Meeting up in Milano!

December 31, 2022 – January 1, 2023

As much fun as we had been having in Parma, Bologna, and Ravenna, we were super excited to reach Milan (or Milano in Italian)!  It was Josh’s (our grandson’s) choir tour that inspired this trip – and we were finally going to be able to meet up with family!

It was quite a distance from the train station to our hotel (Sonder Missori – which I highly recommend if you are ever looking for a place to stay near Milan’s city center!), so we hopped in a taxi and were at the front door of the hotel before we knew it!  The hotel was super accommodating, allowing us an early check-in time!  After getting checked in and settled, we headed to our scheduled 2:00 pm Historic Milan Tour.  This tour began at Santa Maria delle Grazie, which is where the refectory containing the Last Supper painting is located.  The timing was amazing as Brandon’s (our son’s) family had just finished up their tour of the Last Supper painting and were headed to the duomo to leave Josh with Josh’s choir group for the duration of the trip.  I thought we were not going to be able to see Josh before he was dropped off, but somehow Brandon figured out a common intersection on each of our paths!  What fun to have a seemingly random meet-up with loved ones on a side street in Milan!  Hugs have never felt better!

After a short rendezvous, our groups parted ways and Dick and I were off to learn more about this beautiful city of Milan!  Our tour began with a tour of the refectory (dining hall for the Dominican monks) where Leonardo Da Vinci spent four years painting this masterpiece!  It was fascinating to learn the Last Supper is not a fresco!  After centuries of maltreatment, the Last Supper underwent a 20-year restoration, ending in 1999!  Retouches and layers of grime along with coats of varnish were removed, revealing the original detail of Da Vinci’s expressions on the Apostles' faces and the food on the table!  Despite the renovation, the painting remains fragile, so small groups of visitors are allowed only 15 minutes to view the mural. I can only imagine what it must have been like in 1495, when the silent monks ate their meals in this dining hall.  What beautiful meditation and reflection this art must have inspired in them!

On the opposite wall of the refectory is the Crucifixion fresco by Giovanni Donato da Montorfano

It was shocking to learn that, in August 1943, Allied forces launched a bomb strike over Milan in which one of the bombs nearly destroyed this work of art!  Fortunately, years before the attack, officials had guarded the wall of the mural with scaffolding and sandbags.  Miraculously, despite the building being virtually demolished, the wall of the mural was still standing when the bombing ended!

Following our tour of the Last Supper, we toured Santa Maria delle Grazie and the gardens outside of it.  Extensive damage was done to this church as well during the bombing.

Next, we headed to Sforza Castle, located just outside of the historical center of Milan.  This castle was a fortification built in the 15th-century by Franceso Sforza, who was Lord of Milan at the time.  While we only had a short time to take in the castle and its grounds, this would be an amazing place to spend an entire day!

Connecting the castle to the famous Piazza Cordusio is a delightful pedestrian street called via Dante.  Again, I wish we would have had time to explore some of the stores and restaurants along this corridor!  This tour is a wonderful way to acquaint yourself to the area! Not far from the piazza is the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II, Italy’s oldest active shopping gallery!  It opened in 1877.  It has a glass dome in the center of it, with barrel glass and steel roofs extending in all four directions from the dome.  This is a very high-fashion shopping mall and would have been super fun to explore – if they allowed me in any of the stores!  I left all of my haute couture clothing back in the camper!

Adjacent to the Galleria is the famous Duomo di Milano!  As we were standing admiring it, the sun was setting.  Just as the sun went behind the horizon, the duomo was lit up!  It was golden and almost glowed in the dark!  Magical is the only way to describe the moment!

That ended our tour and we were off to meet Brandon’s family for a New Year’s Eve dinner!  We had made reservations at a pasta restaurant that appeared to be casual and family-friendly, considering we were going to have an 18-month-old in our group still suffering from jet lag!  Unfortunately, we had some mixed wires in communication as, when we arrived, the restaurant was closed for the holidays!  No worries!  San Lorenzo Osteria Bistrot was across the street and was preparing to open in the next hour.  Dinner in Italy doesn’t typically happen until 8:00pm so, although they were completely booked with New Year’s Eve reservations, they were willing to open up early for us!  We had such an amazing dinner, enjoying the typical antipasti of thinly sliced meats and cheeses, red wine, and various pasta dishes!  Although it wasn’t a casual restaurant, they put together a table for us near the front and could not have made our New Year’s Eve celebration any more special!

The new year of 2023 started in style for us, with Josh’s choir singing during a mass held at the Duomo di Milano!  This enormous cathedral took 600 years to complete.  There are 3,400 statues that adorn this duomo and Josh’s choir had the opportunity to climb to the rooftop and see them up close and personal!  Josh described it as “walking among a forest of statues”!  The Madonnina that sits at the very highest point of the duomo is over 4 meters tall and rests atop a spire 108 meters from the ground.

The entire duomo is covered with Candoglia marble. The duomo was given exclusive rights to the quarry where this marble comes from.  You won’t find this very pure marble anywhere else in the world.

It was beyond amazing to hear the voices from the choir of the Cathedral of the Madeleine fill the enormous space of this duomo!  This is what we had come for!

Following mass, we were all a bit hungry and there happened to be some street venders set up outside of the duomo!  We tried some of their delicious suppli and quickly fell in love this rice- and mozzarella-filled breaded treat!  Eva and Zoe were especially fond of them!

Before we knew it, it was time to leave this city and head to Florence.  Our time in Milan was way too short but, once again, I guess it’s best to leave us plenty of reason to want to return!

Next Up:  Florence!