Chiesa del Carmine

This guide to Chiesa del Carmine in Milan starts in 1446, when the Carmelite friars finished their new church for Our Lady of Mount Carmel, and traces what happened almost as soon as the scaffolding came down. It follows the years the ruin sat abandoned, and the Sforza dukes' decision to bring in architect Pietro Antonio Solari to rebuild it under Ludovico il Moro, staying faithful to the old Gothic design on paper. Look at the columns lining the nave as you walk in, and consider what a builder might have hidden in the foundations to save money.