Lombardy's most outstanding sculptors of the age were Luigi Cagnola and Luigi Pollak. Francesco Hayez was an example of a major Milanese artist of the period. During the 20th century, Milan was one of the main centers of Italian futurism and a few major artists such as Gino Severini, Giacomo Balla, Umberto Boccioni resided or worked there. Mussolini, like in several Italian cities, also launched a grandiose building project in Milan, such as the central railway station building. After the disastrous bombardments of World War II there followed a period of rapid reconstruction, and modern office buildings adjacent to the medieval cathedrals were built, such as the Torre Velasca. Milan is famous for being home of the Pirelli Tower, which is one of Europe's oldest skyscrapers. San Siro Stables, also known as Scuderie De Montel were built between 1914 and 1924 by De Montel, a Jewish Milanese aristocrat. In 1938 following the application of racial laws in Italy the government took possession of the buildings. In 2006 there was a proposal to build a thermal bath over the area, but the City Council of Milan canceled the project due to lack of funds. Milan is one of the major artistic centres of northern Italy. Its chief landmarks include:  Milan is home to numerous universities and other institutions of higher learning:         In the late eighteenth century, and throughout the nineteenth century, Milan was an important centre for intellectual discussion and literary creativity. The Enlightenment found here a fertile ground. Cesare Beccaria, with his famous "Dei delitti e delle pene", and Pietro Verri, with the periodical "Il Caffè" were able to exert a considerable influence over the new middle-class culture, thanks also to an open-minded Austrian administration. In the first years of the nineteenth century, the ideals of the Romantic movement made their impact on the cultural life of the city and its major writers debated the primacy of Classical versus Romantic poetry. Here, too, Giuseppe Parini, and Ugo Foscolo published their most important works, and were admired by younger poets as masters of ethics, as well as of literary craftsmanship. Foscolo's poem "Dei sepolcri" was inspired by a Napoleonic law which—against the will of many of its inhabitants—was being extended to the city.