Royal Pavilion of Milan Central Station opens to public for first time

The Royal Pavilion, a secret 750-square-meter waiting room hidden inside Milan's Central Station, is open to the public for the first time until November 23, 2023. Designed in 1931 by architect Ulisse Stacchini for the Savoy royal family, the two-story space includes the ground-floor Sala delle Armi with sculptures by Ambrogio Bolgiani and an upper Sala Reale decorated with blue and gold majolica by Basilio Cascella, featuring an emergency exit through a bathroom mirror. The pavilion was accessed via the now-infamous 'secret track 21,' later used for deportations of Jews and dissidents to Nazi camps, now home to the Shoah Memorial (inaugurated 2013). Restored in 2007 but never publicly accessible, the pavilion is now part of the exhibition 'Una bella storia italiana' organized by Fondazione FS to celebrate its 10th anniversary. The show displays thousands of images, books, and archival documents from the foundation's historical archive, highlighting the restoration of 400 vintage trains operating on 1,000 km of tourist lines, including the 'Binari senza tempo' slow tourism project across 12 railway lines.