Our day in Milan began at the crack of dawn so we could see as much as possible (and be out of the kitchen before everyone gets up), so after some hurried shuffling and the retelling of the hilarity that ensued for those in the kitchen the night before (being rained on through the skylights, harassed by drunk tourists, the usual), we said goodbye and good riddance to that mess. We began by walking around the area rediscovering it in the daytime (cloudy skies already, not looking promising for the day). We saw some cool buildings here and there, but the best was wandering around the city as it was completely still and fresh this early; it was almost eerie in the silence, but quite enjoyable as well.
After a quick subway ride we came to the entire reason I came on this journey: the Milan Cathedral. The building took nearly 600 years to build and is the fourth biggest cathedral in the world. This coupled with what we have learned about it made it my most anticipated sight on this trip. The exit into the piazza out front from the subway provided a great view of the massive front façade immediately, and from there I was never disappointed. The building is a gigantic building with countless spires and fantastic ornament covering it in its entirety. We enjoyed the empty piazza and the many cool buildings that frame its edge for a moment before heading towards the Cathedral. As you approach it, the scale of this work really affects you; while every nook and cranny of the façade is detailed in beautiful stone, the overall composition of that much activity is overwhelming. Once inside, the atmosphere shifts from bold and imposing to dark and mysterious. The only lights inside came from stained glass windows (since it was cloudy outside, not much there) and some lights way up at the top, so in general there was a very secretive air to the space. The scale inside is just as impressive, as the gigantic columns explode from the ground and shoot way up to hold the massive ceiling that towers above you.
The center aisle of the church was especially impressive since the view was almost too much for my camera to capture, and the edges are decorated with massive paintings floating above the ground. Although the windows were not very lit up, their minute detail and pure color were still fantastically beautiful, especially in their massive scale (at least three stories tall!). As we moved towards the altar, two transformations began to occur: the scale of the space actually grew as the sides opened into the transept and the roof into the dome, and the space became lighter. This progression caused me to be pulled through the space quite quickly, and the moment when the space expands in all directions was quite fantastic. At either end of the transept were gigantic altars that were highly articulated and told religious stories as they towered into the upper regions of the space. Since mass was going on we couldn’t get up to the space that holds the altar, but we were able to walk around it. The altar space is essentially a small building that sits in the middle of this gigantic space, and the area around it is fantastic as well. Unfortunately we were kicked out of this area as they prepared for more churchgoers to arrive, so I only got a moment to marvel. The dome overhead is unbelievable solely because of its distance from the ground, and for it to appear as gigantic as it does at that height, the structure supporting it must be substantial. Speaking of structure, the size of the columns rivals those in Sagrada Familia, and the way they bulge into decorations of religious scenes at the top seem to have given Gaudi inspiration. The massive towers create quite the forest effect within them, and the floor plan shows their substantial impact on the space.
After relaxing and taking in the overpowering space I worked my way out around the back. Every edge of this building seems to be decorated in the same amazing fashion as the front façade, which is pretty awesome! We met up back here and purchased tickets to get up to the roof before heading to the stairs. The square-spiral stairs were quite a doozy to climb up; especially with as tired as we were already, but the moment we stepped out of the stairwell all the back sweat in the world couldn’t have kept me away. For once the ever-amazing view of the city around us was second to the space we had entered. The multitude of spires and towers shooting up around us was insane, and if I thought that the columns inside were forest-like, I had a new definition of forest-like. The articulation of the ornament up here was again fantastic, and to be walking among the beauty of this design and within the spaces it created was incredible. We walked through this level along the axis of the aisle while trying to enjoy the roof and the views before taking another staircase up to the highest point of the roof.
This final space was exhilarating due to the heights we were standing at, the nature of the spires around us, and the massive tower that dwarfed everything else. Although scaffolding surrounded it, this final piece of the roof-forest was especially spectacular due to its size and the fact that it was already sitting this high. We continued struggling between enjoying the views and relishing the space here before heading all the way back down. After grudgingly saying goodbye, we came back to the piazza and went through the giant Galleria that runs off of it. The scale of this space was great (nothing compared to the Cathedral though), and the glass dome in the center was impossible to capture at once. We stayed in here for a little bit enjoying the crazy amounts of glass above us before continuing through a long series of spectacular public spaces and fountains. The streetscape here is very intimate and fun to walk through, similar in its grandeur to Turin.
We came next to another “castle,” though this one seemed much more like it. The interior space was very reminiscent of a prison due to the mind-numbing repetition of the tiny windows on every one of the otherwise blank facades surrounding the substantial space within. The most interesting part of the space was the series of towers, all of which were different. We got bracelets from a guy here who then harassed us for money, but when I offered him 30 eurocents (all I had) he told us he wanted our money, not change. So we gave him our change and scurried away to continue through this massive courtyard. From there we came to a fantastic park that sat on an axis with a triumphal arch, which was pretty cool to see after traversing the green space. The small public space that the arch sat on was nice as well, with two small twin buildings marking the edge of the street that seemed to originate from the center of the arch. Naturally, we continued down this fantastic axial street before stopping to look at a Terragni project. I found this apartment building to be truly awful; the faded color, rusty painted steel and general disrepair stripped it up any apparent fame due to its designer. We continued down this amazingly green street until arriving at the train station, which we took out to the Metro, and that even farther away from the center.
Out here we found Basilica di Sant’Ambrogio, which was pretty great (the sun came out about now as well!) and that began with a fantastic colonnade surrounding a beautiful and private courtyard. The front façade was framed quite nicely by the edge of this square as well as the two towers on either edge, creating a pretty fantastic approach. The interior was not quite as good, although the in progress-mass atmosphere had a nice effect. We sat for a while outside where we noticed that the capitals for every single column (even those bundled together) were different, and often in completely different styles. We left this space and stopped for some gelato at a really fantastic shop near a park (one flavor was like cinnamon coffee, so good!) where we sat and enjoyed.
Our next stop was at the Teatro Armani by Tadao Ando. Although we couldn’t get inside and therefore only got a glimpse of Ando’s fantastic concrete work, we still enjoyed the hodgepodge of colorful walls, reflective glass, and awesome fenestration outside. After a good deal of walking through some random areas we came to the river and a very upbeat space around it. It was here that we discovered the greatest deal in pizza history: for 3.50 euro, we got a piece that was at least six inches wide at the top and a half inch thick with more sausage than I have ever had on a pizza before. While I am always a quantity over quality kind of guy, this pizza had both!! We sat along the river and enjoyed the sunny weather and our fantastic food before setting off down a pretty great street towards the Basilica of San Lorenzo. A really great colonnade capped the entry courtyard and the austere church was an interesting departure from our recent discoveries. The interior was also very simple and unornamented, and I thought that this plainness was fantastic when coupled with the amount of light coming into the space.
Once we finished there we came took the Metro back to the Cathedral, which was fantastic because the sun shining on it made everything that was good the first time better (I was close to paying to go back up again). We walked around this area next, and saw a cool building that had a mini version of the Gherkin inside of it acting as a ramp way. Next up was the Torre Velasca, or the “Spider Building.”
It was a pretty normal skyscraper type building from the early days of the high riser, but the top presented a pretty fantastic change: there appeared to be a giant beast sitting up top as the rectangular form bulged out for the last six or so floors. There were giant supports holding it up, giving the extra piece a “spidery” effect. From there we continued walking and looking at various interesting and varying buildings until we came to a small Piazza with two small but beautiful churches sitting on them. We sat and drank some water and rested our feet while we planned out the rest of the day. We settled on seeing a housing project by Aldo Rossi, so we took the Metro far outside the city to the land of housing projects.
The area was actually very pretty, there were parks all over the place and there was a discernable calm in the air. We walked over to the housing project and were pleasantly surprised to see a second one right next to it. We worked our way into the area once the gate opened up so we could explore the two buildings. The Rossi building was very plain and white (his deal), and the repetition of the large columns and slabs below created some fantastic axis through the space. We worked our way up through the residential portion avoiding the snake-eye from the occasional resident before splitting up to explore on our own. Having seen enough of Rossi I worked my way over to the other project, a brown beast that looked to me like a giant cruise ship with its many overlapping and seemingly erratic terraces and giant circular stairs (like smokestacks).
The way that these two projects are organized axially along the same entry street with tons of green between them was pretty awesome, and walking in between them was like standing on some cosmic dividing line. From one of the smokestacks I worked my way up through each floor and discovered with great surprise and joy that the interior spaces were colored bright reds, blues, and yellows. These spaces seemed to be color-coded based on program and privacy, which was pretty fun. The interior space was similar to the forest of Rossi’s supports below, but more varying and far more interesting. After working my way all the way up the stair got me up to a terrace that gave a fantastic view out to the whole region and sights of all the different housing blocks. After finishing our tours of the area we reassembled outside and took short naps underneath a tree before setting off for our next destination.
As we worked our way back towards the city we stopped at an area full of construction, one site was pretty awesome and full of cranes! We came to a gigantic building with a large metal structure on top, which we learned was a Convention Center by Fuksas. After walking around the mind-bogglingly large building for a while we determined that we couldn’t get in, but we saw some great parking structures, cool stairs, and more views of the odd metal frame up top. After giving up we got back on the Metro and returned again to the Duomo (still amazing) to see a Santa Maria presso San Satiro, a Bramante church that was closed earlier. Mass was in session at the time so we just took a quick peek in to see it, and it was pretty impressive; the scale was very personal and the atmosphere was lively. The area behind the altar was a pretty fantastic example of Bramante’s mastery of forced perspective (although we had no idea the extent of this example…). The colors were very warm and the use of gold in the decoration really added to the sense of belonging and intimacy. We decided to split up here so a few of us could stay for mass and some could explore. Jon and I decided to go back to the Cathedral to see if the inside looks any different now that the sun was hitting the stained glass.
At the entrance the light came flooding in and hit the nearest columns in such a way that they seemed lighter than the hulking masses brooding in the shadows beyond. This contrast was pretty great and made the transition back onto the main axis (only the side doors were open) that much more interesting. Sadly, there was little change in the overall light condition here because the amount of stained glass, while beautiful no matter the weather, seemed to be surprisingly restricting. However, the post-mass smoke filled the upper third of the interior, which caused the spotlights above to give the space a very mystical and intriguing air above. This new development combined with the already impressive scale of the space made standing here that much more awe-inspiring. After checking out the dome again we left to go stand on the Piazza and do a sketch (I only wrote about it) before checking out a cool festival going on with an Italian Ska band performing.
We all met back up at the church and hurried in to see it before it closed, which is when we learned the true prowess of the perspective. As we walked along the aisle, we could tell the space was shortening; however we could see this originally and I still figured that the columns supporting the coffering above were real. Once we came to the same line as the altar, we realized that almost everything was fake and the space was no more than six inches deep. It was really difficult to wrap my head around this witchcraft, and as we were shooed out of the church I kept trying to understand it from the original view but could not. Sadly, it was starting to get late so we had to Metro it out to the central station to get ready for our train home. We split up for a little bit to see the area and get some food, so my group just wandered around and saw a cool skyscraper that looked like a giant floor fan, an interesting blue-glass façade on some modern building, and a neat church. For dinner we desperately tried to avoid it, but there was nothing in the area that could beat the convenience and price of McDonald’s. After dinner we got on our train to Verona, which had been delayed five minutes into our already tight window between trains, so we were prepared for a stressful moment upon our arrival.
Thankfully, the train was only platform over, so we sprinted down and around and the whole length of it to try to get to the front car in time. Since we were getting on the train at its origin, the chaos of the last night train was temporarily absent, so after a very diplomatic acquisition of my seat, we were on our way to Rome. Sadly, this simplicity would not last long. In our major stop there was some confusion regarding tickets, and the fault turned out to be mine. In the rush to get to the right train car, I never realized that I somehow ended up in a different car from the rest of the group, so I was in someone else’s seat. Even worse, when I went to the correct car it was a familiar scene of mass chaos, so I conceded and sat in the foldout bucket seat in the aisle. Although the back and neck supports (the lack thereof, actually) were better, the placement in the prime bag lugging area kept me from sleeping, so it was a pretty long trip home. I do think I dozed off a few times, but every time I did someone would have to get past me. I guess this is karma for complaining so much about people who can’t figure out assigned seats. When the moment finally arrived to disembark, we all got off and found our final train back from Tiburtina to Trastevere.
After a quick adventure in the most futuristic bathroom ever (like the torture chamber from Star Wars but automated and narrated) we got on the final train and came home. After a final exhausted and sore trek back to our apartment, we were home after the most fantastic weekend that I can remember.
Today was one of the last days we have to explore the city, so first things first I went out to the Colosseum to finally see it. After a bus ride and a great walk along the Imperial Fora (no one is out that early), I came to the line to get in. After a bit of waiting they let us in and thanks to the lack of understanding of how the ticket system works by the people in front of me, I was one of the first people in! The walk along the outer ring after buying the tickets was pretty great and after a devilish set of stairs I was on the main level looking out into the stadium. Once I exited the covered section of this level I was able to walk along the inner ring that gave fantastic views into the arena as well as up to the higher levels. While the space was impressive and it was pretty great to finally be in this famous space, I was a little disappointed by how much smaller it was than I thought. The height of it from the outside was mostly recognizable here, but the amount of structure holding what used to be seating really ate away at this space.
The interior of the church was pretty nice and the wood accents combined with the surprisingly fantastic light coming in gave the area a very peaceful and warm feel. One interesting feature came in the aisles and how they were topped by a series of small domes rather than the typical vaulting system. This plus a rather large structure that sat directly below the dome rather than back in the apse (I couldn’t explore behind it but the space back there looked great!) made this church a nice little find! 
