Drakes in France: Day 16

Basilica di Sant’Ambrogio

The Basilica di Sant’Ambrogio is an outstanding example of Lombard Romanesque architecture. Although the church was originally built between 379 and 386, the earliest portions of the present structure date from the 9th and 10th centuries. The rebuilt vaulted nave and aisles date from 1128, the atrium from about 1050, and the narthex from 1095–96.

In the courtyard.

Older relics integrated into the old walls

No, Carol's not an old relic!

The marble ambo (or pulpit for the reading of the Gospel) is held up by a series of slender ancient columns which have been re-used, and rests on the famous Early Christian sarcophagus called 'of Stilicone.' It thus forms a monumental complex of great interest, and it is recognized as one of the most important expressions of Lombard Romanesque art. It is also the only example of this kind of medieval liturgical furnishing which has been preserved in Milan. Created between 1130 and 1143, it was damaged in 1196 by the collapse of the vault of the third bay, but it was then reconstructed a few years later by Guglielmo da Pomo, as commemorated in the inscription carved on the parapet.

More people taking pictures with tablets. I heard this guy get all huffy behind me when I changed the setting on my camera to take a second indoor picture of the basilica.

Carol reading at the entrance to the basilica

Carol in the courtyard

Tempio della Vittoria

The temple was inaugurated in 1928 as a memento to the war casualties from the First World War.

Carol out front...

The temple

This old guy was acting as a docent. He had memorized some stuff in English, but got real loquacious when he found out Carol spoke Italian.

San Maurizio al Monastero Maggiore

Church covered in 16th century frescos. Split into the congregant's side and the nun's side.

The congregant's side.

Click on any picture to get the full-size version. You might find Carol hiding in there!

Panoramic of the congregant's side.

The nun's side

A mixture of old and modern

The temptation in the garden

Funny that the serpent has a female head, even though the Bible uses masculine pronouns.

The Last Supper

The vault of the hall of the nuns is depicted a starry sky, with God, the Evangelists, and angels.

Apparently they needed to pass stuff between the congregant's side and the nun's side. There were several of these little portals between them.

The sign says, "Please don't touch." So sad that it is even necessary. What's wrong with people?

Lunch near the Sforzesco Castle

The emotions of Carol when told she has to pose for a picture, when all she wants is some yummy Italian food...

Pizza! Yes you knife and fork it in Italy. When in Rome...

Archaeological Museum of Milan

You know that stereotype about Italian men? He couldn't keep his hand off her butt.

The stele portrays the freedman Sextus Magius Licinus and his master Sexto Magio Turpio wearing ceremonial togas and shaking each other's right hand. The former had taken the praenomen (proper name) and nomen (family name) from his master and commissioned the funerary monument. The presence of tongs held by one of the two personages and the symbols of blacksmiths (hammer and tongs) portrayed on the pediment beside a Medusa head suggest that the two men, perhaps partners, were blacksmiths by trade.

We've been shaking right hands for a long time...

The Polygonal Tower

Polygonal on the outside and circular on the inside, the use to which the tower has been put has changed over the centuries. Erected as a defensive tower during the reinforcing and extension work on the walls at the end of the 3rd centuryA.D., it was, in fact, incorporated - to what purpose we do not know .- in the monastery founded at the end of the Longobard Era or at the beginning of the Carolingian period (8th-9th century). Several centuries later, when the Monastero Maggiore was one of the most important and wealthy monasteries in Milan, the ground floor of the tower was used as a chapel.

Ancient apples

The Frescoes of the Polygonal Tower

Evidence of the use of the tower as a chapel is the interesting cycle of frescoes, dating back to the end of the 13th century or beginning of the following one, which extends around the entire inside wall. Below a polychrome frieze, with a meander motif on one part and faux perspective shelves on the other, there is a Crucifixion frescoed at the point where the altar must have been placed. On either side there are figures of Saints placed in spaces defined by niches of varying types. The wall is frescoed with the scene of St. Francis receiving the stigmata` which means that it cannot date to before (ante query non) 1226, the year in which the Saint died. The cycle continues with an extensive representation of St. Michael the Archangel and an enigmatic scene with three Holy Knights in prison, the identification of which still perplexes art historians. Lower down, the probable effigies of those commissioning the cycle are shown: two nuns or even novices if their head veils were originally white. The cycle is enclosed at the base by a continuous frieze of leafy tendrils.

Cimitero Monumentale ("Monumental Cemetery")

The Cimitero Monumentale officially opened in 1866, it has since then been filled with a wide range of contemporary and classical Italian sculptures as well as Greek temples, elaborate obelisks, and other original works such as a scaled-down version of the Trajan's Column. Many of the tombs belong to noted industrialist dynasties, and were designed by artists such as Adolfo Wildt, Giò Ponti, Arturo Martini, Dante Parini, Lucio Fontana, Medardo Rosso, Giacomo Manzù, Floriano Bodini, and Giò Pomodoro.

The main entrance is through the large Famedio, a massive Hall of Fame-like Neo-Medieval style building made of marble and stone that contains the tombs of some of the city's and the country's most honored citizens, including that of novelist Alessandro Manzoni.

Tullo and Manlio Morgagni Memorial
West Loggia B-C, Niche 3, Enzo Bifoli, architect, 1921-1930

This is a rare work by the Florentine architect Enzo Bifoli (1882-1965), author of both the monument's sculptures and its decorations, the work was designed and put in place in 1921, and subsequently modified. Dedicated to the jour- nalist Tullo Morgagni who died in the Verona air disaster of 1919, the memorial was redesigned in 1929-1930, when the sculptural part was enhanced and an epigraph (dictated by Benito Mussolini) added to commemorate the tragic event. Manlio Morgagni, a journalist and chairman of the Stefani news agency, who died on 25 July 1943, is also buried here. The sculpture group in Carrara marble is composed of six allegorical female figures silhouetted against a mosaic background, where the text in gilded letters signed by Mussolini is inscribed on the entrance of the vault.

Brivio MemorialWest Loggia B-C, Niche 4, Michele Vedani, sculptor, 1915

The Milanese sculptor Michele Vedani (1874-1969), a pupil of Enrico Butti at the Brera Academy, was among the artists most in demand by Milanese families for the designing of funerary monuments. His early work is characterised by a certain plasticity close to the Scapigliatura movement, by the end of the century, however, Vedani had developed his own style under the influence of the Liberty style that was prevailing at the time, an example being this exacting bronze group. The artist develops the theme of the human soul accompanied by Gratitude, crossing the threshold of death and being welcomed by an angel. The composition is completed by a refined, decorative fascia embellished with the heads of putti.

Detail of the Brivio Memorial

Carol always manages to make feline friends

A few night shots of the Cathedral

I have no idea what Biblical story this depicts, but it's rather gruesome.

I assume David and Goliath's head

Maybe Peter crucified upside-down

Fashion

From the Casual Elegance of Paris to the Anything Goes of Milan...

Lime Green pants

You want to wear studded sneakers but still get the extra 3" of wedge shoes?

This is Prada for men BTW

With matching bags

Hot fanny pack action

What the well-dressed flasher is wearing in Milan

Extra inches

Looks great with a summer sundress

I don't think I could pull these off

I know I couldn't pull these off

Milan at Night

Poor guy. I don't know if this is a hazing or a birthday party or what, but they were parading him around the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II blindfolded and dressed like this.

We stopped because I wanted a picture, and the girls asked Carol - in Italian - if she would take a picture, so my lovely polyglot said, "Si" and I got this picture (click on it to seem him in all his glory).