Since the planning committee found out yesterday that the duomo is closed on Wednesday, it’s a must do this morning. We have tickets for the fast track elevator at 10, a gastronomical lunch reservation at 12:30 and no set plans for afterwards. We get up around seven and walk to the Esselunga supermarket for breakfast and a few necessities like deodarant. We’re thinking we’ll be pretty tired in the evening, so we also buy tomatoes, buffalo mozzarella, salumi (dried pork sausage), pecorino cheese with truffle and sfizioso alle olive. We put on slightly fancier, but still comfortable clothes and take the train at nine fifteen. It has a small delay – not the first time we see this – but we have a half hour window for our visit and we make it with plenty of time to spare.
The Duomo Santa Maria Nascente – or the church of the Nativity of Saint Mary – is the largest church in Italy (the Saint Basilica doesn’t count as it’s in the sovereign state of Vatican city – and one of the largest Roman Catholic cathedrals in the world. It took nearly six centuries to complete, only finished in 1965. It has 135 spires, more 2300 statues and is completely composed of white marble.
We take the elevator up to the terrace level of the roof and admire the many embellishment and statues. They really did cram them everywhere, even in spaces not visible from the ground. We walk under the marble flying buttresses, over the marble giant roof tiles and between the marble statues. It’s amazing that it’s so clean (I mean, not black from pollution), but I suppose that’s because they’ve only finished it in the last century. Despite its sheer mass and volume, it still looks elegant and light. I have seen a lot of cathedrals, but this is something else again. It’s a mix of styles because they worked so long on it, but it makes a beautiful whole.
We take a tour on the actual roof of the nave (45 meters high inside), where we can see yesterday’s skyscrapers, as well as the foothills of the Alps in the distance. There’s quite a lot of people up here, taking selfies and generally clogging the walkway. We make our way down on foot and enter the church proper. The interior is surprisingly somber, though the floor is entirely in colorful mosaic and there are three large stained glass windows – the largest pointed arch windows in the world – letting in light. Forty pillars divide the inside into five naves, each of the them decorated at the top with a ring of statues, the choir holds four (4!) organs, it’s quite an impressive space. Next, we visit the archeological site in the cellar under the square and wrap up our visit by admiring the bronze doors (20th century) outside.
On to the gastronomical part of the day: we’ve selected a fancy restaurant which specializes in Milanese cuisine and discover baked risotto (I mean they make risotto and then bake it into a disc with a crunchy exterior), mondeghili, gnocchi and breaded veal, delicious. We finish with a French classic: moelleux, all of it accompanied by a local bottle of Barbera (that’s a grape variety) wine. Satisfied and slightly mellow we make our way back to the shopping district.
We admire the scenery, I get a hair cut, we make customized Lego figurines for the kids and find an Adidas store that sells Y3, finally. We do some window shopping too, looking at Italian brands like Alessi. We make our way home around six, run to catch the train (the conductor opens the door for us) and sit down to enjoy our small dinner.
Febe writes 