Milano - Part 1

Basso Relievo (Bas Relief) on the Museo del Novocento, Milano, Gennaio 2012

I can’t say I liked being wrong.

But sometimes being wrong is the best thing.  It means there’s room to grow and learn and there seems to be a lot of that happening these days.

The situation went something like this:

…..I had taken the train down to Roma on Saturday morning with my new friend Natalia. I was off to visit Anna S. for the weekend, and Natalia had arranged to visit a family friend. I offered to walk with her to the obelisk in Piazza San Pietro since it’s not too far from Anna’s apartment. The sun was shining and it was warmish and Natalia and I had a splendid time together walking from the Piazza di Spagna, down Via dei Condotti (which is littered with high-end stores), and across Ponte Sant’Angelo (which is littered with Statues) to her rendezvous point at the Vatican.

I also had a splendid time with Anna, as we always do, and much of the weekend was spent sleeping and eating.  On Saturday night, I had the privilege of meeting and dining with Amelia, one of Anna’s lifelong friends. Amelia and her husband Larry (Lorenzo) were in Roma for 10 days and had just arrived from the US. The four of us repeated dinner on Sunday night at a typical Roman trattoria. 

We were discussing Amelia’s PhD and medieval history and somehow we got onto the topic of Milano and architecture. I was in Milano the previous weekend and was going on about how much I was appreciating “Fascist Architecture.”

Now, that statement requires a bit of context.

Milano is a city of contrasts. When you get off the train at the Stazione Centrale, you are greeted by a most grand railway station. 

Stazione Centrale, Milano, Exterior View

It’s a mix of architectural styles (Art Nouveau (aka Stile Liberty in Italy) and Art Deco) having been designed at the beginning of the 20^th century and completed in 1931 under the heavy hand of Benito Mussolini.  It is grand is everyway and begs to be photographed.

Stazione Centrale, Milano, Entrance Portico

Walk out of the station, and you’re greeting by one of the first high-rise office towers build it Italy – the Pirelli Tower – until recently the tallest building in Italy.

Stazione Centrale, Milano, East Entrance Portico; Pirelli Tower is on the left

 Stroll down Via Vittor Pisani and you walk by some uninspiring 1960’s office buildings. Stroll further down Via Alessandro Manzoni, and you walk by the Armani Hotel, La Scala (the opera house), fabulous shops and then you land in the Piazza del Duomo, where you cannot help but be in awe of the second largest church in the world – Milano’s Duomo (late Gothic).

The Armani Hotel, Milano

The Duomo, Milano

Museo del Novocento, Milano



Twin of  the Museo del Novocento, Milano

Also in Piazza del Duomo is the new Museo del Novocento, housed in a building which really is Fascist Architecture and also built by Mussolini.  On the opposite side is the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II, another grand, Neo-Classical building from 1877.

Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II at night, Milano

Against this cacophony of architectural styles is “Fascist Architecture” or “Razionalismo Italiano” which developed at the same time as Art Deco, so it’s hard to distinguish the two.  Milano has several fine examples of this type of architecture.

Cassa di Risparmio delle Provincie Lombardy, Milano

The first time I visited Italy back in 1992 or 1993, I remember being in Roma with Alan (my long ago-ex) and seeing my first examples of fascist architecture – the buildings stood out like sore thumbs against the rich palate of styles in the eternal city. They seemed grey and square and blunt and minimalist to the extreme. I didn’t appreciate what I was viewing at the time, but this trip I did. Just as my eye is developing for different periods of art, it’s also developing for architecture.

Loggia, Cassa di Risparmio delle Provincie Lombardy, Milano

So…back to dinner.

…. I was telling my dinner companions what was appealing to me about some of the buildings: the strong, clean lines, the scale of the buildings, the simplicity of their ornamentation, and just how different they were from the opulent styles of previous 100 years.

Istituto Nationale Assicurazione, Milano

I referenced, wrongly, Arts and Crafts architecture (which preceded Art Nouveau) as being “ornamental” and was prompted corrected!  My art movement timelines were getting all mixed up (must have been the wine) but I was clearly wrong, and so I did what good dinner guests do in situations like that, I changed the subject. Whew!

In the end though, being wrong made me delve into Wikipedia for a few hours today and now I think I have my art history and architectural timelines more or less in order.  Arts and Crafts architecture was not ornamental, but it was a distinct style, different from Neo-Classical and Art Nouveau.

Sometimes, being wrong is a blessing in disguise.  And Milano was great fun!