Milan for a day.

Milan is an intoxicating blend of the old and the new.

This year the World Expo is hosted by Milan. We checked our suitcases into the baggage deposit place - they charge a set amount per piece of luggage per hour, our pile for the day was nearly €60 but better than trying to get around the fashion houses with it in tow. The people working in there were very friendly and patient as they worked through the long queue.

There were lots of staff helping people in the central Metro station - we bought the 4€50 day tripper tickets and made good use of them through the day. Poss and I headed off to the outlet end of town hoping to find Poss a pair of boots for her birthday! We alighted at De Angeli station and hunted down Via Marghera. A hunt on the web suggested this as a top spot. Well it looked a bit dingy and the stores weren't in a big mall like beautiful Gun Wharf Quay in Portsmouth but the second shoe shop we went into had everything Poss was looking for in a Milanese souvenir - the hard bit was choosing only one pair and leaving the matching handbag behind.

Fashion Capital of Italy - some would say of Europe - not that we saw any difference between what the locals were wearing compared to any other 1st world city we've been to!  Perhaps the locals in their designer garb were all hiding because of all the exploration sandals comfortably worn by Expo tourists more interested in sustainable agriculture than fashion.

M, Willow and Petal had disembarked, from the M1 line earlier, at Cardorna. They had a whirlwind visit to Castello Sforzesco and the Parco Sempione, beautiful gardens behind the castle. The castle was originally the ducal home and fortress for the Visconti family.  The last of these left only one child after a long and happy life, an illigitimate daughter.  Sigismund - King of Humgary, Germany, Bohemia and Lombardy(province that Milan is capital of) was crowned Holy Roman Emperor (a secular title awarded by the Pope to his strongest supporter - Charlemagne was the first). He then legitimised Bianca Maria so she could marry his good friend and leader of the Milanese military - Francesco Sforza. The Sforza family renovated the castle and ruled until the French conquered the duchy.

Castello Sforesco - The Tower on in the photo on the left was built by Bona di Savoia to keep an eye on her brother in law  because of her suspicions that he had assassinated her husband, the Duke. All was in vain,  Ludvico(Il Moro) kidnapped his young nephew (who died young in suspicious circumstances), banished Bona - acting as Regent and decapitated her advisor.

The inner courtyard of the castle and the round towers added by the first Sforza Duke (a military man) after he sacked the artist architect and hired a military architect. The French still beat his descendants.

 The last Sforza Duke had banished the rightful heir and his mother who had battled for several years to rule as regent. He was called Il Moro (the Moor) because of his swarthy complexion. Regardless of his Richard III style of gaining power he was popular with his subjects and bought the Renaissance artists and thinkers from Florence to Milan where they found safe haven from the hell-fire preaching torturer Priest Savonarola and his vanity bonfires. DaVinci was never able to complete the giant bronze horse sculpture he had been commissioned to make because Il Moro melted down all the metal he had collected, and made canon balls to fight the French.

This fountain outside the main entrance to the castle was built in the Fascist regime, half destroyed and renovated in 1999.  Its common name is the wedding cake for obvious reasons.  I know nothing about the image on the right but though it was unusually gory and worth a look.

Leonardo's famous Last Supper Fresco still survives despite Napoleon's soldiers using it for target practice and the British and American bombs dropped on the convent it is in - Santa Maria delle Grazie.  To my great sorrow I was unable to secure tickets for the 15min viewing time allowed even though I sought them as soon as our tour bookings were confirmed in Februrary. The Expo has bought so many people to town that they were completely booked out for the day we were there.  Advice is that the best way to get them is to book a tour that includes a visit. This website has a good article about the fresco and links to tour sites which may have tickets available for your trip.  http://www.tickitaly.com/galleries/davinci-last-supper.php  We found that the Italian tour guides are masters at 'upgrading' your experience, charging more for every little extra along the way so double check what you are getting for your money.

Old stories say that Leonardo jumped from the top of the Duomo strapped into one of his flying machine designs and although it glided well enough not to kill him he was still the butt of many jokes as he landed face first into the square below.

To our great delight, one of Willow's school friend's mother was able to meet us for lunch.  Her friend was back in Cambridge working through her holidays. She meet us outside Milan's most famous building - their Duomo (Cathedral). The queues were very long because of the very thorough bag checks by being conducted by the military, E was surprised so went over to one of the soldiers to ask what was going on. The outside carvings kept us staring for ages so I guess you would need a whole afternoon on the inside.

Carved reliefs on the outside of the white Cathedral. The hands and legs have been rubbed by pilgrims for a blessing keeping them shiny and bright.

Many Italian soldiers present checking the crowds going inside the Duomo.

E also took us through the beautiful Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II which claims to be the oldest shopping mall in the world.  Fashion giants, Prada, Louis Vuitton and Gucci - the first two are native Milanese, have contributed money towards its restoration.

The poor symbol of Turin has a spot of wear and tear. Rome's she wolf, Florence's iris(hadn't heard of that one before) and Milan's red cross on a white background are all there in mosaics as well.

Legend has it that if you spin on the testicles of a mosaic bull on the floor of the Galleria you will be blessed with good luck. Petal spun on her heel and hopefully went around enough times to get us all some luck; well luckier than the poor bull who would better be described as a steer now.  I'm not sure it worked because later on when M was purchasing a silk tie (the European stores really know how to do sales - none of this 20 or 30% off - 70% was the norm!) Petal tried on a lovely pair of leather fingerless gloves but they were too small even for her little hand and she had problems getting it off. One of the assistants pounced on her -  perhaps too used to young girls with back packs walking out with stock at a severely reduced rate. We also saw a window display of Fedoras like M's - but not souvenir quality, a quick glance at the sale price produced a gasp or two and we hurriedly moved on.

The Galleria's designer, Giuseppe Mengoni, pioneered an iron and glass, 4 storied covered mall, 20 years before the Eiffel Tower was built. The Galleria was officially opened in 1867 by Vittorio Emanuele II, king of a newly united Italy; but, poor Mengoni the architect and engineer wasn't present, having fallen to his death from the triumphal arch scaffolding a few days earlier.  Some thought the cross design, echoing the Duomo beside it was a little sacrilegious – an altar to commerce. The short arms connect the Duomo Piazza to the La Scala Piazza.

The grand entrance to the Galleria to the side of the Duomo.

On the other side of the Galleria was a palazza with a statue of Leonardo daVinci with four of his most accomplished apprentices around the plinth.  He stands forever in unrealistic garb for his times.

The  statue commemorating a genius Milan helped to nurture. Sculpted by Pietro Magni  in  1872 - 420yrs after he was born.  Each side of the plinth represents the disciplines he excelled in - painting, sculpture, architecture and engineering.

Facing Leonardo is La Scalla Opera House. This was built in 1776 by Maria Theresa (Austrian Empress who was monarch of the region back then). Florence has claim to the first ever Opera - a musical play composed by Jacopo Peri for Ottavio Rinuccini's lyrics - Dafne 1597.  Venice claims the first Opera House - the Teatro San Cassiano built in 1637 but the National Geographic book 'The 10 Best of Everything' names La Scala of Milan, the most famous Opera House in the World. The concave channel under the wooden floor is credited with creating the most superb acoustics. I would have loved to have heard Luciano Pavarotti perform here not far from his birthplace - he is still the best voice for Nessun Dorma ever!!! I am also a huge fan of Cecilia Bartoli a tremendously vibrant Mezzo Sop who is to perform Vivaldi at La Scala in the concert to close the 2015 Expo on Oct 27th - so close! If you will be around and want to check ticket availability go to - http://booking.eventoitaliano.it/en/our-proposals/closing-concert-expo2015-tribute-to-vivaldi-at-the-scala-theatre-in-milan.html#.VdXYsvlVhBc 

Leonardo faces La Scalla

Pavarotti and Bartoli on La Scalla's stage and what they saw at their curtain calls when the house lights came on.

It was lovely to have E with us for lunch who ordered for us and asked all our queries so the very attentive waiter understood. Unfortunately it was just too hot for the Milan tradition dishes of Ossobuco or Saffron risotto. Salads and pizza were the order of the day, Petal left the crust(which she never eats) as a perfect unbroken circle which gave the waiter something to laugh about. We hope, one day to host our Milanese friends down under.

E left us to return to work, we wandered up to look at Pinacoteca di Brera and a display of the students' work from the year. After a gelato we hit the Quadrilatero D'oro and gazed into the windows of their very expensive designer boutiques. After finding a designer outlet store whose 80% off prices were still in three figures, we tried to find some green space for a rest. We passed by a couple of parks that were all locked up and finally came to the Giardini Pubblici. M refilled our drink bottles from a fountain, I think he also washed his eyes out after seeing an elderly Italiano mama strip naked to the waist, wash herself down with wipes then flap her appendages around to dry them off before replacing her blouse at a park bench across from where we were sitting. We caught the Metro back to the Duomo. Poss and the girls wandered into the heart of the more realistically priced stores around Cordusio and M and I had a wonderful hour watching people coming to stare up at the Duomo.

Fashion and Perfume

Hats, ties and shoes - everywhere

Fashion streets in Brera(left) and Quadrilatero D'oro

Pedestrian area on the way to the Duomo with the Metro's big red M and Expo international flags.

After picking up our luggage we bought some salad rolls to eat on the train to Florence for tea. Petal was in a very peppy mood and managed to wheedle a small iced coffee out of the attendant for free. If only there was a profession for wrapping strangers around little fingers - she'd excel. Poss thought this was the best iced coffee of the trip so I think she was particularly in need after a hot and busy day in Italy's capital of commerce.

A variety of sculptures on the streets of Milan.