Milan

Milan is a beautiful quiet city. After a month in Rome, a city in my opinion even louder and busier than many world centers, this stop was the perfect break from the noisy Italian style. Milan is usually called an industrial city. In many ways it is. It is clearly business centered, with lots of navigable wide streets and clean stores. Nevertheless, Milan doesn’t lose its inherent Italian beauty, which comes out in the gardens, portals, and colorful balconies.

This photo was taken not far from Santa Maria delle Grazie, the church that holds Da Vinci’s “Last Supper”. I noticed that almost every church in Milan is called Santa Maria. When I was wondering through the old central part of the city, all I found was a web of small streets (following the traditional style) scattered with Santa Maria’s. Milan also has a wonderful trolly system, whose trains run almost soundlessly through the city. The trains have only one headlight, and my friend said they remind him of the ones in San Francisco.

When I walked out of one of the Duomo exits, I wasn’t sure where to look for the cathedral. But as I walked up I looked on the building in front of me, and saw the distinctive shadow of its many towers. I turned around and there it was. Il Duomo really has a strange structure. In general it is just a normal rectangular cathedral. However, the triangular roof and the towers look more like a magic castle and sometimes even remind me of Gaudi’s Sagrada Familia. Opposite the cathedral is a large horse statue, probably of Vittoria Emanuele, decorated on the bottom with a beautiful band showing a procession. It is also guarded by a large resting lion, looking over Il Duomo. During the day the piazza is covered with pigeons. But at night the arrangement creates a beautiful peaceful ensemble. 

Although unusual, the Milan Cathedral is still undoubtedly Gothic. This is even more visible when you enter inside. This is the prettiest Gothic Cathedral I had seen before finally walking into Notre Dame de Paris. It is extremely high. The arches around the main nave reach almost to the ceiling. There are numerous rose stain glass windows that are very interesting because of the decoration. As always, at first it seems like the windows are just a beautiful arrangement of colors. As you get closer, you see not only the size of the windows, but also the images, displaying hundreds of stories from the life of Christ. There is also a fairly large art collection displayed along the isles of the cathedral, however, it is hard to admire them, because they are not labeled, and visitors are not allowed to walk through all of the isles. 

To the side of the Cathedral piazza, you find the Galleria Vittoria Emanuele II, Milan’s famous shopping center. Overall, it is similar to any other large shopping mall, but the architecture makes it quite exquisite. It is arranged with two crossing galleries, connected with huge beautiful arches. Because the entrances to the Galleria are large open arches, sometimes when wondering through the center of town, you walk inside the mall without even noticing, then walk through it, and end up again on the Piazza del Duomo.

My last evening in Milan I was looking for a snack. I was walking down the main street next to my hostel and saw a Café Miró sign across the street. It wasn’t anything too special. It was a café with a large bar, but it was also decorated with Miró’s paintings. I ordered a glass of white and a slice of tiramisu. The place was cool and empty, other than the familiar loud Italian barmen.