Is Álainn é an Saol : June 2019

History of Milan

A timeline of Milan's ruling history provides insight into the many European influences which are visible throughout the city. Milan's location near the Alps, in the Northern Italian Lombardy region proved desirable for conquest; the Celts, Romans, Goths, Franks, Lombards, Spanish, Austrians, and Italians have all laid claim to the city throughout its incredible history.

Influence of each major period can best be witnessed by visiting some of the associated sites:

Roman and Paleo-Christian Period: Basilica di Sant'Ambrogio, Archeological site under the Duomo
Medieval and Renaissance: Chiesa di Santa Maria delle Grazie, Chiesa San Sepolcro, Sforza Castle, Chiesa di San Babila
Hapsburg Rule: Chiesa di San Guiseppe, Teatro alla Scala, major construction on the Duomo di Milano, Pinocoteca di Brera
Independent Modern Italy: The Milan Stock Exchange, Tempio della Vittoria, Piazza San Sepolcro, Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II, Financial and Shopping districts

A Ruling History of Milan

Duomo di Milano

Please see my separate post and many photos dedicated entirely to the Duomo here.

Basilica di Sant'Ambrogio

Consecrated by Milan's patron, Saint Ambrose, in 379 AD, the Basilica di Sant'Ambrogio is my favorite church in the city. Although the Duomo is a grander spectacle and certainly also steeped in rich Catholic history, a visit to Saint Ambrose's Basilica is a quieter, more solemn experience.

The current edifice was largely constructed in the 12th century, expanding upon previous 4th-11th century structures.

Travel Tip: Be sure to plan a trip around the Basilica's mid-day closures, as it is still an active church providing daily mass for parishioners, and see the remains of Saint Ambrose himself, as he is entombed with martyrs Gervasius and Protasius in the basilica's crypt.

Entrance to the west façade entrance portico of the Basilica di Sant'Ambrogio (379 AD)

Milanese citizens gathered in the atrium as bishops blessed the crowds from the upper loggia.
The two towers date to the 9th (right) and 12th (left) centuries and represent two monastic orders

Basilica nave and apse

The Golden Altar (835 AD) depicts the life of Christ in gold leaf on the front
and the life of Ambrose in silver leaf on the reverse.

The Serpent's Column (10th c., Byzantine Bronze)

Mosaic of Christ Pantokrator (8th. c.) above the apse

Sarcophagus of Stilicho (4th c.) possibly holds the remains of Roman General Flavius Stilicho

Pope Pius IX (Francesco Confalonieri, 1880)

The crypt and bodies of Saint Ambrose (4th c.) and Saints Gervasius and Protasius (3rd c. martyrs)

The Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore est.1921 is across the piazza from the basilica.

University Campus

Tempio della Vittoria - Milan's Temple of Victory honoring the city's fallen soldiers of the Great War
Dedicated: 1928
Primary architect: Giovanni Muzio

Saint Ambrose stamping out the Seven Deadly sins, bronze statue carved by Adolfo Wildt
The names of 10,000 war dead are carved in bronze and the ossuary contains the remains of the Unknown

Pretty hidden garden near the Basilica

Chiesa di Santa Maria delle Grazie

Commissioned initially by Count Gasparo Vimercati and founded in 1463, the Church of Santa Maria delle Grazie saw further renovations under patron Ludovico 'il Moro' Sforza until the turn of the 15th century. Il Moro intended the Church to serve as a burial place for his family, and spared no cost on construction or ornament and in 1494, he retained the genius of Leonardo da Vinci to paint his masterpiece "the Last Supper" on the wall of dining hall in the adjoining refectory.

Travel Tip: Tickets to view the painting require an average of three months advance booking, but the church is open to visitors without appointment.

Main Architects: Guiniforte Solari and Donato Bramante

Chiostro delle Rane (Cloister of Frogs) garden and fountain

The Church Refectory houses Leonardo da Vinci's Last Supper (1498)

Sforza Castle

The Visconti family began construction of what is now known as the Sforza Castle in the mid-14th century, but Francesco Sforza came to power in 1450 after a three year period known as the Ambrosian Republic and made the fortified construction his family's primary residence. For the next 50 years, the Sforza Dukes of Milan commissioned many of the greatest architects and artists of the Renaissance (Filarete, Leonardo da Vinci, Bramante) to make the grandeur of the Sforza palace rival that of the Medici and Pazzi in Florence and the Orsini in Rome.

Today the castle grounds and gardens are open to the public and access to the Sforza rooms and museums requires a ticket. Museums include Egyptian artifacts, medieval sculpture, musical instruments, furnishings, Leonardo's Sala delle Asse, and Michelangelo's famous final sculpture - the Rondanini Pieta.

Travel Tip: The museum offers free entry after 2PM on each first and third Tuesday of every month

Santo Spirito Tower and Battlements

The Filarete Tower and Fountain

North portico drawbridge

The Filarete Tower, Saint Ambrose (sculpted by Luigi Secchi) between Sforza Coats of Arms

Inside the castle walls, battlements and towers

Burial relief, Museum of Ancient Art, Sforza Castle

The Trivolzio Tapestries: On exhibit in the Ancient Art Museum

The Rondanini Pieta, Michelangelo's last sculpture, c.1564

Rocchetta Courtyard - 15th century

San Sepolcro - Church and Piazza

Chiesa di San Sepolcro - Initially founded in the year 1030 as the Holy Trinity,
the Church took the name Sepolcro (Sepulchre) after the 1099 Crusade to Jerusalem

Commissioned by Archbishop Saint Carlo Borromeo,
much of San Sepolcro's baroque interior was designed by Francesco Maria Richini in the 17th century

The Ambrosian Library façade from the Piazza San Sepolcro

Pinocoteca Ambrosiana façade from Piazza Pio XI founded 1607 by Federico Borromeo

Ruins long buried, the Piazza San Sepolocro was the site of the Roman forum when Milan was known as Mediolanum

In 1919, Benito Mussolini founded the Italian Fascist Party at a rally in the Piazza.
Rally participants were known as Sansepolcristi, and the early movement was known as Sansepolcrismo

Mussolini gave a famous speech in 1936 from this Palazzo Castani e Torre Littoria balcony, see photo here.

Around the City

Palazzo delle Borse, Milan's Stock Exchange built 1932 Architect: Paolo Mezzanotte
A sculpture of a middle finger- a gesture of ill will toward capitalism- by Maurizio Cattelan
was meant to be a temporary fixture in the Piazza Affari but remains since 2010.

Banca d'Italia

Beautiful apartments in the area around the Sforza Castle

Gorgeous tree lined streets and Milan's above ground train system

Chiesa di San Guiseppe, 1630, a Francisco Maria Richini Baroque masterpiece

Chiesa di San Giorgio a Palazzo (750 AD) Façade architect: Francesco Croce 1774

Milan's famous opera and ballet house, Teatro alla Scala
Commissioned by Habsburg Empress Maria Theresa
Opened in 1778 to Salieri's Europa Riconoscuita

Galleria di Vittorio Emanuele II
A beautiful arcade enclosed by glass and iron, a vision of architect Giuseppe Mengoni, Completed 1867

Piazza del Duomo

Chiesa di San Babila, consecrated approx. 1095

Amorino Gelateria in the quaint Brera district

Tables aligning the Via Fiori Chiari in the Brera district

Pinacoteca di Brera

Founded in 1776 by Austrian Habsburg Empress Maria Theresa, the Academy di Brera opened its art gallery, or Pinocoteca, in 1806 under Napoleonic rule. The gallery houses some of Europe's greatest works from the Gothics to Renaissance Masters to Picasso.

Travel Tip: The Gallery is closed on Monday. many of Milan's other galleries follow the same schedule and are open Tuesday-Sunday