Magnificent Milano
Thursday 15 June – we arrived at Milano Centrale, all baggage intact and into a taxi to head off to our Air BnB. It is in a great location, one metro stop, or 20 minute walk, from the Piazza del Duomo. We were buggered with the day’s travel so decided on a quiet evening – a drink at a local wine bar and then we headed back and ate the still-very-delicious leftovers from our picnic lunch.
Friday 16 June -Milan, the capital of Lombardy, is recognised as one of the world’s four fashion capitals with many famous luxury fashion brands having their HQ’s here. It also hosts several international events and fairs, including Milan Fashion Week and the Milan Furniture Fair. It’s also global centre of tourism receiving millions of visitors every year as well as being a major cultural centre with museums and art galleries that include major works by Leonard da Vinci, such as “The Last Supper”. Once again, Geoff and I have both been here many times so there was no pressure to cram lots in and race around like lunatics. We walked along the Corso Italia which is just at the end of our street and not too far away we passed Bocconi University. This was special for me as my son Dan (and the CTO for royourboat.com!!), spent a term here as part of his FIFA Masters Course which he completed in 2013.
We hopped on a tram to the Duomo (at this stage we didn’t actually realise how close it was to where we were staying) and it was lovely to walk around and see this stunning Cathedral, dedicated to the Nativity of St Mary and the seat of the Archbishop of Milan. It took nearly six centuries to complete, construction began in 1386 and it was completed in 1965. It is the largest church in the Italian Republic, larger than St Peter’s Basilica in Vatican City. This beautiful piece of Gothic architecture has 135 spires, five broad naves divided by 40 pillars and is of brick construction, faced with marble from the quarries which Gian Galeazzo Visconti donated in perpetuity to the cathedral chapter. We even managed to snap off a few photos without too many of the hundreds of people around us in them.
The Milano Monza Motor Show is also taking place this weekend where the circuit is transformed into a “City of Engines” and the racetrack becomes the largest test drive area with kilometres of routes suitable for both two and four-wheelers from every market segment. We were able to admire a few cars placed around the Piazza del Duomo dedicated to the promotion of it.
Then it was into that unbelievably beautiful shopping gallery, the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II, Italy’s oldest active shopping gallery and a major landmark here. The structure consists of two glass-vaulted arcades intersecting in an octagon covering the street which is covered by an arching glass and iron roof. The central octagonal space is topped with a glass dome and the Galleria houses top luxury retailers selling jewellery, books and paintings and those selling haute couture, Prada, Dior, Louis Vuitton to name but a few.
At it’s far end, and beautifully visible through the arch, is a statue of Leonardo da Vinci nestled in a lovely little green square, opposite which is La Scala, the famous Opera House inaugurated on 3 August 1778 where most of Italy’s greatest operatic artists, and many of the finest singers from around the world, have appeared. We were knocking off all the “to do’s” on our list with ease!
Next up was the famous shopping streets of Via della Spiga and Via Monte Napoleone – nice to window shop, definitely no room in the bags to buy anything else (at least until I get to Rome, my last stop of this holiday and where I am buying another suitcase for the overflow I have already left there with my granddaughters, and to perhaps squeeze in another few last minute purchases?!). But wait, what did I say, we walked passed Alessi which I love and I was able to pick up a replacement glass for my coffee plunger at home, that’ll be easy to get back to NZ (not), it can go with the empty gin bottle!!! A walk around to the Bvlgari Hotel where I have previously stayed and where awaiting me was a beautiful purple Lamborghini – I decided it to leave it behind though, no good for me as the boot is too small for my bags!!!).
Finally, a delicious lunch sitting outside in the sunshine at the Emporio Armani caffè … well, somebody had to do it so it may as well have been us!!! Back to the room for a rest before we headed out again as we both had a very important 6.30pm appointment – the hairdressers!!! Thank goodness, mine was out of control and Geoff’s was getting curlier by the minute! Newly shorn, we found a lovely local restaurant for dinner – of course I had to have the Risotto alla Milanese (when in Rome as they say, but this time Milan….)! What a lovely day we have had, all the best sights, food and wines, lots of walking and some good memories to take away.
