Following Michelangelo: Milano (7/17/1983)

Sunday, July 17, 1983

It was so hot that I actually sweated, with the edge of my hair dripping! We got up as our usual at 7:30. We were the first ones at breakfast it seemed. Marsha had tea and I had hot chocolate with our rolls with butter and jam. The hot chocolate was not as chocolate-y as in Florence. We went to check-out and were rather shocked by the bill of 73,700 ITL/$48! The room itself was 53,236 ITL/$35, and the breakfasts were 4,629 ITL/$3 each. Plus the frigobar for 3,200 ITL/$2. The total of 65,694 ITL/$43 was reasonable considering we were told it would be 60,000 ITL/$39. But then there were taxes! Oh, well, a one night splurge.

Hotel New York bill

We were able to leave our bags at the hotel as we went to take the Metro to the Lanza station and walk down Via Pontaccio to Via Brera for the Brera Pinacoteca/Art Gallery. In the courtyard we were greeted by a statue of Napoleon I whom Antonio Canova depicted as a victorious Caesar on a costume that considerably angered the Emperor. The “costume” consisted of a fig leaf! We walked upstairs to enter the gallery and it was a free day today. The first room had modern art, then there were portraits and self-portraits of many artists. A side room had frescoes. We entered a large hall and turned right into a room containing Andrea Mantegna’s masterpiece, the Dead Christ, which he would not part with (until his own death, of course!). It showed knowledge of foreshortening. Christ was viewed lying down, from his feet. We saw a Pietà by Giovanni Bellini, and many Madonnas. There was Vittore Carpaccio’s St Stephen Preaching and Carlo Crivelli’s Madonna with a Candle. The candle was difficult to find, a thin asparagus in the lower left corner. We saw a couple rooms of the picture library hung with rows of vertically stacked paintings. We saw stuff by Donato Bramante, and a Madonna by Piero della Francesca. Then the altarpiece of Raffaello, The Marriage of the Virgin exhibiting peace and harmony. Across from it was the Flagellation by Luca Signorelli. Another room had paintings from the school of Caravaggio, but we didn’t see any real Caravaggios. The next rooms were blocked off, so we returned to the big hall and headed left. There were primitive paintings, then modern art. Marsha asked me to translate the titles so we could tell what the modern art was about! I kept seeing “natura morta/dead nature” which I figured meant a still life! We went back to the big hall to see St Mark Preaching at Alexandria by Gentile and Giovanni Bellini.

Marsha bought a book about Michelangelo in the Vatican from the English rack in the gift shop. As we left, she thumbed through the book and found it was in French! She quickly went back to exchange it.

We walked over to Castello Sforzecso, a huge brick affair. We marched through the courtyard and into the museum of antique art. Again it was a free day. Since we had a train to catch, we hurried through the rooms of classical statues and statue remnants. A room of armor and finally the room with the tomb of Visconti with a reclined figure of Gaston de Foix, and the Pietà by Michelangelo, worked on four days before his death.

Michelangelo's Pietà

He hacked away at his original idea so that only an arm of Christ is left intact. It is still a complete sculpture of a skinny Christ in the arms of Mary.

We then gave ourselves 15 minutes in the art gallery, finding Vincenzo Foppa’s Martyrdom of San Sebastian, canvases by Giovanni Bellini, Correggio, Anthony Van Dyck, and a detailed Market by Alessandro Magnasco. Then we hurried past rooms of musical instruments and out to Corso Magenta. It seemed like a long walk to the church Santa Maria delle Grazie. We went directly to the refectory, paid the 2,000 ITL/$1.30 fee, and went in to see the small Last Supper by Leonardo da Vinci, most of which was in view.

Santa Maria delle Grazie ticket

It depicts the moment when Christ said, “One of you will betray me.” The apostles are in various stages of doubt and disbelief. They were grouped in threes, with all gestures and looks centered on Christ. We couldn’t pick out Judas. Across from it is an unidentified fresco.

We left and marched over to Via Boccaccio to find the Metro station to take it to the Central Station. In the Metro station, a guy came towards us as if the pass between Marsha and me. So I stepped back to give him room to pass. But he walked around Marsha and came to me to ask if this train went to Centrale Stazione. Si!

We returned to the hotel to pick up our bags and went to the train station by 12:00 to board the 12:35 train to Bern. We found a seat in the one First Class car, but decided to get seats in 2nd class, since we had 2nd class tickets for the Swiss portion of the trip. Some weird woman popped in twice to sit in our compartment, asking if the train was regularly late, and how often do we come to Milano, once a month? She finally left for good. We had drinks of grapefruit soda and Marsha had a tonic that overflowed when opened. We were joined by a Swiss girl. I was very uncomfortable on this trip, and was very hot and kept moving to try to be in the shade. I couldn’t get enough air, sticking my hand out the window and standing up at every station. Marsha let me switch seats with her to get the wind directly in my face. In Domodossola, A Swiss family got in, and they closed the window when we went through the tunnel. I thought I was going to suffocate. Fortunately they got off in Brig. I tried to sleep to get my mind off how I felt. I finally sat by the compartment door to get out of the sun.

Train day pass

We arrived in Bern about 17:45 and stopped at Wendy’s. I ended up having a Frosty and two iced teas with my meal! We caught the 18:53 train to Biel, and then the 19:40 bus to the Personalhaus/staff residence. A good shower and early to bed.