Palacio Barolo

Palacio Barolo is the building that turns a walk down Avenida de Mayo into a story. Commissioned by the Italian textile entrepreneur Luis Barolo and designed by the Italian architect Mario Palanti, it was built between 1919 and 1923 and for more than a decade was the tallest building in Buenos Aires, roughly a hundred metres from pavement to lighthouse. It looks like nothing else in the city: a pale, eclectic tower that mixes neo-Romanesque, neo-Gothic and Art Nouveau touches with an Indian-inspired dome, and it was conceived, quite deliberately, as an architectural reading of Dante Alighieri's Divine Comedy. The building is divided into three parts that mirror the poem. The ground floor and basement stand for Hell, with a vaulted arcade of dark ornament, bronze lamps and Latin inscriptions; the office floors above represent Purgatory; and the tower and dome represent Paradise, crowned by a lighthouse whose beam was meant to be visible across the Río de la Plata. Numerology runs through the design, with the poem's cantos echoed in the floor count and the building's height, and the dome is read by guides as the union of Dante and Beatrice. Palanti built a near-twin across the river, the Palacio Salvo in Montevideo, and the two towers were imagined as a pair of beacons greeting each other over the water. Barolo himself died before the building was finished, which adds a melancholy edge to the legend. A century on, it is still a working office building, full of small businesses, tailors and studios, which makes the visit feel wonderfully lived in rather than museum-like.

How the visit works: you cannot simply wander the tower, so the guided tour is the way in, and it is very well done. Groups gather in the ground-floor arcade, where the guide unpacks the Dante symbolism, then ride the original lifts and climb narrowing staircases through the office floors to the balconies and finally the lighthouse at the top. The views are the payoff: straight down Avenida de Mayo to the Plaza de Mayo and the Casa Rosada in one direction, and to the domed Congress building in the other, with the whole flat sprawl of the city spread to the river. Tours run in Spanish and English through the day, and the Tiqets listing offers a ninety-minute guided tour with an English-speaking guide; evening tours, when they run, add the city lights and the lighthouse switched on, which is the most atmospheric way to see it.

Practicalities: the top section involves steep, narrow spiral stairs and tight spaces, so it is not suitable for anyone with limited mobility or a strong dislike of heights, and small children need a firm hand. Book ahead in high season, as groups are kept small, and arrive a few minutes early, because tours leave on time. Photographs are allowed and the balconies are generous, but wind can be strong at the top, so hold on to hats and phones.

How to fit it in: Palacio Barolo sits on the most historic boulevard in Buenos Aires, laid out in the 1890s on a Parisian model, so it pairs naturally with a walk along Avenida de Mayo. Start at the Plaza de Mayo with the Casa Rosada, the Cabildo and the Metropolitan Cathedral, stop for coffee and churros at the Café Tortoni, take the Barolo tour, then continue to the Congress building at the far end of the avenue. Theatre and architecture lovers can add the Teatro Colón, a short walk north across Avenida 9 de Julio. It is the best single building visit in the centre after the Colón, and the one most travellers leave talking about.