Milan: Sforza Castle

 This is the Castello Sforzesco right in the heart of Milan. You'll know when you've found the Sforza Castle (which is how you say it in English) because you'll see the wedding cake fountain out front

 It is the second most visited site by visitors, and for good reason.

 Once you enter through the main gate, you are in the courtyard shown in the previous photo, this phot, and the next photo. Kind of like a quiet oasis in the middle of a bustling city.

 The castle was originally built in 1450. For the next 400 years, Milan was in the territory belonging to various groups including at various times the French, the Spanish, and the Austrians. The castle was in such disrepair by 1895 that the city pondered bulldozing it to make way for homes.

 Instead, it was restored in the early 20th century only to be heavily damaged by Allied bombing in World War II. It was once again rebuilt into the beautiful structure we see today.

 Of course, with castles come mice and the smart castle steward will welcome felines as inhabitants, free of charge.

 There are currently museums in the castle which, unfortunately, we did not get to tour because yours truly chose a Monday to visit the castle and the museums are closed Mondays. Oh well....we'll be back.

 If you want to be a little smarter and study up before you come to Sforza Castle, please visit the official website.

 Maybe it'll even explain why these ancient Roman capitals are lined up here.

Well, hopefully I'll have more to say about the castle after the next visit - when it is actually open! For now, we'll just head back out the way we came in...

Milan: Wedding Cake Fountain

 Here's something that's hard to miss if you go to Milan: the fountain in front of Sforza Castle. It is a nice place to sit and cool your heels after a few hours of touring museums and castles, and a fun place to people-watch too.

 Milanese (Millenians? Milani?) call this fountain "tort de' spus", or wedding cake in English, for the obvious reason (or at least it will be obvious when you see the last photo).

 It cycles through a series of levels...first with just the lower rainbow-shaped jets on...

 then the higher jets closer to the center...

  ...then another set of jets inside of that...

...and finally whoosh! It was built in the 1930s during Mussolini's reign, and his "bundle of rods" emblem can be seen around the central vat. The fountain was renovated in 1999.

Milan: The Last Supper

If there is a second thing (besides the Duomo) that you just have to see while you're in Milan, it is the painting "The Last Supper" by Leonardo da Vinci. WARNING: buy your tickets online two to three MONTHS in advance!! If you just stop by while you're there, the chance is practically zero that you'll be able to see it. The painting is located at the Santa Maria delle Grazie, shown above. See those benches around the trees? That is where you'll sit while you wait for your time slot in the room to start.

To get in, they will take a small group of guests (about 20, I would guess) as a group through doors that open Get-Smart style. This puts you into a sealed room where they have you wait for about 5 minutes before doors open on the other side of the room to let you into the dining hall. There, on the back wall, it is. The painting we've all seen reproduced a million times. The actual Last Supper. I don't even like the painting all that much, and I even stood there in awe! Leonardo was here. He painted that in 1495 through 1497. And I'm seeing it now. Deep stuff!

It must have been in every photo I've seen of it, but I did not notice until I was standing in the room...there is a freaking DOOR cut into the painting! See it? That's right ladies and gentlemen, some fool cut a doorway into the painting in 1652.





But wait! There's more! In 1726, Michelangelo Bellotti tried to restore the painting by using oil paint over the original and covering the whole thing with varnish. In 1770, Guiseppe Mazza stripped on Bellotti's work and repainted it again. Public uproar caused this to be halted when all but three faces had been redone. In 1821, Stefano Barezzi attempted to remove the whole painting from the wall intact so it could be stored in a safer location. He badly damaged the center section before deciding that was not such a good idea.

From 1901 to 1908, Luigi Cavenaghi studied the painting very carefully then began cleaning it. By the 1920s, the painting had been stabilized, just in time for the 1940s and World War II when sandbags were piled around it for protection. Finally, from 1978 to 1999, the painting was once again restored because it had deteriorated so badly that it was almost unrecognizable. Areas that were not restorable were painted with muted watercolors to indicate they are not the original work, but instead a restored area. Even with this highly checkered past, I would recommend taking the time to see it. They time you - you can only be in the room 15 minutes so it can't eat up much of your day. Enjoy.

Milan: City Tour by Bus, part I

 We were in bad need of a city overview, so for the first time ever we decided to do a hop-on, hop-off tour. And were we glad we did! If you ever go to a city and don't quite know where to start, we highly recommend starting your time there with one of these tours. In Milan, there is a tour A and a tour B that sort of form a figure 8 around the city. the center of that figure 8 (the only common stop between both tours) is right here in front of Sforza Castle.

 Once we boarded the bus it headed straight for...

 ...Sforza Castle! And by it we went...

 It went by the Cadorna train station, which is where we went on another day to catch the train to Lake Como and Bellagio.

 Let's take a look at some of the apartments available in Milan.

  I think the reason I took this shot is that is shows a public restroom in the foreground. Those aren't very common in American cities.

This shot shows the roll-up metal doors that almost all residential and commercial buildings in Italy have. They do a fine job of blocking out sound and light for sleeping, and securing the building when you are away. They are built-in so there is no obvious roll-up mechanism...you just hit a switch and they disappear into the ceiling.

Milan: City Tour by Bus, part II

 Continuing with our Sightseeing Bus Tour, we came across the Porta Ticinese neoclassical city gate, by Luigi Cagnola.

 And yes, Virginia, they do have Mickey Dees in Milan too!

This is the Saint Eustorgio Basilica, which we will have to tour next time we visit Milan in 2010. It is unclear when it was built, but estimates range from 300 to 500 AD.

 This is the medieval Porta Ticinese gate along Corso di Porta Ticinese, rebuilt in 1865 by architect Camillo Boito in a gothic revival style.

Note what appears to be a gold statue in this park.

And back to Foro Buonaparte, close to where we started!