Offices 161 39 2010 Regione Lombardia The building won the 2012 International Architecture Award for the best new global design.Tallest building in Italy, 2009/2011. Torre Diamante Kohn Pedersen Fox Offices 140 30 2012 BNP Paribas Pirelli Tower Giò Ponti Offices 127 32 1958 Regione Lombardia Tallest building in EU, 1958-1966. Tallest building in Italy, 1958-1995.The building was a model for the MetLife Building in New York City and Alpha Tower in Birmingham. Gioia 22 Cesar Pelli Mixed Use 122 26+4 2020 Fideuram Bank UnipolSai Tower Mario Cucinella Offices 120 23 U/C UnipolSai Torre Breda Luigi Mattioni Offices 117 30 1954 Tallest building in Italy, 1954/1958. Restoration work completed in 2009. Botanica Stefano Boeri Residential 110 2024 Torre Galfa Melchiorre Bega HotelResidences 109 31 1959 Meliá Hotels International Gioia 20 East Citterio, Viel, Partners Mixed Use 104 2022 Torre GaribaldiTower A Laura Lazzari Offices 100 25 1992 Maire Tecnimont Torre GaribaldiTower B Laura Lazzari Offices 100 25 1992 Maire Tecnimont UniCredit TowerTower B Cesar Pelli Offices 100 22 2012 LinkedIn, UniCredit P39 Diller Scofidio + Renfro Mixed-Use 97 2024 UniCredit TowerTower C Cesar Pelli Offices 70 12 2012 UniCredit Piramide William McDonough Offices 70 11 2012 Google, Pandora Torre Bonnet F. Diomede, C. Rusconi Clerici Offices 68 20 1962 Accenture AC Hotel Tower Hotel 60 20 AC Hotels Diamantini Kohn Pederson Fox Offices 2012 Bank of America, Canali, Celgene, China Construction Bank, HSBC, Factory Mutual, Salvatore Ferragamo, Samsung, Shire Palaxa Goring & Straja Architects Offices 2012 AXA The Showroom Piuarch OfficesCommercial 30 6 2013 Alexander Mc Queen, Limoni, Nike, Tesla Green house Diller Scofidio + Renfro Mixed-Use 27 2024

Luxury residences Name Architect Height (m) Floors Year Notes Solaria Tower Arquitectonica 143 37 2013 Tallest residential building in Italy. Bosco Verticale Tower E Stefano Boeri 111 27 2014 The building won the 2014 International Highrise Award.The building is the first model of vertical densification of nature within a city. Aria Tower Arquitectonica 100 17 2013 Solea Tower Caputo Partnership 79 14 2013 Bosco Verticale Tower D Stefano Boeri 78 18 2014 The building won the 2014 International Highrise Award.The building is the first model of vertical densification of nature within a city. V33 Vudafieri Saverino Partners 14 2013 Residenze di Corso Como Munoz & Albin Cino Zucchi Architetti 2012 Corte verde di Corso Como Cino Zucchi Architetti 2013 Residenze dei Giardini Lucien Lagrange 2012 Ville di Porta Nuova M2P Associati 2013

Other buildings Name Architect Type Height (m) Floors Year Notes UniCredit Pavilion / E3 West Building Michele De Lucchi Convention centre 22 3 2015 Coima Pavilion / E3 East Building Mario Cucinella Office 3 2016 Casa della Memoria Baukuh Museum 3 2015 Museum dedicated to the Italian resistance movement Fondazione Riccardo Catella Culture 2 Hub for the urban development Incubatore per l'arte Culture 2

See also Tallest buildings in Italy Economy of Milan

References