The Pirelli Tower was one of postwar Milan's great statements of confidence. Completed in 1956, the slim modernist tower became a symbol of the city's economic rebound and of the Pirelli company's industrial power.
It no longer looks as futuristic beside Milan's newer towers, but that makes it more interesting: you can see the moment when Italian modernism was turning from reconstruction into ambition. It is best appreciated from around Centrale and Porta Nuova, where the old and new skylines meet.