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One of things I missed out on seeing when we were in Milan in 2018 was the Museo del Novecento. It is right next to the duomo and is not new. I guess the whole religious ediface is a bit all encompassing the first time you visit and you can’t be expected to notice the delightful building next door.
I did not make that mistake this time.
Of course, this time there was an extra special reason for going there. During the last series of lectures I had with the National Gallery, Lucrezia mentioned a tryptich that was held here, at the gallery. So, of course, I definitely wanted to see it.
But I wasn’t going just for the tryptich. The gallery holds an amazing wealth of art of the 20th century. The clue is in the name. The collection is that of Milan itself and is only a small part of the whole but what an amazing small part.
So many works I had heard about but not seen in real life. I was like a sugar starved boy in a sweet shop. I admit that I gawped a lot as I moved from work to work, entranced.
Of course there was the tryptich by Umberto Boccioni which I’d specifically come to see.
The photo does not do the paintings justice but it is important to see them together rather than in isolation. I stood and stared for quite a while, noticing the stillness in the first, the movement and joy in the second and the final, sadness in the third. Beautiful works.
But there were so many more. A stunning yet tiny Kandinsky, a couple by Picasso, some by Gino Severini…the list goes on. Actually, the one thing that I found disappointing was the lack of female artists.
In the end, I found it very difficult to pick a favourite. However, on reflection, later while sitting in our accommodation, I chose this one.
It might not look like much but it has funny elements galore and it made me smile.
The plan I made with John and Lindy was to meet outside the cathedral by midday. They had gone inside to check it out while I checked out the beauty next door. We all met and had heaps to discuss about our various adventures. We retired to a nearby but nowhere near as many tourists cafe for coffee.
Last night I discovered that Milan has a castle. It was built for the Sforza family, the mortal enemies of the Medicis. Given I’m definitely a Florentine when it comes to Italian familes of the past, I try not to take a lot of notice of what the enemy is up to. That is why I had no idea they had a castle.
That’s my excuse, anyway.
I mentioned the fact to John so, of course, we had to go and visit this extraordinary structure.
It was first built in around 1358 for local nobleman and rich bastard, Galeazzo II Visconti but, when Francesco Sforza was busy killing and fighting various people, he decided he needed a fort and, given he lived not far from Galeazzo’s place, decided he wanted it.
Sforza called the great Italian architect, Filarete and had it extensively redecorated. He also had a lot more bricks added and a very deep moat around it.
Of course, Francesco didn’t live to see the completion of the fortress so his son, Galeazzo Maria carried on with the works. Or rather he had some other people do the work while he cracked the whip and dreamed up ways of killing other members of the population that he didn’t particularly like. Typical Sforza.
The tower, in the middle of the photo above is named for Bona of Savoy, the Duchess of Milan who was the second wife of Galeazzo Maria who wound up being assassinated in 1476. Serves him right. Upon his demise, his young son was to take his position as Duke but he was way too young and his mum, Bona, took over as his regent. And she did a great job. So the tower is named after her.
Incidentally, “…Bona was to have been betrothed to Edward IV of England, until his secret marriage to Elizabeth Woodville was revealed. She showed her resentment in later years by refusing to contemplate a marriage between either of her daughters and one of Edward’s sons.” Bona’s entry on Wikipedia
Ludivicio Sforca became the Duke of Milan in 1494 and he got Leonardo da Vinci in to paint a few frescos for him in order to give the castle a bit of gravitas. He also painted vegetables in some of the rooms.
And so the history goes on. And on. Until today when we visited.
It is an extraordinary place made with around 75 million bricks and I’m certain a lot of blood sweat and tears from the actual people who did the work while the toffs watched and did fuck all but kill the peasants of other toffs that they didn’t like.
These days, us peasants can wander around as much as we want and marvel at the building skills rather than the wankers who financed the build. And it was free. Unless you wanted to visit the insides then you had to pay. We were more interested in finding lunch so we didn’t pay and went to look for a cafe instead.
Which we did find right next to the entrance to the Metro station we needed to reach the flat.
Over lunch, John and I watched fascinated as two engineer type chaps repaired some sort of Internet cable thingy that normally lives down, under the footpath. It was painstaking and involved lots of very fine wires. John reckoned it was something to do with fibre optics.
Whatever they were doing, we found it intriguing, as did another passerby who stopped to ask what they were doing. It was very much a male thing.
For lunch, John and I had osso bucco with saffron risotto which was pretty damn special. Lindy just went for the risotto.
After stuffing ourselves, we headed back to the flat for a much needed break.
Eventually, once lunch had gone down, we decided to try another very Italian restaurant not far from the accommodation, for dinner. And what a brilliant idea that was.
The Osteria Nuovo Convento it was called and the food was simple and superb. In particular the gnocchi and gorgonzola. I don’t think I’ve ever tasted such an amazing sauce. It was so good, we booked for Friday night as well.
Afterwards, we slowly strolled back to the flat to retire after a long day.
Oh and by the way, this is where the title of the post comes from:
Such a gloriously positive message.
On a sad note, Esther Rantzen died today, aged 86.
