Adventurous Maite: Italy 2: Milan (17th September 2012)

17th September (Monday)

My stay in Milano

I arrived in Milan by train and I stayed two nights in a central hotel close to the station called Hotel Calypso in Via Errico Petrella 18, an area which offers excellent public transport links around Milan by both metro and tram. Basic facilities for 2 nights stay at reasonable price. The room with a private room and TV, was quite small and old but clean

I've met my friend Jairo at hotel's door and we went to visit the most important places in Milan. Firstly we decided to go to the Cathedral Square: Piazza del Duomo, the main piazza (city square) of Milan

Il Duomo: this amazing cathedral took nearly six centuries to complete and it's the fifth largest cathedral in the world and the largest in the Italy. This is definetely the symbol of Milan and one of the sacred places to visit. It was built in the Gothic style and today it's the biggest Gothic catedral and second biggest Catholic cathedral in the world

The piazza marks the center of the city, both in a geographic sense and because of its importance from an artistic, cultural, and social point of view

Rectangular in shape, with an overall area of 17,000 m2 (about 183,000 sq ft), the piazza includes some of the most important buildings of Milan (and Italy in general), as well some of the most prestigious commercial activities, and it's by far the foremost tourist attraction of the city. In the photo below you can see the Statue of Vittorio Emanuele II

Mondadori Megastore - Multicenter

The Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II, in between two buildings. Built in 1877

Pictures inside The Duomo

It's true that everyone have to cover their arms when visit The Duomo. Both men and women have to have at least their shoulders and knees covered; so even when it's 40°C outside, no skimpy tops, spaghetti straps or bare midriffs are allowed inside. Shorts and skirts should be knee length to cover knees. Sleeveless or short-sleeved shirts are fine. There're staff checking everyone's dress and without the appropriate dress you may be asked to leave. Fortunately pictures are allowed. Books and information materials about Duomo are also available inside

Indoors, still beautiful, but not comparable to the outside

You can enjoy pictures, statues and glass-paintings

Big paintings. In the interior, there are two parts with banks for prayers, as well as numerious niches on both sides

Exhibit space devoted to the most important figures of Christianity. The first one is St. Ambrose, the holy bishop of Milan and one of the four Latin Doctors of the Church

Cardinal Andrea Carlo Ferrari, Archbishop of Milan. Milan has had its share of prominent Roman Catholic cardinals, and a number of them are buried along the right aisle of the church. The mummified remains are encased in glass. Each late cardinal has a silver death mask, put the mummified hands peak out of the sleeves of their albs. It’s actually a little gruesome

It's dark inside but is partially illuminated by the hundreds of prayer candles lit by visitors

A nice marble holy water fountain in the Cathedral

Interior views of the Duomo leading up to the altar

Statues Inside Il Duomo

Let's go down to see the crypt of Charles Borromeo

The crypt of St. Charles Borromeo

The sign: "Reliquie di San Carlo Borromeo, Cardinale Arcivescovo di Milano" (the relics)

More pics of the nave of the Duomo, beside and below the baroque and pompous crypt

Magnificent structure with countless detailed pinnacles, spires, and statues

Stained glass windows of the Duomo

After the Cathedral visit we went for eating pizza in Spizzico in Piazza Duomo. Excellent Italian food freshly prepared authentic Italian food in a casual family-friendly environment. I LOVE ITALIAN KITCHEN!!! Of all my trips Italy is the best place where I ate

The Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II is one of the world's oldest shopping malls. Housed within a four-story double arcade in central Milan, the Galleria is named after Vittorio Emanuele II, the first king of the Kingdom of Italy. It was designed in 1861 and built by Giuseppe Mengoni between 1865 and 1877. The architecture is amazing

Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II from inside the arcade

Louis Vuitton boutique. Galleria Vittorio Emanuele is a popular elegant and exclusive shopping area in the city. The picture shows the entrance with the LV logo and symbol and the three large windows with LV products

Mercedes Benz Concept store

Prada store

The mosaic floor is another work of art. On the ground of the central octagonal, there are four mosaics portraying the Coat of Arms of the three Capitals of the Kingdom of Italy (Turin, Florence and Rome) plus the Milan's. Tradition says that rotate on themselves with the heel of the foot on the genitals of the bull mosaic portrait on the floor, bring good luck and I did it... Vedremo xD

A view of the shops and coffeehouses in the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II

The Galleria is often nicknamed il salotto di Milano (Milan's drawing room), due to its numerous shops and importance as a common Milanese meeting and dining place

Gucci, another luxury shop.
There were so many high end brand name stores; Gucci, Prada, Louis Vitton and more...

Fans Shop. Official merchandise sales of Italian Serie A, B, Premier League, clubs and National Team are becoming more and more a key element in the football business

Statue of Leonardo da Vinci located in Piazza della Scala. Piazza della Scala is a pedestrian central square of Milan, connected to the main square of Milan, Piazza del Duomo, by the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II passage. It's named after the renowned Teatro alla Scala opera house, which occupies the north-western side of the square. The centre of the square is marked by this monument of Leonardo da Vinci by sculptor Pietro Magni (1872)

La Scala opera house. La Scala (abbreviation in Italian language for the official name Teatro alla Scala) is a world-renowned opera house in Milan, Italy. The theatre was inaugurated on 3 August 1778 and was originally known as the New Royal-Ducal Theatre alla Scala (Nuovo Regio Ducale Teatro alla Scala). The premiere performance was Antonio Salieri's Europa riconosciuta. After the Paris Opera House, perhaps the second most famous opera house in the world

Most of Italy's greatest operatic artists, and many of the finest singers from around the world, have appeared at La Scala during the past 200 years. Today, the theatre is still recognised as one of the leading opera and ballet theatres in the world and is home to the La Scala Theatre Chorus, La Scala Theatre Ballet and La Scala Theatre Orchestra. The theatre also has an associate school, known as the La Scala Theatre Academy (Italian: Accademia Teatro alla Scala), which offers professional training in music, dance, stage craft and stage management

Palazzo della Banca Commerciale Italiana

This is a classical tram adequately equipped and enriched by a "ATMosfera" colonial model Orient Express with restaurant service. Travelling dinner for tourists

Caffetteria-Ristorante Teatro Alla Scala Il Marchesino

Palazzo Beltrami viewed from Via Santa Margherita

Museo Teatrale alla Scala in Largo Ghiringhelli 1

The Museo Teatrale alla Scala (Scala Theatre Museum) is located inside the famous Teatro alla Scala opera house, one of the leading opera and ballet theatres in the world. The museum covers Italian theatrical history in general, as well as the history of the opera house itself. I feel very lucky to have been there :)

Pictures inside the Museo Teatrale alla Scala (Scala Theatre Museum)

The La Scala Theatre Museum is one of Milan’s most important museums. It was founded in 1913 in the city’s historic La Scala Theatre in Milan, and preserves the history of theatre through its collection of instruments, portraits, busts, clothing and documents. From the halls of the museum, you can also admire the theatre itself, the great work of architect Giuseppe Piermarini

Teatrical Museum at the Scala: Posters

Poster

The museum features objects such as costumes, set designs, musical instruments (including a piano once belonging to Liszt) and paintings of actors and musicians. The Biblioteca Livia Simoni, the museum’s library, contains over 140,000 works on opera and ballet, including librettos, magazines and the correspondence of musicians, actors and dancers

Hall

Bust of Puccini

Biblioteca Livia Simoni - "Livia Simoni" Library

When it opened in 1913, the Museum had a library of around 10,000 volumes, for the most part critical literature, theatre history, scores and biographies. In the early 1950s, the 54.000-volume legacy of Renato Simoni bolstered the size of the collection at the library which, as specifically requested in his will, was opened as the “Livia Simoni” Library in memory of Simoni’s mother. Over the years, the collection was increased by donations of books from Ruggero Ruggeri and Arnaldo Fraccaroli, which brought the number of volumes to a staggering 150.000, making the library one of the largest at home and abroad in its specialist field

The oldest volume contains the comedies of Plautus, printed in Venice by Lazzaro Soardi in 1511. There are 363 sixteenth-century texts, most of them of exceptional value or rarity. The collection boasts over 400 seventeenth-century works, and an exceptional number of volumes from the eighteenth century onwards. The library’s adjoining archive contains 2.255 sketches, 6.959 figurines, 3.000 playbills, 6.000 opera librettos, 10.300 signed letters by actors, directors, composers and singers, 30 complete opera manuscripts (including Verdi’s Messa da Requiem and Rossini’s Tancredi) and 300 loose sheets (with pages of Verdi, Rossini, Donizetti, Puccini and Beethoven), 7.000 photographs and 10.000 engravings

Highlights of the museum include:

The death masks of famous composers like Giuseppe Verdi
Franz Lizst’s piano
Toscanini’s baton
Verdi’s top hat, portrait, wives’ portraits, and other miscellany that belonged to or depicted the composer
Cool portraits
Costumes
Ancient musical instruments

Nice ceramic figures

Bust of Maria Malibran by sculptor Abbondio Sangiorgio

Portraits of famous Italian composers and maestros and their spouses

Bust of Rossini

Portraits and busts of famous opera singers

Ernesto Fontana - Ritratto di Edoardo Sonzogno editore (1892)

Ernesto Fontana - Portrait of Edoardo Sonzogno editor (1892)

Musical Instruments

Other remarkable exhibit: the archaeological collection of coins.

I considered very interesting this ancient coins collection

Stairs

Expansion of the museum promoted by Associazione Gli Amici del Museo Teatrale

Enrico Caruso bust. An important Italian operatic tenor who sang to great acclaim at the major opera houses of Europe and the Americas, appearing in a wide variety of roles from the Italian and French repertoires that ranged from the lyric to the dramatic

Bust of Maria Callas, one of the most renowned and influential opera singers of the 20th century. Her musical and dramatic talents led to her being hailed as La Divina

A beautiful painting of Maria Callas

The toilet door. I changed clothes

La Scala auditorium

A visit to the Museo Teatrale alla Scala ( Museum) also includes a visit to one of the boxes where you can look down on the stage. If the theatre is being used, you may not be able to go into the box, so check on the board outside or ask when you buy your tickets :-)

Preparing the stage setting for next performanc. We could see the final part of an essay for a play. Theoretically you can not take pictures with flash here but I took these three!

Rows of private theatre boxes line the walls of La Scala. The interior is amazing. Opulent and elegant, it's everything that such a legendary and prestigious place should be!!!

Church of Saint Fidelis of Como (Chiesa di San Fedele), located in Saint Fedele Square in the centre of the city, near the Palazzo Marino, the Teatro alla Scala and the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II. This church was commissioned by Charles Borromeo from Pellegrino Tibaldi (1559). We can see also the Monument to the novelist Alessandro Manzoni. The monument to Manzoni is a bronze sculpture of Francesco Barzaghi, erected in 1883

Gelato e genio italiano

Italian chocolate ice cream, coffee, pastries and design

Piazza del Duomo

J.D.C. Urban Store

More pictures in Piazza del Duomo

We went back to the Fans Shop but this time we entered the store

Afterwards, we went to the Ferrari Store in Piazza del Liberty, 8

Pictures before entering

Inside the store. Ferrari Formula 1 in exhibition

Pics after shopping (I bought 3 Ferraris 1:18 scale models)

Centro Storico di Milano / The heart of the historical centre of the city.

Galleria Passarella (H&M, Alcott)

Rene Caovilla boutique in Piazza Duomo, third floor

The National Police

Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II - The entrance

Duomo area

BikeMi station . BikeMi is a public bicycle sharing system in Milan, Italy. It was launched on 8 December 2008 and is contracted to and operated by Clear Channel on the basis of its SmartBike system. The scheme encompasses 4,050 bicycles and 216 stations

Behind me: Bar Duomo-Bristot Caffé and Dolomiti Sport store in Piazza Duomo

Before go back home we went to a McDonald's in Passaggio Duomo, 2

And again And again sightseeing in the city centre. Unicredit Bank building in Piazza Cordusio. Piazza Cordusio is a square in central Milan

The Palazzo delle Poste and the old Milan Stock Exchange palace

The palace: The Palazzo delle Assicurazioni Generali is the main one in the square, and was built by architect Luca Beltrami from 1897 to 1901. It's the main headquarter of the mega-finance corporation. Assicurazioni Generali S.p.A. is the largest insurance company in Italy and one of the largest in Europe

Statue of Giuseppe Parini in Cordusio Square. Parini was an Italian Enlightenment satirist and poet of the neoclassical period. He died in August 1799 in Milan

Milano Tram line 12

Via Dante (Inevitably I remembered my Dante ^_^)
I called my chow chow Dante in honor of the famous Italian poet

Via Dante is an important and elegant pedestrian street in central Milan, Italy, connecting Piazzale Cordusio (Cordusio (Milan Metro)) and Largo Cairoli (Cairoli (Milan Metro)). It is very near to the city's Castello Sforzesco and is named after the Florentine poet Dante Alighieri. It is known for containing several theatres, shops, restaurants, cafés, palaces and bars. The street is flocked by numerous fine buildings, mainly from the 18th and 19th centuries. Notable ones include the city's Piccolo Teatro, (literally "small theatre")

Until 1958, Via Dante contained several transport links and a tramway line, but eversince 1996, the street is fully pedestrian. This is my favourite street in Milan :-)

Via Dante leads directly towards the Castello Sforzesco (Sforza Castle)

Piccolo Teatro di Milano

The Piccolo Teatro della Città di Milano (translation: "Little Theatre of the City of Milan") is a theatre in Milan, Italy. Founded in 1947, it is Italy's first permanent theatre, and a national "teatro stabile", or permanent repertory company, and is considered a theatre of major national and European importance

The theatre has three venues: Teatro Grassi, in Via Rovello, between Sforza Castle and the Piazza del Duomo; Teatro Studio, which was originally intended to be the theater's rehearsal hall; and Teatro Strehler, which opened in 1998 with a seating capacity of 974

Its annual programme consists of approximately thirty performances. In addition, the venue hosts cultural events, from festivals and films, to concerts, conferences, and conventions, as well as supporting the Paolo Grassi Drama School

Flags for Expo 2015 in Via Dante. In 2015 Milan will host the Universal Exposition. One of the things you I noticed about Milan city centre are the flags on Via Dante and Corso Vittorio Emanuele II. They're the flags of the nations who are going to be taking part in Expo 2015, and as the months have been going by the flags have been increasing and slowly working their way up past Piazza Duomo and along Corso Vittorio Emanuele.

Expo 2015 was officially announced on the 23rd of November 2010, and since then the city of Milan has been preparing to host the event

The Palazzo delle Assicurazioni Generali

Del Mare 1911 store, founded more than 100 years ago in the centre of Turin, in 1968 Del Mare 1911 relocated its fashion design studios in Milan. This store is located in Via Orefici 5

Above this building of via Torino the red sign of the eyeglasses company Ray Ban

Pull&Bear store in Via Torino 22

We (Jairo & me) were going to the Fnac store because I was looking for some books and DVD's by Tiziano Ferro! I tried my luck taking advantage of my visit