He finally went to Milan

Updated 11/30/2025

Milan, 10/3 - 10/8/2025

Impressions: It kind of reminds me of San Sebastian in the Basque Country, but 10 times larger. If the rest of Italy is like this, another impression is that the Italians do not play when it comes to their civic and religious architecture.

The center is absolutely packed with tourists like yours truly, even off-season - I can't imagine what it's like in the summer.

A random building (un palazzo?) I walked by

Milano Centrale, inside — Milano Centrale train station, inside. Like I said, they *do not play.*

Milan Porta Nova 1 — Porta Nova, Milan's "city of the future" according to something I saw in a Rick Steves guidebook in the apartment. I think I prefer my European cities not so modern - we have plenty of this in the States (and everywhere else in the world).

Milan Porta Nova 2 — STOP! Zoom in. **The whole exterior** is peppered with greenery. While I would certainly love for one of those terraces to be mine, I'm also curious if it does anything in terms of green heating/cooling.

View from atop the Cathedral towards Porta Nova, with the Alps in the background.

La Scala Theater — La Scala, famous for opera. Who doesn't love opera?! Me.

Milan Obeys Giant — I DO love that Milan obeys Giant, as well they should.

A random intersection near Porta Venezia — A random intersection near the Airbnb - why can't every city look like this?

Chiesa Santa Maria alla Porta - ~~I'm sure it's awesome inside and I hope to get in there before I leave.~~

Chiesa Santa Maria alla Porta, interior — I did get in there and there are no awesome paintings, but the architecture and sculpture are pretty sweet.

Accommodations

A perfectly reasonable little studio that's not right in the center but is maybe a 20 minute walk from the Duomo and 40 minutes from The Last Supper. First time getting in was a learning experience but the hosts provide you with a video that makes it pretty idiot-proof. There is an interior courtyard that will be sweet once the construction finally ends.

Milano Casa from the street — The Milano apartment, from the street

The Last Supper

First order of business was to try and finagle my way in. Who'd have thought it would be difficult to see what is perhaps Leonardo daVinci's greatest work? By the time this was on my radar tickets were long gone, and an in-person visit to the ticket office was fruitless. The inside of the church itself is nice enough, but I saw better just wandering into random churches (keep reading).

The actual church, which is nice enough but nothing to write home about.

Where The Last Supper lives — As close as I got to The Last Supper.

Chiesa Parrocchiale di San Francesco da Paola, 10/3/2025

If I understand right this is just a parish church, and I just happened to run across it on my way from one place to another. I mean why shouldn't they all have ceiling frescoes and amazing paintings and gilded decorations? I guess this is why the church asks the faithful to tithe.

Chiesa Parrocchiale di San Francesco da Paola from outside

Chiesa Parrocchiale di San Francesco da Paola ceiling fresco

Chiesa Parrocchiale di San Francesco da Paola painting (one of many)

Castello Sforezco, 10/4/2025

It was originally for defense, then it was a palace. It's a huge piece of historical architecture; that's nice, but how is the art inside? Yes, it has Michelanglo's unfinished Pieta, but... not to be snarky about it, I prefer my Michelangelo finished, as the master himself would have wanted. What about the rest of it?

It did not disappoint.

Castello Sforezco main entrance — The main entrance

A corner of Castello Sforezco — This place is huge

2nd view of a corner of Castello Sforezco

Castello Sforezco courtyard — A panoramic inside the courtyard

Time for art

Castello Sforezco mystery painting — We'll lead with this one. Sorry my friend - I really like your painting but I neglected to get your name!

Lots more art from Castello Sforezco

Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II

Maybe I wouldn't hate shopping so much if all the malls looked like this.

Galleriea Vittorio Emanuele II exterior 1

Galleriea Vittorio Emanuele II exterior 2

Civico Tempio di San Sebastiano, 10/4/2025

You need to go inside every church you walk by. You might see something amazing!

Civico Tempio di San Sebastiano exterior

Civico Tempio di San Sebastiano altar painting

Basilica San Lorenzo Maggiore, 10/4/2025

This one wasn't amazing but the mosaics are from the 4th or 5th century so that's pretty cool. Compression from my phone's camera kind of made a mess of it, but each of the mosaic tiles is around 1/2 inch or 1cm.

Mosaic from Basilica San Lorenzo Maggiore

Museo del Ospedale Maggiore Policlinico, 10/4/2025

It's a hospital. It has a museum, with an exposition of portraits of some of their big donors over the years. No, this wasn't on my list but I happened to walk by it. Same rule as the churches!

Museo del Ospedale Maggiore Policlinico exterior

Portrait of Ellade Crespi Colombo, by Cesare Tallone, 1905 - 1906. Does this remind anyone of John Singer Sargent?

Portrait of Annamaria Sangregorio by Kumi Cristina Watanabe, 2025. Sad story - the donors' daughter died, so they decided on a portrait of her rather than them.

Il Duomo (the main cathedral), 10/6/2025

Did I mention the Italians don't play when it comes to religious architecture? Apparently this is the third largest cathedral in the world (or maybe just Europe?), behind St. Peter's in Rome and the one in Seville, Spain. You can go up onto the roof and it's worth the price if you're into elaborate sculpture and spires, which I kind of am.

Check out closeups, spires, sculpture and stained glass

Chiesa San Sopolcro, 10/6/2025

Golly what a surprise! Some random unassuming little church with some amazing stuff inside.

Chiesa San Sopolcro, painting 1 — I would include credits if I could - I can never find them anywhere.

Chiesa San Sopolcro, interior panorama — A panoramic inside the church

Chiesa San Sopolcro, sculpture — This ain't a painting - it's a full on sculpture. Like a Christmas diorama if a pro executed it.

Pinacoteca Ambrosiana, 10/6/2025

A medium-sized museum that has a bunch of Titian, and sketches and paintings by Leonardo daVinci. They claim to have the largest consolidated collection of his drawings. That might be true, but they're all either designs for artillery / siege engines, or studies of geometry. And the paintings... well, let's just say I find Leonardo to be a much better draftsman (drawing) than painter, and that includes the Mona Lisa. Flame away, haters.

So let's lead with probably their best item:

School of Athens Cartone — This is a *cartone* of Raphael's School of Athens, the finished version of which is in the Vatican. A cartone is a life-size drawing by the master's own hand, that was used by his employees to transfer the design onto the wall where it was frescoed. This man could draw AND paint! Take that, Leonardo.

Adoration of the Magi by Titian — *Adoration of the Magi* by Titian.

Placing of Christ in the Sepulchre by Titian and Palma il Giovane — *Placing of Christ in the Sepulchre* by Titian and Palma il Giovane.

Annunciation to the Shepherds by Bassano's studio — *Annunciation to the Shepherds* by Bassano's studio.

The Rest on the Flight to Egypt by Bassano — *The Rest on the Flight to Egypt* by Bassano.

By Boat by Mosè Bianchi — *By Boat* by Mosè Bianchi.

Locked Out of School by Emilio Longoni — *Locked Out of School* by Emilio Longoni. Awww!

Parrocchia San Marco, 10/7/2025

Yup, you guessed it, another amazing "little" parish church. This one actually had info on the various paintings, among them a few by Procaccini, whose works are also found in the Castello Sforezco, Pinacoteca di Brera, the Galleria Sabauda, and all over this little journal of mine.

Parrocchia San Marco, interior 1 — I know there are architectural terms for these parts of the churches but I'll be damned (so to speak) if I can remember them.

Parrocchia San Marco, interior 2 — When I get home I will pull out the art history books (or just google it LOL) and fix this up.

Time for art

There's more art from Parrocchia San Marco...

Pinacoteca di Brera, 10/7/2025

They have a world-class collection of Renaissance art, most of the biggies and plenty of painters you may never have heard of. Among their claims to fame is The Kiss by Francesco Hayez, but his work in general left me kind of nonplussed. It's all technically perfect with a smooth finish, but lacking in... soul? My favorite of his was a self-portrait, which will be posted here.

Mixed in with all the art was an exhibition of Georgio Armani fashion. Because, you know, Milan. Whatever you gotta do to bring in bodies, I guess.

Armani exhibition at the Pinacoteca de Brera

Time for art

Supper in the House of Simon by Veronese, 1570. I remember learning about this compositional motif, sort of combining 2 paintings into one, with a sharp division in the middle, in school. Veronese was big on it, as seen here and in another of his works on the time for art page. It makes me think he had some kind of brain injury where the two hemispheres didn't quite integrate, or maybe this was his attempt at a stereoscopic effect. In any event this painting was so wide I had to take 2 photos and hack them together in Photoshop, so guess what I did? Joined 'em right down the middle, I'm sure Veronese would approve.

View the good stuff from the Pinacoteca