MILAN

You may have heard the saying “Rome represents Italy’s past and Milan its future”, I never knew what that meant until I visited Milan for the first time in June. Milan like Rome and other places in Italy has its historical sites, monuments and cathedrals but it has fewer tourists, or as I heard one person say “Milanese people don’t care about tourist”. This could be the reason that there were fewer people around the sites and monuments hawking junk and begging, a welcome relief.

Milan was a couple of hours train ride from Rome, we arrived early afternoon and checked into our hotel which was near the central train station but at that time we didn’t know that so we took a taxi. Next to our hotel was a metro station which made traveling about Milan efficient. After settling in to our hotel and freshening up we took to the streets, the first stop was the Duomo. The magnificent massive Gothic cathedral took nearly six centuries to complete and it is located in the center of Milan; it is an amazing architectural structure. When you come up from the metro at the square you are confronted with this beautiful structure. Because the Duomo was in the center of town we saw it almost every day going to and from different destinations.

Juxtaposition to the Duomo was the Paladino Palazzo Reale where there was a modern sculpture of what looked like horses on a snow capped mountain. In the gallery at the Paladino Palazzo Reale we saw two exhibits, at a later date. One day we visited the Triennale Design Museum, the first museum in Italy dedicated to modern Italian design. The museum opened in 2007, it is a dynamic museum, we were able to have get close to and touch some of the pieces on display.

The Piazza Mercanti is a square near the Duomo, surrounded by very interesting historical buildings that represent Milanese culture from the middle ages to the seventeenth century. These include Palazzo della Ragione that dates back to 1200, the Loggia degli Osii, the seventeeth century Palazzo delle Scuole Palatine and Palazzo dei Giureconsulti that stands at the top of Via Mercanti. This seemed to be the spot for young people to hang out and smoke pot.

With regards to art, architecture and sites we saw the ancient and the new from the Castello Sforzesco which dates to 1450. Castello Sforzesco is a majestic building, inside it has wonderful interior courtyards, built in Gothic-Renaissance style and incredible halls, designed by Leonardo, and frescos painted by master painters such as Bramante.

The most famous opera house, La Scala Theater, built at the end of the 1700s some of the greatest names in opera have made their debuts in this theater. We toured the theater and heard a rehersal. One of the highlights for me was seeing some of the original costumes, as you can imagine for those of you that know a little about my costume design background at the Goodman Theater in Chicago.

We saw the Columns of San Lorenzo, the only monument that dates back to the Roman era, which has managed to survive up to the present day. These sixteen columns that stand opposite the Basilica of San Lorenzo are all that remains of an ancient Roman temple that probably dates back to the 2nd century. We had a very nice lunch at a café across from this site. We did not see Leonardo da Vinci painting of the Last Supper, you needed a reservation for that weeks in advance. As a child I remember vividly a cheap reproduction of the Last Supper prominently displayed in our home, this was very common in most Christian homes.

Until we were planning our trip to Milan I did not know that there were canals in Milan, the origins of the Navigli (canals) date back to about 1100, but this stretch of water was only made navigable from the Ticino to the center of Milan at the end of the 14th century, to help transport the marble that was needed to build the Duomo. The neighborhood along the Naviglio Grande and the Naviglio Pavese (that connects Milan to Pavia) make up one of the most charming places in Milan, with the old, typical “case di ringhiera” houses, antique shops and clubs standing on each side. This area was perhaps my favorite area in Milan. We were in this distract early into our trip to Milan with our friends and towards the end of a weekend. On our weekend visit galleries and shows were open all along the canal. We also stopped for lunch at Officina 12, Ristorante Con Forno A Legna were I had the best risotto, with shrimp and chicken (an unlikely combo), I have ever had in my life. My husband had octopus loaf with pesto; I think I will always remember this meal.

Our trip was filled with good food, we only had one mediocre meal and it was at our hotel one night we were too tired to go out at the end of our trip. We dined on the hotels outside Terrance at a table without an umbrella. Our waiter wasn’t happy about working that night and was not up to providing good service, towards the end of our meal a pigeon flew over and relieved itself on my plate, what a fitting end to that meal. We had a good laugh!

We had a wonderful time strolling in the Brera district, one of the most exclusive and fashionable places in Milan; that has an atmosphere vaguely reminiscent of Paris and all of the other neighborhoods. I did a little shoe shopping in Milan, I had too! One day we took the tram going nowhere in particular and discovered a part of Milan that we knew nothing about. We ran into a fashion shot for style magazine and saw a lot of pretty people.

Our time in Milan was perfect we had enough time to see the sights, experience the cuisine from street venders, specialty shops like the famous Milanese food market at Pecks, the street cafes to fine dining. Most importantly we had enough time to just get lost and to experience a place, culture and people.