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Lynn was scheduled for an early morning meeting
in Milan on a Thursday. She was to catch a 7 a.m. flight and then
return about 11 p.m. Three days prior to the meeting they asked if
she could stay over for another discussion on Friday morning and
then leave Friday afternoon. This meant she could return home Friday
night. Or Sunday night – what’s the difference? The difference was a
weekend in Milan. How do you spell "I’m there"?
She left as scheduled at 7 a.m. and I booked a
flight leaving at noon. Upon arrival in Milan, it wasn’t just a nice
day; it was screamin’ blue sunshine with bright, clear skies. This
looked like at place where the sun always shines, 24/7. Well, 16/7
at the summer solstice, 8/7 at the winter solstice, and something in
between in between. Have I ever mentioned what a stupid expression I
think "24/7" is? Click
here
for a brief exchange that I had about that subject with one of my
favorite contemporary authors of fiction, David Baldacci.
For the geographically challenged, Milan is in
the northwestern part of Italy about where the Italian "boot" would
hit the knee of the boot wearer. It’s about 25 miles south of the
Swiss border, about 150 miles northeast of Monaco and Nice,
France, and about 300 miles northwest of Rome.
Milan is the place where the Emperor Constantine
legalized Christianity. After the Renaissance came 400 years of
foreign occupation by Spain, Austria, France, and Austria again.
When the revolution came in the middle of the 19th
century, Milan was a center of the activity that finally lead to
unification.
Milan isn’t Rome and we learned that the Milanese
know it. Rome is the center of government and Milan is the center
for business, banking, TV, and fashion. This kind of leads to a
Washington/New York thing because the Milanese think Romans are lazy
bureaucrats and, conversely, Romans think the Milanese live for
nothing other than work. But what do I know? I just read that in a
book. My own observation is that Milan is less spectacular than
Rome, smaller, less ancient ruins, but also gives you much better
odds to still be alive after crossing a street. Milan is small
enough to see in a single sun-up to sun-down day and we thoroughly
enjoyed it.
At the center of Milan is
Il Duomo, the Cathedral (also
here - while there, also click on the caption "Galleria Vittorio
Emanuele") This immense church is the fourth largest in Europe.
Construction began in 1386 and was not completed until the beginning
of the 19th century while that French guy, Napoleon, was
king of Italy during one of the occupations. Local dukes wanted to
get some respect from other dukes and kings in France and Germany,
and this church was the way to do that. Even though domes, like in
the Vatican, were becoming the vogue, the Milanese dukes chose to
stay with the more conservative Gothic style. The outside of the
cathedral is
decorated with hundreds of statues by sculptors from the 14th
through 20th centuries. High above the altar near the
ceiling is a
small red light. At that point is where they keep a nail from
the cross of Jesus which was brought to Milan by the mother of
Emperor Constantine, St. Helen, in the 4th century. I
don’t know where she got it from but I’m happy to believe it’s the
real deal; it makes the story so much better. This nail is on
exhibition for three days a year in September.
Then there’s the roof. One can walk the stairs
(about ten stories) or take an elevator to the lowest part of the
roof. If you look at the pictures, you can see that the apex of the
roof is about another three or four stories higher and for this it’s
all foot power. The roof itself is filled with more statues and
sculptures and when it’s very clear, one gets a great view of the
Alps to the north.
Milan is the home of
La Scala, built in 1778, supposedly the most prestigious opera house in the
world. The theater area is reminiscent of the Academy of Music
in Philadelphia. On the second floor there is a lobby containing
some paintings and statues of people who have performed there. Here
is list of some of those people, past and present. These names are
beautifully melodious and just roll off your tongue. Say them out
loud (quietly if there are people around you; I’d hate to have
anyone think you’re talking to yourself). But don’t say them like an
American; say them like an Italian: Arturo Toscanini, Giacomo
Puccini, Enrico Caruso, Giuseppe Verdi, Luciano Pavarotti, Riccardo
Muti, Giovanni Sollima, Gaetano Siragusa, Gianni Dallaturca,
Maurizio Orsini, Ernesto Chieffo, Massimo Pacchione, Hector
Caroselli. Just beautiful. I owe the last three an apology. They are
my friends who have never performed at La Scala and one of whom has never been to Italy, but I love their names, too.
Between La Scala and Il Duomo, is the Galleria
Vittorio Emanuele, a shopping mall built in 1870 and was the first
structure in Milan to have electric lighting. It’s four stories high
with a glass roof, and lots of art in the form of mosaics and
paintings on the walls and floors depicting Italian history. The
shops are mostly high end. Mostly. There’s a McDonald’s in there.
About a block away is another small church, Santa
Maria presso San Satiro. It seems that in 1242, some gambler lost
the grocery money and couldn’t face his wife so he went into this
church and did what came naturally. No, he didn’t pray for
forgiveness or guidance; he went berserk and attacked a statue of
the baby Jesus. According to the story, the statue started to bleed
and this church has drawn people to it for that reason ever since. I
saw no blood but there is an optical illusion of sorts. Look at this
picture.
You’ll see six candlesticks on the altar and behind it is the apse
leading back to the painting on the wall. Notice the depth from the
candlesticks in front to the painting in back. In actuality, it’s
only about a foot deep as seen in this
picture
taken from the left side of the altar.
A trip to Milan would be incomplete without
seeing the Last Supper by DaVinci, painted between 1495 and 1498.
Our trip was, therefore, incomplete. One has to reserve a time slot
about a month in advance and because we only knew of our trip a few
days in advance, we couldn’t do that. But you’ve all seen the
picture so it’s almost like being there. Someone I used to know
actually said that once. But check
this out. Do you see that arch in front of the table
covering the area where Jesus’ feet would be? That’s not part of the
painting. In 1652, someone decided that would be a swell place for a
door.
Because we saw all that in a day, we spent the
next day in Como, a small town along the lake of the same name. Como
isn’t a place to go to do anything. It’s a place to not
do anything, to just wander around and see what’s there. We walked
along the area by the lake which is ringed with mountains on all
sides. On one hillside just east of town we could see a
funicular
going to the top. There is an old-town here, pedestrian only, that
we walked through. It was after lunch on a Saturday afternoon, which
we thought would be prime shopping time, but most of the stores were
closed. I looked on a door and saw that stores were opened from 9
a.m. until noon, and then again from 3 p.m. until 7 p.m. We had
lunch and there was hardly anyone around. Como reopened after a bit
and became swarmed with people. We walked by a church that was doing
a fund raiser of some sort. They collared us and we didn’t know what
they were saying. After some serious gesturing, we realized they
were taking pictures with silly costumes, gratis they said, but
there was a box to make a donation. Here’s the
picture
they took of us. The cap is mine. The hair is borrowed. Does it look
like anyone else I might be
related to?
See all my pictures of Milan.
See all my pictures of Como.
See all my pictures of the Alps from the air.
See a video from Como. |
