The Secret Door

In 1936, the fountain of Giuseppe Grandi was inaugurated. The distinctive fountain features a granite tower with a naked man admiring the water. Its design was supposed to represent the wonder of nature to primitive man, but all is not as it seems… under the fountain is a sophisticated underground complex with 25 rooms which could accommodate up to 400 people!

That granite tower was not simply a water fountain as much as a distraction - a disguised chimney providing air circulation to the safe houses hidden below.

The secret refuge could be accessed from several entrances on the sides of the fountain, hidden by iron plates as to camouflage them with the pavement of the square.

Some have speculated that the hidden complex was built as a bomb shelter, perhaps to protect the Milanese elite during WWII, but the dates don't add up... the fountain was inaugurated 4 years before Italy even entered the War.

So why did the Milanese have a secret bunker and why did they go to such lengths to hide it? Maybe this hidden complex was born with another purpose, but to this day the answer remains a local mystery.

Piazza Giuseppe Grandi Milano MI