The Edict of Milan, 313
From here came the decision that ended the persecution of Christians in the empire.
Lorenzo Fratti โ CC BY-SA 3.0 ยท รรฐinn โ CC BY-SA 2.5 ca ยท Ottantafame โ CC BY-SA 4.0
Yes for someone who knows what happened here, no for someone who does not. Visually you see modest stone foundations, and the value is entirely in the historical context. Read about the Edict of Milan before standing in front of it โ two minutes of reading turns stones into a site.
The church of San Lorenzo with sixteen Roman columns in front of it, moved from another building, and the nearby archaeological museum showing the Roman city's remains and containing part of its wall and a tower. These three with the palace are walked in two hours and give you the whole of Mediolanum.
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The remains of the Roman imperial palace in Milan, low ruins below street level in the city centre. What makes them important is not their size but what happened here. Milan โ Mediolanum โ was capital of the Western Roman Empire in the fourth century, and this palace was the emperor's seat. From here came the Edict of Milan in 313, which ended the persecution of Christians in the empire and permitted worship openly. That decision changed the course of all European history. What you see today is wall foundations, floors and columns, and visually it is little. Do not expect a building โ expect a site. The value is in standing where it happened rather than in the view. The site is open, free and visible from street level at any time, and parts of it may open for visits within the archaeological museum's programmes. It stands minutes from the church of San Lorenzo with its sixteen Roman columns, and together the two give you Roman Milan.
From here came the decision that ended the persecution of Christians in the empire.
Milan was the emperor's seat in the fourth century, not Rome.
Sixteen Roman columns minutes away complete the picture.
Via Brisa, central Milan