Milano, Part 2

5/09/10, continued.

Galleria Victor Emmanuel

In the afternoon of that first day in Milano (Wednesday), we had a nice lunch of onion soup in a restaurant in the Galeria Victor Emmanuel (the world’s first shopping mall, I believe), and then went to La Scala, where I had a glimpse of the fully lit loges facing a horseshoe, the stage in front and the flat parterre beneath. Then they closed the viewing loges and darkened the theater for a rehearsal (something Wagnerian, it seemed). We then visited the museum there, an intriguing collection of portraits and statues and mementos, and even plaster hand casts and death masks of famous composers and musicians and performers of La Scala’s illustrious past. One almost feels the passions and intrigue of the artists and managers in their portraits and in the artifacts they left behind in this powerfully iconic building.

La Scala

After visiting La Scala, we went to a small church with a very interesting perspective effect of inlaid marble in the apse. From the entrance, looking down the nave, the apse seemed 20 or 30 feet deep, but if one walked up toward the front, it was clear that the apse was no more than about a meter deep, and that the effect had been achieved with the clear use of perspective. I don't seem to have taken any photos of that - perhaps it was too dark inside the church.

That evening, Guido and his family came over for dinner at his parents’ home, a very pleasant evening. Ricardo came up to me and spoke a few words in English. It was clear that Patrizia and Guido love each other, that she’s a good mother, and that he loves the innocence of his children.

General Giuseppi Misouri on his tired horse

The following day, Thursday, Gianni, Rosanna and I went back to Milano, again by metro, and visited the medieval university of the city. We ate lunch (I had a large, very nice tuna salad) in an open-air café in front of a church near the Place Giuseppi Misouri. He was a general in Ghiribaldi’s army, and his commemorative statue shows him riding on a very tired horse. Afterwards, we went to a jewel of a museum housed in an old palace with a lovely little courtyard, of which the core collection was early Renaissance paintings and ancient manuscripts from throughout the civilized world of the Middle Ages.

That evening, the whole family got together at a very nice restaurant in the town of Bordigheria.  Rosanna said we would be “seeing the night life of Bordigheria,” a sleepy suburb of Milano, not far from the high-rise apartment complex where they live. Nonetheless, the meal was superb and the company (all family, including children) was lively and engaging.