Milano, take 2

day 3 – giorno tre

This morning we made a point to head to the Duomo first thing and get a cumulative ticket to include terrace access and the multiple related historical points. The church was built to hold 40,000 worshipers which was the population of Milano when the church was started. It’s HUGE. Aside from the size, there’s probably thousands of carvings/statues decorating the facade and massive stained glass windows on all sides of the building. The whole thing is made from a white marble with a slight pink tinge. Much of the building, especially part of the roof, was being restored and hidden behind construction blockades. Not to mention the scaffolding…yikes! It was obvious the sections that had been restored vs those that hadn’t. I could recite more of the information we learned but I’ll get the pictures do their own talking.

After exploring the cathedral we went below the entry to where the remains of the original baptistery had been excavated. It was quite amazing to see the partial brick walls with arched doorways and flooring.

From the Duomo we moved on to the Sforza Castle, now home to many small exhibits and a bit of a maze if you ask me. The main draw for us was to see Michelangelo’s Pieta, unfinished because he died mid-carving. But first we traveled through (what felt like a million) rooms filled with sculptures, huge tapestries, medieval weapons, instruments, and pottery. The most memorable exhibit was da Vinci’s work; a massive ceiling he painted to look like intertwining tree limbs with ropes interwoven as well as a small collection of his drawings. The room he painted had been plastered over and had to be painstakingly uncovered flake by flake. If you haven’t seen them, da Vinci’s knots are amazing.

Room after room after room, stairs, room after room after room, stairs, etc. and finally we found ourselves back in the entry hall. Even Mom had gotten an overdose of art. We were in line for the toilets when I realized we only had 15 minutes before the Pieta closed! So we ran over to that wing of the castle and got in the door just in time.  It’s sad to think of the potential that beautiful hunk of rock had in Michelangelo’s hands, but the unfinished sculpture also gives us a glimpse into the process. I was taken with how smooth Christ’s calf was… it must have been the only part nearly finished.

Cross eyed and hungry, we walked back towards home. A quick piece of pizza and salad at our new favorite joint and we were satiated until our evening glass of wine. Time to get packed up again and ready for a travel day tomorrow!