And so, with a few hours to spare before I leave for this year’s winter holidays, we come to the end: Milan. The final post, the last photos from our 2023 Italian adventure.
We didn’t spend much time in Milan, a few days only. We flew into Milan when this trip started but we jumped on a train immediately and went to Venice, saving Milan for the final few days of our trip before flying off.
As we only stayed a few days we didn’t see everything in Milan, but we did go to the must see sites: the Duomo, La Scala and, of course, The Last Supper.
The Duomo, officially the Metropolitan Cathedral-Basilica of the Nativity of Saint Mary [wikipedia.org], but that’s more than a mouthful, so we will stick with “the Duomo”, is beautiful. I think I say this about almost every cathedral I visit, but it’s almost always true; they are beautiful buildings. A lot of the smaller cathedrals are very similar, but the Duomo in Milan is in the group of great cathedrals that set themselves apart visually. The roofline of the Duomo in Milan is unique as far as I know, covered, almost to excess with floral inspired carvings and statues. It looks like there is not an inch of the roof that is uncovered. But that’s an illusion, there are walkways on the roof. You can climb up to the top and walk among the spires and statues. It’s amazing.
Inside too the Duomo in Milan stands out. it isn’t stark like and bright like the inside of the Duomo in Florence [wikipedia.org], but dark but airy. I’ve seen photos of the newly renovated Notre Dame [wikipedia.org] in Paris and it’s too bright. I guess its true to the original, but like the idea of vividly painted ancient statues from Egypt, Greece and Rome, it just feels wrong, I prefer the raw marble without garish paint and I prefer cathedrals that soar into the dark high above. The Duomo in Milan feels right, the stone is dark, but the space is vast and it does not feel oppressive. I love the texture of the vaulted ceiling and the shape of the columns.
Near the Duomo we also visited the Galleria Vittorio Emanuel II [wikipeida.org]. I’m not much for the shopping but the building itself is worth a visit. It’s industrial revolution architecture at it’s best. I would say “Victorian Architecture” if it was in England or an colony of the British Empire from the time, but as it’s Italian I’ll stick with “Industrial Revolution Architecture”. It combines the steel work and ornate brick and stone work of the industrial revolution. The central dome is awesome soaring above you.
But, as I said, I’m not much for the shopping. But on the other side of the Galleria from the Duomo is La Scala [wikipedia.org], the famous opera house. It’s not as fancy and magnificent as the Palais Garnier [wikipeida.org] in Paris, but its probably the most important opera theater in the world.
Another very cool, if small, site near the Duomo that we went too was the chruch of San Bernardino alle Ossa [wikipedia.org]. Specifically it’s ossuary, where the walls are decorated with the skulls and other bones of thousands. This is nothing like the Catacombs of Paris [wikipedia.org], where the bones of millions are stacked up gathering dusk. Here the bones are not just stacked up, but used as materials for decorations. There area stacks of skulls, in the shape of crosses packed into walls of femurs (it think), but also little scull and crossbones and other decorative motifs made of bones. A very cool site.
The last sight we saw, on the last day before we flew back home, was The Last Supper [wikipedia.org]. I’ve seen it twice before, but it’s still amazing. It’s not my favorite painting but it’s history and the obvious technical mastery, even in it’s wounded state after so long, make it well worth the visit. I took a ton of photos, as this is the first time I visited it with a good camera (as it was for much of the things I visited for the second, third or forth time this trip, my first time in Italy I took few photos with a film camera as I was poor and my second time I lost my camera —stolen on a train). I any case I don’t expect I’ll go back to see The Last Supper, or many of the other sites in Italy, there is so much more to see in the world.
And so, that was the trip. Venice, Florence, Pisa and Siena, Rome and the Vatican, Pompeii and Milan. Retracing my honeymoon 16 years ago, with my wife and this time accompanied by our daughters.
Now I have a few hours to sleep before I head to Japan for this year’s holiday trip. I made it with a full 12 hours to spare! This year I will also be re-treading old ground, this time in Kyoto, as my older daughter was 18 months old when she visited and my younger daugther has not been there before. They both love Japan but this year will be death by temple and shine.
You can see the full Milan, Italy, December 2023 [flickr.com] photoset on Flickr.