No, Alelou.
I apologize, I probably have not been clear and photographs as well. I try to be more clear, because I would like to bring out exactly why this building is truly unique. Those are not solar collectors, those are shutters. We are talking about a building which dates from the late nineteenth century.
The name Fetta di Polenta, which is commonly attributed, mainly comes from the yellow color and the unique layout that resembles a real "slice". The official name Casa Scaccabarozzi descends instead from the surname of the wife of Antonelli (Francesca Scaccabarozzi lady originally from Cremona) who, besides giving her name, lived there for a few years with her husband, when nobody wanted to go to live there for fear of collapse, because it represented a building that, for that time (1840-1881), defied the classical rules in terms of construction.
The design of this neighborhood, built on land owned by Marchesi di Barolo, was commissioned in 1840 to the Company Builders Vanchiglia of which the famous Alessandro Antonelli, designer of the famous Mole, was part. Designed by Antonelli himself, it seems that the Slice of Polenta was built more for a bet than for a real need. The land on which the building was to be built had an extended trapezoid. This was the result of the demolition of an earlier structure which stood on the present Corso San Maurizio, demolished to create what is now Via Giulia di Barolo. The building was constructed in several steps from the first three floors (1840), following the other two, and finally, in a still later stage, with the completion the present top floor (1881). After various historical phases, during which the Slice of Polenta passed from owner to owner, always with the intended residential use, it is currently used as a home-gallery
To even better understand the likely bet that Antonelli had undertaken to win, just look at the size of the sides of this curious building: 16 meters on Via Giulia di Barolo, 4.35 meters of Corso San Maurizio and just 54 centimetres from the wall side opposite to that of the course (parallel to corso San Maurizio and orthogonal to Via Giulia di Barolo).
The building consists of 9 floors of different heights, all connected by a narrow stone scissor-staircase, with a total height of 24 meters. Seven floors are above ground (including the ground floor), while two are underground and it is the depth of the foundation that gives the building its legendary stability. Of note they are the balconies and windows as projecting cornices. The use of this ruse is a design solution that Antonelli put into effect in order to gain as much space as possible inside the building. On the top floor you can instead see a balcony that runs down through the statements of the main facades. In the side of 54 centimetres, in order to optimize the space, Antonelli located the chimney flue.
