Milan: Duomo and Environs

My sister and I arrived in Milan early yesterday afternoon. My brother-in-law arrived a little later. We went out to dinner in the evening. This morning, I’m off to nearby Bergamo where I’ll spend the night. The preceding is a long way of saying, don’t expect to see much about Milan here. If that upsets you, be sure to complain to the management of this publication.

All I did in my bit of touring in Milan was visit the Duomo (cathedral) and walk around that area a little.

Milan Duomo

If you, like me, are an art and architecture ignoramus and not terribly uncomfortable with being such, what you need to know about the Milan Duomo is that it’s huge and imposing on the inside. It’s also huge on the outside because that’s the way space works. That is to say, that is the way it works unless we’re talking about a TARDIS. But we’re not not talking about a TARDIS. We’re talking about a cathedral. Jeez, people. Try to keep up.

Inside, rows of colossal columns divide the cathedral into a central nave and four side-aisles, with two side-aisles on each side of the central nave. There are a number of tall stained glass windows along the side walls and behind the altar.

The floors are beautifully patterned stone of some sort.

The Duomo contains a variety of statues and paintings. Regular readers know that that’s all you’ll get from me about the paintings and statues. If you’re looking for a more in-depth discussion, please consult the nearest art-historian. All of the art historians I know is a good person. But I don’t know if she wants to talk to you.

The outside of the Duomo is covered with an untold number of sculpted figures. Somebody probably knows how many there are, but they didn’t tell me so, as far as this journal is concerned, the number will remain untold. Again, complain to the management about that if you’re the sort of person to complain about that kind of thing. Some people are grouches and complain about everything.

Not up on the Roof

If you pay an additional fee, you can visit the terraces on the roof of the Duomo. I’ve done that during a couple of previous visits to Milan. I didn’t do it this time because it was raining off and on. With my luck, the rain would be on when I was up there.

The rooftop is uncovered, as rooftops tend to be. And, if I remember correctly, some of the terraces have smooth, stone-tile surfaces. They are probably slippery when wet. I seem to recall my acrophobia being triggered at a few points on the roof during my previous visits. A slippery height would likely be unbearable for me.

So, sorry. There are no pictures of the view from up there on this page. Damn. The management is going to get a lot of complaints about this entry, isn’t it? It’s a good thing the management ignores complaints. Otherwise, dealing with them would be a major burden.

Around the Milan Duomo

I did a little walking around outside the Duomo. The back wall of the Duomo (see picture) is where God sells His advertising. Samsung was sponsoring Him today.

The Galleria Vittoria Emanuele II is beside the Duomo. Even if you’ve never been to Milan, you’ve probably seen pictures of it. It’s famous.

The galleria is cross-shaped. The buildings along the two perpendicular walkways are, I think, three floors high. Arched glass ceilings span between the tops of the buildings across the wide walkways. All four ends of the galleria are fully open to the outside.

The ground level of Galleria Vittoria Emanuele II is lined with restaurants and retail. The retail is of the sort that you could easily melt a few credit cards if you shopped in them. There are four stores in the corners at the intersection of the the walkways. Two of the four are large Prada stores, which are kitty corner to each other. The other two are Louis Vuitton and Dior. The galleria also has a Gucci store and a few other high-end shops.

Holy Shopping

I figure that the idea is, being so close to the Duomo, and because it is allegedly easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter heaven, the galleria wants to help rich people enter heaven.

That having been said, I didn’t check, but I think women’s stores occupy considerably more floor space in the galleria than men’s stores. I believe the quote in the New Testament references rich men’s, not rich women’s difficulty in entering heaven. Maybe rich women get a pass on that. Either that or it’s well past time to rewrite the bible to make it more inclusive.

Whatever. My credit cards stayed, unmelted, in my wallet. And my wallet stayed in my pocket. What do I know from Christian scripture? If extreme poverty is the entry price, then to heck with heaven.