Milan. High-class fashion, yes, top football, yes, but otherwise on first sight it’s just another big city, with lots of busy people, loads of tourists, rush rush rush.
With only a couple of nights here I’ve zoomed in on a couple of sights and I’ll use the rest of the time to see if anything else crops up and see what else I can pick up about this huge city. Oh, and chill out before the flight home.
Out of the central station we go, and it’s … well, grand…
Surprise, surprise, its grandiose monumental feel was the result of the Fascists getting hold of the design towards the end of construction. Frank Lloyd Wright liked it. It must be the interior he liked. Which is cool.
Getting over the shock, it’s off to the hotel, then out on the underground. And the first thing to head to?
It’s one of those great sights that still takes your breath away once you see it for real, however many times you’ve seen it on TV and the like. The other surprise is that, although work started on it in the 14th century, it continued on and off through subsequent centuries until the last portal, the very last detail, was completed. In 1965. A living cathedral in more ways than one.
Details from the main door. While fitting in well with this great Gothic pile, it was actually inaugurated in 1908.
Fancy a look inside? If you’re nervous following your Lucerne bridge trauma, don’t worry, you’re in for a lovely, innocent Gothic/Baroque treat. Here we go!
The apse. You might just be able to pick out the red light of the medallion in the ceiling. This is where the Holy Nail is kept, a nail from the Crucifixion. Once a year the archbishop removes the nail and parades it amongst the people. I think he gets up there by way of the Holy Jetpack. Anyway, what a lovely story!
Here’s an alterpiece depicting the presentation of Mary to the Temple. At the top of the stairs waits a rabbi with his faithful, while the proud parents Anne and Joachim stand to the left. And Mary? She’s the adorable little girl at the foot of the stairs. How sweet! How innocent! How not gruesome at all!
And that’s not the most famous piece of art in the Duomo either.
Here it is, St Bartholomew, in the middle of his martyrdom, having been flayed so – that – his – skin…is…err…hanging off – his – body before – his beheading … err…
…and next door to the Duomo is the world-famous Victor Emmanuel arcade. Retail therapy?
La Scala.
Unfortunately there were not many concerts going on that I could sing about during my stay. Worse, that final meal I mentioned last time I was going to have to skip. Bookings to see Da Vinci’s Last Supper were filled some time ago, and rightly so.
So it looks like I can be choosy about what I take a look at tomorrow, which isn’t a bad thing. More later!
orwellianTwo 