Easter Holidays and Rambles in Italy

   

“If a man can arrange his religion so that it perfectly satisfies his conscience,it is not incumbent on him to care whether the arrangement is satisfactory to anyone else or not.”

What a wonder it is! So grand, so solemn, so vast! And yet so delicate, so airy, so graceful! A very world of solid weight, and yet it seems …a delusion of frostwork that might vanish with a breath!

That’s what Mark Twain,who was a great fan of the Duomo in Milan,says in his travel book  “The Innocents Abroad“.

Duomo di Milano magnificence - A remarkable spiky Gothic and neo-Gothic Cathedral

St Bartholomew was one of 12 Apostles and an early Christian martyr that was skinned. This statue was made by Marco d’Agrate in 1562 (Duomo cathedral, Milan). If you look closely, you’ll notice that’s not a robe, but actually his removed skin hanging around him. Such a macabre motif of the flayed Apostle carrying his own skin …

Duomo di Milano,dedicated to Virgin Mary, a spiky Gothic and neo-Gothic Cathedral with 135 imposing  spires topped with marble  statues overlooking the bustling city of Milan which is  to money-what Rome is to history.There are not any bell towers and at the very top of the tallest spire is the only non-marble statue, a gilded bronze statue of the famous  “Madonnina” , added in the 1760s,rising to a height of 109 metres and being one of the city’s symbols.

In the Grand Piazza del Duomo ,where the Cathedral  is situated,one cannot miss the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II,a double arcade formed by two glass-vaulted arcades intersecting in an octagon covering the street connecting Piazza del Duomo to Piazza della Scala.

Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II next to the Cathedral

The Galleria is named after Vittorio Emanuele II, the first king of the Kingdom of Italy. It was originally designed in 1861 and built by Giuseppe Mengoni between 1865 and 1877.
The street is covered by an arching glass and cast iron roof, a popular design for nineteenth-century arcades, such as the Burlington Arcade in London.It is a four-storey arcade including elegant shops,restaurants,cafés,bars,hotels and remarkable floor mosaics that I will publish in another post.

There are several remarkable sights in Milan and I really appreciate the fact that you can easily get around in the city centre and cover the sightseeing in a couple of days.You can also use Milan as a base for pleasant day trips such as to Venice or Lago Maggiore as we did. As for the dove-shaped Milanese  Easter bread, “La Colomba pasquale”, I have to admit, it was the tastier Easter cake I had ever had …  and the service in the ‘Principe di Savoia” hotel,just outstanding !!!  The real place to be, in every sense …

Heaven !!! Topped with pearl sugar and almonds ...

Anthurium expression receiving the clients of the "Principe di Savoia" hotel

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