Milan - The Ouija Board System of Navigation. Santa Maria presso San Satiro, Duomo and Risotto Milanese

 Milan.

First, find your way in.

Second, enjoy the rewards:

Architecture, history, risotto, and a great Piazza

The goal:  Central Milan.  How to get there?

Santa Maria San presso San Satiro, Milan, Italy; near the Duomo

The first - driving in - is not as easy as it sounds.

1.  Maneuvering. The Ouija Board System of Navigation.

There is no way in to Milan. There is no way out of Milan.  Remember that, Grasshopper, and you will be wise.  "The urban layout of Milan is curious." That from ://www.initalytoday.com/lombardy/milan/index.htm

The rings of autostrasse routes end without a clear through-way to the old town center. They show on a map, but, once there, look like any other street. Look out the window and see nothing but squares and roads,
hubbing off, all ending in other squares, or circles.  We asked for a driving directions map on our way out, and were handed 19 turns through and around impossible squares with sillyzillions of streets coming and going.

Why not to drive in Milan. 19 turns at impossible squares.

 We shelved the driving directions;  that was only page one,. the nineteen.   More followed.
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Solutions when maps fail:   

• The Ouija board.  Lay lay fingers gently on the steering wheel, tap this pedal or that, scan horizons, and go. Eventually, you will see something that makes sense. 
• The Steeple chase.  Look for steeples. Look for the sun. Go in those directions - basics of north, south, east, west, aim for the belltowers.

When you are there, remember this is a huge financial hub. Money before tourists. Few low-budget hotels in the center. Just take the big hotel, let them cope with the car (guidebooks warn of break-ins and theft consistently) and belt-tighten elsewhere.

Exit strategy. 

When you leave, go ahead and ask for a Driving Directions internet printout, but prepare to skip it.

You will get at least a dozen directions, all useless because they direct you to .2 to this square, then take the third right at rotary and go .3 to that square, etc.

This is where you need faith.

Use the Ouija board and follow the sun. Find any big steeple and aim for it, on the theory that it may lead you to a better life. Finally there will be a ring. Rings upon rings with transverse connectors, so you are not out of trouble yet. Signs are for immediate towns, not ultimate big ones, so learn the route first, then get on one.

2.  The Sights

Milan Cathedral, a Rayonnant style of architecture - more French than Italian, highly decorated, see ://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/492572/Rayonnant-style - is overwhelming. Where to begin to look.
Expect disbelief, that this arises from a gritty city so suddenly.

Milan Cathedral, facade, Italy

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Then see detail, those individual features on the figures, the pinnacles and flying buttresses, over and over, and still each of the figures unique in expression, clothing, attitude.


Side view, figures, Duomo, Cathedral, Milan, Italy

Figures everywhere.



Milan Cathedral, figure detail
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The Milan Cathedral, the Duomo, was begun in 1380 and is white marble over a core of brick. The color changes with the time of day, and quality of light. Parts were not completed until the 19th Century. See ://www.bluffton.edu/~sullivanm/milancath/duomo.html/

The Cathedral and Risotto Milanese: Pass the saffron-laced Italian rice, that slow-simmered absorbing stock, warmly coaxed vegetables - a soffrito - ladle by ladle, gentle stir but don't startle it. Inhale.Tender but separate. A little like porridge-making, but rescued in time. Italian rices: arborio, vialone, carnaroli.  Large grains, lots of starch. Add butter and parmesan. A tiny bit pasty. Perfecto.

Rice arrived probably in the 15th Century, and from Spain, see Risotto History at ://www.annamariavolpi.com/page52.html/.  Arabs would have brought it to Sicily, and to Spain earlier. The Arabs may have grabbed it in India before that.

Meet Valerius, an apprentice working on the Cathedral in 1574, says the tale, teased for using a shortcut and using saffron to up the ante on color for the stained glass. So he got back at his teasers and added saffron to the rice at his Master's wedding - and delicious it was. Saga of the rice. See the Anna Maria Volpi site; and meet the mondine - young girls and women who came from home in the villages and from distant towns to clean and pick the rice, until about the 1960's, for the 40-day season, knee-deep in the water, bent over, hot sun. And they sang. See ://www.vercellink.com/riso/mondine.php/.  Search for mondine and find that site, and click on translate. Youtube has the songs. Economy dependent on women. What were they paid?


Milan, Duomo Piazza, Italy. Cathedral Square.


The Duomo Piazza is huge - the Cathedral dominates one end.



Piazza del Duomo, Milan, shopping arcade, galleria

This leads to the opera house, La Scala.
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Piazza del Duomo (Piazza, Milan Cathedral), central statue, Victor Emanuel II (Vittorio Emanuele II) plus pigeons
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Here is Vittorio Emanuele, 1820-1878; unifier of Italy, and its first king, 1861-1878.  His statue in the center of the Piazza del Duomo in Milan is the place to meet and greet, and view all.  Note the pigeons. Tuppence.
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Go ahead. Feed the birds.

With a hotel just a few blocks away, enjoy an evening. And a view of Old Milan from the window.
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Milan, Italy. Older buildings preserved like oases in the great economic hub.

The ouija board exit strategy took us past fine old palaces. This is symmetrical, with an identical left and right side. Camera lens too small.
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Milan, Italy. Outer rings; palaces.

Lake District: Lazise, Lake Garda; Como, Lake Como; Ispra, Lake Maggiore

1. Lake District

a. Lazise, on Lake Garda - northwest from Verona

The name means "place on the lake", see ://www.lagodigardamagazine.com/index.asp?menu=59/.

Lake Garda, at Lazise, Italy

Little stairs walk you right down into the water, at spots along the promenade. The easier to get into a boat with, my dear, Pick a step, Set a spell.

 Lasize, Lake Garda, Italy. Harbor view

Lasize, and Lake Garda is close to Milan, and an easy drive from Verona. It is full of sunning people. See ://www.gardalake.it/

Lazise, Lake Garda, Italy. Promenade.

Lazise, Lake Garda, Italy. San Nicolo Church, harbor.

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 Little Saint Nicholas Church is on the water, at the docks. Find boats at the clock tower.

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 Lazise, Lake Garda, Italy. City Walls, 12th Century

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The old walls with crenellated tops for defense date from the 12th Century, but the earliest castle built on the site dates far earlier, in the 9th Century as defense against the Hungarians. The Scaligeri castle ruin, modified and expanded from the earlier structure, is there.

Lazise, Italy. Saint Nicholas Church, San Nicolo.

San Nicolo is patron saint of fishermen and of schools, and this church was built in the 1200's.  It evolved into secular uses, and then was reconsecrated.

Maria Lactans; Nursing Madonna; Lazise, Lake Garda, Itally. Fresco, Church of San Nicolo

We have seen a recurrent theme in Italian early frescoes - the Madonna openly nursing the child.  Mary as Mother used to be emphasized in a realistic way. See also this fair use thumbnail of the pregnant Mary, Madonna del Parto, at Monterchi, Tuscany; by Piero della Francesco, from http://www.

:://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madonna_del_Parto">en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madonna_del_Parto

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Or this one of the pregnant Mary, by Taddeo Gaddi

see ://www.chiesadisanvito.it/page.php?44 /.  That site shows another pregnant Mary as well.

Back to San Nicolo in Lazise, the naturalism compared to our later concealments is striking. Here also, the breast being extended to the child. See Saint Anastasia in Verona for another. The theology here was apparently rejected, or diminished out of existence lest woman be elevated, is that so? - the dependence of the child upon the woman for survival. There were centuries of Mary central to worship, as mediator, as mother of God, often expanding on indigenous religious beliefs in a deity as female, in Europe. See discussion at Martin Luther's Stove, Vetting Roots, Centrality of Mary. Fresco Course Correction?

This church was built by a group following Origen, of The School of Alexandria, 2d and 3d Centuries we believe, in early Christianity. See ://www.lagodigardamagazine.com/index.asp?menu=59/

Research, as a start on Origenism, at Origen of Alexandria at ://www.iep.utm.edu/origen-of-alexandria/; and at ://www.copticchurch.net/topics/patrology/schoolofalex2/chapter05.html/  His ideas were later deemed to be heretic, see ://atheism.about.com/library/glossary/western/bldef_origenism.htm/  That's a little extreme. Just because one web is spun for the ease of some does not mean others cannot find sustenance outside it. And Origen precedes the web - is Pre-Web. PW in time, and closer to the Life (and farther from the politics) than the later dogma-developing ones were. Is that so? Is it time to look again at the rejected ones, seeking truths.

Harbor, Lazise, Lake Garda, Italy. Theology. Many the boats to get somewhere.

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Of particular interest to theology's political evolution: The church became more and more entrenched as masculine, is that so, and is that why this kind of depiction of Mary as necessary, on whom even the male God depended, was shunted aside?

b.  Como, Lake Como, Italy

Lake Como, Italy; tour cruise from shore

Lake Como, Italy; residence views




Lake Como from Como point, Italy

Get through the crowded town and market and go out as far as you can. The road narrows and narrows, but you will end up at a private club, venerable residences, and public access to enough to enjoy.
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c.  Lake Maggiore

Through Varese, past Lake Varese, to Ispra.

Lake Maggiore, Italy

View from lovely waterside restaurant, local, small town. Ispra. We followed a wedding party here, then the bride and groom took off in their own car, leaving the guests who had been following, in the parking lot - the guests whooped and hopped back in their cars for the chase and we enjoyed our clams and spaghetti.

On to Milan. Ready for the Autostrada. Cross country is impossible. Nearly. Stop stop stop.

Verona, Duomo, Santa Maria Matricolare. Theology in Art, Architecture

What do the stonemasons, the fresco artists, tell us about belief systems that may be different from the dogma of the time.  We find the sculptures to show a burden put on the  shoulders of the non-elite, and a central role for Mary that is later suppressed.  She appears in old fresco and other representations in this way:  that the deity depended on her for the conception, the gestation, the birth; and also that the child depended upon her for survival; and later, for support when others forsook. Is that so?

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Look at ecclesiastical architecture with a new eye:  not to reinforce what you think you know, but to hear and see other perspectives. Any visit to a European country will involve some church-hopping.  See more than the guidebook or the guide say.

1.  Duomo, Verona.

Here is the Duomo, or Cathedral Santa Maria Matricolare, in Verona.  This looks like another church there,  San Zeno Maggiore, at first glance, but San Zeno has a top triangle at the roof, then a large rose window below, then the main arch entryway.  This Duomo is architecturally more complex.  If you take notes off and on, sketch out the differences to help you identify photos later.

Duomo, Cathedral, Santa Maria Matricolare, Verona, Italy

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 Identifying the various churches is not a priority for us. We are not extensive note-takers. We enjoy the wandering. Generally, we draw the line at two churches per town.  Max.  Our best guide at home for identification is the numeral order of the pictures on the memory card. Not infallible.

Structural identification.  Here, stripes identify the Duomo.  Brickwork identifies St. Anastasia, see previous posts. Then we squint at arch figures. More difficult are the interior views of frescoes, paintings.

Closeup, common man at work, Facade arch detail, Santa Maria Matricolare, Duomo, Cathedral, Verona, Italy
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2.  Theology in architecture, sculpture, fresco, carving.

Common people often hold up arches. They are identified by raggy clothes, usually bent over, showing exertion.  Saints and Biblicals around arches bear no burdens, apparently.  They pronounce. Note the Biblical-type clothing. Robes.  Look for more simple folk doing the work.

Common man bearing the burden, Facade arch, San Zeno Maggiore, Verona, Italy

Renderings of Biblical stories elucidate.  See Adam run. He has no real clothing, just a diaphanous something. Was that all he got instead of the leaf? Is that why he runs. Or does he realize he never told Eve where the specific tree was that they were to avoid.  He stood by and let her reach out and touch, to see what would happen.

Adam on the Run, Fresco, Duomo, Santa Maria Matricolare, Verona, Italy (or is it St. Anastasia?)

Everywhere you look - there are ordinary people exerting themselves to hold the place up. That looks like a woman, there in the center.

Santa Maria Matricolare, Duomo, Cathedral, arch figural details, exterior, Verona, Italy

3.  The dependence upon Mary.

Theology in Fresco:  The role of woman. See Mary here, and she is the center of attention, not Jesus. It is she who supports him while he is on the Cross. She is even larger than he is.
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Mary, in old Fresco, Santa Maria Matricolare, Duomo, Cathedral, Verona, Italy. Mary appears first in the act of supporting Christ on the Cross; then as the Central figure for worshipping petitioners
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And it is Mary who is the large focal point of the main part of the fresco below, with petitioners at each side. 
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Mary, Mary.  What did they do wi' ye? A 180 degree turn has happened, putting her in the shadows? It takes close looks at the oldest painted surfaces to see.
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Instead, where she does appear, she is buried in gilt and gewgaws, crowns and jewels supporting a monarchy, as though Himself ever valued that.


Mary, Duomo, Cathedral, Verona, Italy, here removed from role as protector, and an essential to life, into a garbed and regalia-ed Queen


Mary, painting, Duomo, Cathedral, Verona, Italy. Morphed into a new message of her role. The unreachable. 

The assumption takes over? See here below, then look up and see her above.

4.  Renovations of architecture, fresco and theology.  Changes to fit the time; or faithful reconstruction of the old.

If we were of this particular faith subgroup, we would keep before us the fresco of Mary as central to the things that matter, not the dogmas. And we would note the eternal truth, that even in our religions common people bear the burdens imposed on them while the higher ups contemplate and pronounce. Is that so? Not really, some higher ups were martyred. But if that was for an authoritarian view and dogma, perhaps it should have been rethought in terms of original teaching of the Founder. is that so? Sure.

Duomo, Verona. Major renovations, much concealed still

Aim your camera around the curtain to see what is going on.  We prefer old frescoes to newer paintings, so were interested here.

Duomo, Verona. Is the serpent here in Eden shown as a female? Isn't the serpent a "he"? Text tampering?

Excavations, Duomo, Verona, Italy

Duomo, Santa Maria Matricolare, Verona, layers of earlier foundations

Mary, about to nurse? Duomo, Verona, Italy

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We have seen several old frescoes of Mary nursing in public, people watching, breast bared. Here, this old sculpture (Romanesque) looks like another, with her apparently extending it to the child. When did nursing in public become anathema? It was essential to The Survival of the founder, is that so, and is that not the message - the role of the female not only for the gestation, but also its ongoing life. Have patience with us outsiders, please, but this issue interests us. Look at the demotions after. The vengeance of the Watchers.
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Duomo, Cathedral, Santa Maria Matricolare, Verona. Whimsy in figures.

This is why we like the old reliefs, the old frescoes and sculptures; rather than the gaudy later oils and decorations. Here are some folk, just hanging out. Or are they guarding the Tree, with their sceptres, but no wings, there in the center, so Adam (that is a guy) relaxing over there, cannot get back in.  Room for interpretation in everything.

Verona, Italy. Childish Adults on Board. Marbles, Loss or Enjoyment Of

Marble. Ancient to Modern. An Exhaustible Resource.

Examine It Minutely

for a change

Even marble flooring can be tweaked for entertainment's sake.

Duomo, marble flooring detail, Verona, Italy

Roar.

Antique marble, as in Greek statues, is "unknown" for use today, and carrera marble is used instead. The oldest quarries were exhausted. Marble varies, of course, with location. Countries are known for their marble. See the varieties of marble, with white being far softer than the black. The old black marble and white marble quarries are indeed gone. When scuffing along flooring, go from black to black? This site says that alabaster and granite are also marbles, see Marble Workers' Manual at ://quarriesandbeyond.org/articles_and_books/marble_workers_manual/mwh-p1_sect2.html/

Look at the varieties and colors of modern marble at ://www.sculpt.com/catalog_98/stones/Marbles.htm/ Buy some. Find the chisel. Chiz.

Verona - Saint Anastasia and Simple Folk; The Theology of Art.

 The Theology of Art

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Here, we look at St. Anastasia, church in Verona, Italy; and what its art says about its theology.  See in the beleaguered supporters of its columns the place of the poor in Christian theology by the time of the Renaissance; and in frescoes, the persistence of the belief in Mary the Mother as essential not only to the birth of Christ, but also to his very survival: his dependence on her, as depicted in art where she nurses the baby openly, extending the breast.  That did not last.

Saint Anastasia Herself.

Which?  There were several Sant' Anastasia's in the third century -  one of Rome, one of Simium (where?) and one, known as The Patrician, see ://www.aug.edu/augusta/iconography/anastasia.html/  If this in Verona is the Roman one, as is likely given the geographic proximity, she was burned at the stake for refusing to marry. See the story, The Golden Legend, at the Iconography site.  Look it up at Medieval Sourcebook, Fordham University, at ://www.fordham.edu/halsall/basis/goldenlegend/. As to Simium, there is a reference in the history of the Apostles' Creed at ://www.archive.org/stream/apostlescreedexa00whee/apostlescreedexa00whee_djvu.txt/ but no map.

To us, as outsiders, the Roman Anastasia's death apparently had nothing to do with her Christian faith, as far as we can tell. She just said no to marrying the jerk, and wanted her wealth to go to the poor, not to the fellow who wanted her hand and the rest. What other theology is expressed by her sainthood? Where does Christ say not to marry.  Religious coral. What do we say.  Look out, girls, the Romans are coming? The fork in the road.

St. Anastasia, Santa Anastasia, 1480, Verona, Italy

2.  The place of the poor in Renaissance Christian theology. Is this so?


Look closer at the theology of architecture and sculpture. Does this fellow bearing burdens really want to be here.
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Unwilling beast of burden? St. Anastasia, Verona, Italy

This is one Hunchback, attributed to Gabriele Caliari, the father of Renaissance artist, Paolo Veronese. See Veronese at ://www.artcyclopedia.com/artists/veronese_paolo.html

Second Hunchback, St. Anastasia, Verona, Italy

The second Hunchback bearing burdens:  he is also at the base of a column at the entrance, looks equally put upon.

We did not notice this was a hunchback - or the other one, either.

Are they? Or is that some description that just gets passed on?  We saw only the economically deprived.  Have to go back.  To us, they looked simply as the poor. Being dumped upon, again.
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Who bears the burden of our institutions. Who profits. What message?

Here is the altar and apse areas. No hunchbacks.

Interior, altar, Sant' Anastasia, Verona, Italy

3.  The Theology of Interdependence:  Mary as Essential not only to the Birth, but to the Survival

Here is Mary, nursing the baby, openly, extending the bare breast to the child as others look on.

Fresco, Sant' Anastasia, Verona, Italy. The Theology of Public Nursing: Mary nursing openly, in front of others, necessary to survival of the child; why is that female essential in Christian religion later suppressed by male dogma? Need we ask.

How many altar paintings, whatever, show this after the Renaissance? Scarce, if any. Then, look at the expressions on the faces of the men.  Do they look jealous?  Can they tolerate the idea that the Mother has this necessary connection, in order for the child to survive. And that their theories may well be disposable, but not this relationship.See discussion in connection with anther fresco of Mary nursing, at Lazise, at Vetting Roots, Centrality of Mary. Fresco Course Correction?.

Fresco, Verona, Italy. Saint Anastasia. Discomfited clerical onlookers, as Mary openly nurses. Are they, perhaps, already conjuring contrary dogma, how males could be made central to Christianity instead; Renaissance.

This theme, of Mary openly nursing the child, also appears in the ancient church of St. Anthony at Lake Garda, Italy, post pending. Then, surprisesurprise, no more Mary openly nursing.

Theological correctness:  Nursing in public is clearly theologically correct, as well as nutritionally advised.  Lactators, carry on.  Treatment of the poor.  Making the poor bear the burdens of the rich church architecture is not theologically correct. Serve the people.  Is that so?

Verona: Dante,; Scaligeri Family, and The Dogs of Vanity

Dante in Verona:

A temporary resident of Verona; a permanent memorial. Dante Alighieri, the poet we know simply as Dante,  lived in Verona for five years, from 1312 to 1318, a supporter of the Holy Roman Emperor party, the Guelphs; against the Pope's party, the Ghibellines.

Dante Alighieri, Monument, Memorial statue, Verona, Italy. Piazza dei Signori

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The Guelphs later divided into the White Guelphs (Dante's group) and the Black Guelphs, no racial reference.  As a White Guelph, and here history is beyond me, he had to leave Florence and ended up in Verona. And elsewhere in Italy, traveling about. Writing. Falling in love. Describing hell.  Is that so? Not in that order. See ://www.online-literature.com/dante/  Verona was not unique in housing him.

In his "Purgatory", Dante refers to Montecchio's and Capelletti, and their sadness; some think the story might, just might, have taken place at that time, perhaps.  See Dante's Verona at ://www.veronissima.com/sito_inglese/html/topic_dante.html, referencing Shakespeare's later story we know as Romeo and Juliet. Montagues and Capulets.
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Tombs of the Scaligeri in Verona.

The Scaligeri family ruled Verona in the 1300's-1400's.  The name, Cangrande, for one of them, means "Big Dog" and there are several on the tomb.

Scaglieri tomb, Cangrande perhaps, Verona, Italy

One story behind the obsession with canine names in the Scaglieri family is this:  That the Polos returned from the Far East talking of the might of the Khan, and the Khan was translated into a spelling like Cane, which resembled Dog. The Scaglieris would not be outdone by some dog from the east, so the tradition of outdoing began. Was that in Rick Steves' guidebook?  Will check. The memorial to the Scalieri Family is, as any other name in another language or earlier time, spelled variously:  also spelled Della Scala, or Scaligeri.

Frommer's guide says that many others in the family took on dog names, including one called the Mastiff, see ://www.frommers.com/destinations/verona/A33548.html/.  We are looking for other accounts of the original idea, going back earlier, that the family's obsession with things dog stemmed from a misinterpretation - not "dogs" at all. The NYT does not mention it. See ://travel.nytimes.com/travel/guides/europe/italy/verona/33548/arche-scaligeri-scaligeri-tombstorre-dei-lamberti/attraction-detail.html/


Scaglieri Family Tomb, Cangrande, Big Dog, Verona, Italy
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See the history of the family and Verona at this google book, http://books.google.com/books?id=XixojYgnRtsC&pg=RA1-PA388&lpg=RA1-PA388&dq=canines+Verona+Italy&source=bl&ots=dqp-W_ClYr&sig=6I2SIQ5b3MdyOtP8FvaJI_a8MnU&hl=en&ei=IoTPSqinHYjllAfIuZmpCg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=4#v=onepage&q=&f=false/.  This is from Italy, page 389.

Verona - Market, Arena, Rome Was Here. And Venice. And the Inquisition.

Verona's Old City is largely pedestrianized, but it is also a large, active community. This is not a big open-air museum, despite all the fine buildings. People live and work here.

Clocktower, street view, Old City, Verona, Italy

Market, Old Town, Verona, Italy

Verona's Arena looks like Rome's Colisseum, and was built by the Romans in the First Century. Gladiators, spectacles, all here.  See ://italy-travel.suite101.com/article.cfm/touring_roman_verona/

Roman Arena, passageway (flash adjusted), Verona, Italy

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Roman Arena, close-up, brickwork, interior vaulted arch passage, Verona, Italy

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These days, come in summer for the Opera.

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After the Romans came a variety of city-state rulers and kings.  In 1184, Pope Innocent III, at a gathering called the Council of Verona, instituted the Inquisition here. See timeline at ://www.google.com/search?hl=en&tbo=p&tbs=tl%3A1&q=timeline+Verona&btnG=Search&aq=f&oq=&aqi=/ Support the Roman Catholic interpretations of Christianity or die. The next 80 popes continued it. Churches can represent ill-gotten gains.

Then came the big one, Venice.

Lion of Venice, Piazza della Erbe, Verona, Italy

The Lion of Venice:  In the 9th Century, some dastardly folk from Venice stole the remains of St. Mark that had been entombed in Alexandria, Egypt.  The graverobbers concealed the corpse in pork to fend off the Muslims; then suspended it from the mainmast and braved a sea crossing where Saint Mark himself instructed them to strike the sails and thus saved them from hitting rocks.  Once at Venice, the remains were given to the Doge in Venice, who adopted Saint Mark as the city's patron saint.  Accordingly, St. Mark's traditional logo, a winged lion, became symbol of they city. See ://europeforvisitors.com/venice/articles/winged_lion_of_st_mark.htm/

Verona was conquered by the Republic of Venice in 1405. See timeline at http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&tbo=p&tbs=tl%3A1&q=timeline+Verona&btnG=Search&aq=f&oq=&aqi=/.