Italia Day 3: Milano

Well I accidentally deleted what I had written about Milan, so I guess I'll start over. We reluctantly left Tuscany Sat morning and made it to about the Hotel Green House in Milan about noon. We hopped on the underground subway (Metro) which took us directly to the city center.

We met Margarita, the guide for our small tour of 'The Last Supper', at Piazza Stazione and walked to the monastery/church where the painting was originally established - on the wall of the monks' dining hall. Unfortunately, the other side of this wall faced the kitchen. Due partly to the heat & steam from cooking and largely to the bombing of the building during WWII by the British, the painting was significantly damaged. For the next 50 years, several painters tried to restore the painting by 'touching up' or fixing faded/damaged areas, trying to match the paint colors. However, this was not a good solution for many reasons - primarily because it was no longer an original Da Vinci painting. Eventually a team dedicated to the 'real' restoration of the painting spent about 50 years carefully removing the many layers of paint that had been added by other artists. Although it is much faded, the current painting that rests in Milan is considered an original by Da Vinci. We only had 15 min to look at it, but there was so much expression in the faces & body language of the 12 apostles. Lots of meaning, symbolism, Biblical references.... Amazing.  Oh and of course for its protection, no photos.

the monastery (rebuilt after WWII)

where the painting now rests

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The last part of the tour involved walking around a castle: Castello Sforzesco. Leonardo Da Vinci spent a lot of time here after painting "The Last Supper".

 

real people statues for $
they would randomly wink at you & stuff

Our last tickets were for the Milan Cathedral rooftops! Another WOW.....

 

 

  

 

 

 

it started pouring rain!

The rain directed us inside this fantastic church.

 

 

the door

along the entryway

a center of shops/cafes/restaurants
across from the Duomo

We went back to the hotel to rest & get cleaned up for dinner. But then it started pouring rain again! And this hotel did not have a restaurant in/next to it, so we borrowed an umbrella from the concierge desk and headed back to the Metro (luckily, a 5 min walk from our hotel)! We got off at the Porta Genova stop and found a little place called Woodstock3 that had pizza & pastas. I tried adding a side of meatballs to the penne pesto dish (none of the pasta dishes came with meatballs - a few were made w/ham or bacon), but the waiter didn't understand what I was asking. He called 2 other guys over to try and figure out what I was talking about. Me- "Meatballs - small, round balls of meat. Ya know?" Them- "Uhhh... round pasta?" Me- "No..... tonto carne." Anyway, it turned out they don't serve meatballs, but it was pretty funny to see all these Italian men trying to understand.