In 1998 it was acquired by the Pritzker family and was on display for more than ten years at the Park Hyatt Hotel in Chicago.
The facade of the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele, an imposing structure from the 19th century, takes up most of the left half of the painting, while only a part of the northern transept and the front of the nave of the gothic cathedral Santa Maria Nascente are visible.
Richter had already painted the facade of the cathedral in 1964 with Mailand, Dom also in graytones but in a smaller format of 130 x 130 cm.
[6][7] Provocatively and contrary to established media theories, he naively considered photography "the only image that reports the absolute truth because it sees 'objectively'; it has primary credibility, even though it is technically deficient ".
[8] In a conversation with Dieter Hülsmanns [de] und Fridolin Reske he said: A photo, unless it is "designed" by an art photographer, is simply the best picture I can think of.