Rebecchino

The neighborhood was demolished in the second half of the 19th century to allow for the thorough redesign of the piazza that led to its modern, monumental layout.

This inn was so well known that the word "rebecchino" (also spelled "rebechino") eventually came to mean "cheap hotel" per antonomasia.

[1] The first plans to demolish the Rebecchino date back to the Napoleonic rule of Milan, in the 18th century, when the modern Piazza del Duomo began to take shape.

[2] While the Cathedral and the surrounding piazza were supposed to become a symbol of the wealth of Milan, the Rebecchino clashed with this vision, as it was a chaotic agglomerate of old, decayed buildings; its narrow streets were populated by thieves and other evil-doers that would prey on the pilgrims visiting the Cathedral.

The order for the demolition of the Rebecchino, along with that of the Coperto dei Figini (a portico dating back to the Renaissance, also in the area of the Cathedral)[3] was formalized in 1810, but quarrels followed, and the neighborhood survived for several decades, somewhat like "an island" in the middle of the developing plaza.