Beatrice Spolidoro: Milan Times

A short video from Milano

It is official: my city, Milan, has been selected to be the 1st place you have to visit in 2015. According to the New York Times, 52 "once-avoided destinations become must-sees and familiar cities offers new reasons to visit". In a world ruled for years by systems too big to fail, it is now the golden age of the underdogs (after the big systems failed indeed). I smile thinking that my city is the first of the once-avoided destinations. Truth, after the excitement of discovering I am Italian, people are a bit perplexed still now, when I tell them I am from "Milano". Then I underscore that I am from the very center of Milan, like 10 minutes walking from the Duomo, pretending I didn't notice their bafflement.

Sunday morning I opened the NYT and I could recognize, even without wearing my glasses, the familiar shape of the guglie, the gorgeous gothic pinnacles of the Duomo. For me, it was indeed what we Italian describe as a "dive of the hearth", a mixed sense of nostalgia and happiness, that makes you feel as if your hearth is diving into a pool.

(c) Bea Spolidoro

I started reading the article, which was a serie of recommendations for tourists spending 36 hours in Milan. Quite a big leap from the typical 36 minutes spent at the Milanese airport only, waiting for the following flight. This year is special, though, for the next EXPO will be hosted here. The theme is food and "feeding the planet". As a comedian noticed some years ago, this is typical of people from Milan: we always think bigger...

Back to the NYT: "Twenty million visitors are expected to visit the city for the Expo, a mammoth event that runs from May through October and involves more than 130 participating nations and organizations sponsoring more than 60 pavilions. The Expo’s theme focuses on food, nutrition and sustainability practices — a fitting choice for a city steeped in Italian culinary traditions."

The related article starts with a video in Italian with subtitles, in which some people are describing the city. In the opening, a man sincerely states that Milan is not a touristic city: it is an Italian city, "founded for work, industry". That is pretty much what I always say as well, and it usually sounds like a threat. After years of saying that, I am convinced it is just a way to protect our city from the tourists, so that we can keep working smoothly. Nevertheless, Milan is indeed a wonderful city. It deserves to be visited.

Milan it is not only shopping, food, design, industry, fashion... Milan is a very attractive city, from an architectonic point of view. There is only one thing that some people might regret: the presence of nature is very sporadic, but when you can find a green spot, it is indeed a wonderful garden, able to compete with the Japanese ones. The rest of the city is an architectonic manifestation of how 50 shades of gray could look - and I am thinking of concrete tonalities!

As an architect, and a big supporter of my city, I don't want people to visit Milan only for what the NYT selects. Out of 11 items, 6 are about food and drinks, 2 about shopping, and only 3 items are about museums or churches, carefully surrounded by places that sells food and drinks.

I will split the article in two part: first the history, then my recommendations.

This will be a semi-serious version of Milan, with some carefully selected historic facts and some partisan explanations of why Milan is how it looks like today. Or as we say in Milan, why Milan is a big Milan. This is not a scientific article, but if you happen to be in Milan for 36 hours, you'd better follow my recommendations.

BRIEF HISTORY OF MILAN

Milan was founded by Celts, which were not exactly friendly barbarians, and left in us a sort of atavic grumpiness that you'll have to face, soon or later in Milan.

There are different explanations for the name of the city. One version says someone recognized that the only noticeable feature of the place was to be "in-the-middle-of-the-land" (written Medio-lanum). Another version, this legendary, says that, after a war, people found a boar with "medium-length hair" (also written Medio-lanum) on the site. That was the sign to found a sanctuary, around which Milan arose.

(c) www.storiadimilano.it

Milan has always suffered from having a poor weather in a very sunny country. The natural activity in such a place was, since the beginning, working a lot - possibly indoor.

While Ancient Romans were conquering even sunnier places around the Mediterranean, Milan was already working in a frantic way, likely creating what can be considered a primitive form of pollution.

During the Middle Ages, Federico Barbarossa conquered Milan, arriving from places that had a weather even worse than Milan. All in all, he couldn't complain and remained and adapted to the Milanese work-life balance.

image from www.ilgiorno.it

In 1386, the Cathedral of the city was started. The famous Duomo di Milano, despite the prodigious Milanese efficiency, was said to be never finished, due to continuous changes. Some would say it was just because the Milanese fashion was changing so quickly, that the building couldn't keep up with the following fashion season.

In the Renaissance, Milan was flourishing thanks to commerce, and the Duke of the city Ludovico Maria Sforza invited some great Tuscan artists, like Leonardo da Vinci. Milan was the only city that asked Leonardo to do something practical, like war machines or hydraulic masterpieces and very complex dams. The few drawings Leonardo made in Milan where likely sold to make profitable investments. The rest was stolen by the French army, which made way better use of the masterpieces. We still have the Last Supper, firmly attached to a big wall.

image from www.museodeinavigli.com

Between the 16th century and 19th Centuries France, Spain and Austria conquered Milan, building many Bastions that started eroding the little vegetation Milan was trying to preserve.

Milan in 1573. Image from wikipedia

The Bastions, though, were beautiful, and Milanese started enjoying their presence. Once there was no more danger of invasions, the city kept the Bastions and turned them into passeggiate.

image from www.msacerdoti.it

image from www.milanodavedere.it

The 20th Century saw Milan as the richest and most productive city in Italy. Not the biggest, even if many people from the south of Italy migrated here, looking for jobs. In 1943, during the Second World War, Milan was heavily bombed. Period.

Above, Galleria Vittorio Emanuele

Above, Santa Maria alle Grazie. This church still guests the Da Vinci's Last Supper

Milan, together with the rest of Italy, got back on track as soon as possible. There was the economic boom in the 60s and the city grew even more. In the 80s, though, the production relented, and many industries relocated elsewhere. Milan slowed down, both economically and morally. These are the years of the Dolce Vita Milanese, and despite that sounds good now, the city didn't give its best.

After two decades of relative immobility, the New Millenium saw Milan getting a bit better, leading the industrial design sector, keeping the role of Italian fashion capital, and inventing the Happy Hour. The city, which has always a relatively poor weather, is still polluted, but less than in the past.

Despite all the irony I put in this post, I think Milan is a truly precious city. I love it, so full of complex relation between old and new buildings. The density of the city is incredible, so full of overlapped details.
When I left the city in 2012, many of the buildings designed for the EXPO 2015 were under construction, including the famous Bosco Verticale by Stefano Boeri, voted the most beautiful highrise.