Friday, 10 May, 2019
We were off to Milano today for Laurie's first visit of 2019.
First stop was Milano's Stazione Centrale
The Stazione's ever interesting architecture
A griffin standing guard
Alpini, lots of Alpini
At both the Cadorna train station where our train from Varese arrived and now here at Stazione Centrale there were lots of men wearing their Alpini hats.
The Alpini are Italy's famed mountain fighting troops that have a long, glorious history defending the peninsula's northern border in the Alps and Dolomite mountain ranges.
Laurie wanted to visit Milano's
WWII Deportation Museum
Located at the far end of Stazione Centrale. It was closed today.
Thus it was on to lunch, also close to the Stazione.
Jacob and Mary call Laurie Gigi
Another Alpini with a GREAT feather
AHA!
The Alpini are having a convention in Milano this weekend.
Our lunch awaits
The Osteria del Treno
Originally it was a gathering place/dining spot for off-duty railroad workers from the nearby Stazione, thus the train motif.
More train motif
We were served our drinks
but it is a self-serve lunch
In line to order and receive our
two orders of Veal Scaloppini
The Chef serves you directly through that window into his kitchen.
After lunch we headed towards our next stop via . . .
. . . the Metro
Laurie walking in Milano's
Brera neighborhood
Springtime in Milano
The Pinacoteca di Brera
A former monastery, the Pinacoteca houses a top notch collection of Italian 13th-20th century paintings.
The Pinacoteca's Grand Courtyard
It was established as a museum in 1809 to house Napoleon's looted art.
The museum is upstairs while the ground floor houses a prestigious art college.
Napoleon with Tinkerbell
by Antonio Canova
Young man . . .
DON'T OVER THINK THIS!
Just chillin'
Interesting face
The Pinacoteca also has
a botanical garden
Big leaves
The backside view of
the Pinacoteca
Poppies
New Spring growth
Napoleon being crowned King of Italy
Bust in a cage
Why yes, I do like to work out
All we had seen so far was on the art school's ground floor, it was time to climb the steep staircase to enter the museum.
Amazing treasures were to
be found through these doors
A museum just MUST have a chapel
Being presented to the Madonna
and Child is always a big thing
in a young man's life
A Bishop
St. Columba's demise
A colorful triptych
Amazing detail with . . .
. . . a closer look
Why is only one person reacting to
the child being trampled by the horse?
Scholarly
The bishop's cup is empty
The Dead Christ
by Andrea Mantegna
Crucifixion wounds
Marriage of the Virgin
by Vittore Carpaccio
What a GREAT beard!
St. Mark Preaching in Alexandria
by brothers Gentile and Giovanni Bellini
Some paintings in the collection were HUGE!
Let's take a closer look at this one.
There are lots of interesting head gear
in this canvas' foreground
These were better than the first ones
Now we're talking!
On, I liked these the best
Mary at the Crucifixion
Casting lots while awaiting Jesus' death
She looks like she having lots of fun
St. Peter of Verona
assassinated Inquisitor of Lombardia
I'm not sure if the knife to the heart or the machete to the head was the actual cause of death.
A large Crucifixion scene
Wait, is that a Varese Skorpion
banner in this Crucifixion scene?
Jesus with a plus-one?
A Tintoretto
Cherub and Lion
Napoleon naked year again
Lots going on in this medieval kitchen
Laurie's beloved cherries
Martyrdom of St. Catherine of Alexandria
by Gaudenzio Ferrari
An angel on the way to save
St. Catherine
The end of a rough day
A brightly colored St. Peter
I'm liking the Skorpion red socks
Collecting the precious blood
pouring out of Jesus
Another patron in awe as
we all were I'm sure
St. Peter of Verona again with
a squire holding a city model
Now that knife looks like it might
have missed the saint's heart
Nothing like the joy that being
a pious Catholic brings to the soul
Madonnas with a sheer veil
Marriage of the Virgin
by Raphael
A close-up of Raphael's work
Nothing to see here, just some
saints adoring the Baby Jesus,
please keep moving
Has anybody seen
John the Baptist recently?
Supper at Emmaus
by Caravaggio
The Last Supper
by Peter Paul Rubens
I could TOTALLY do this look!
Alabaster?
Sure, I'd love another . . .
Bring back BIG wigs!
A Venetian cityscape of the Grand Canal
by Canaletto
Canaletto's view of St. Mark's and
the Doge's Palace
The Kiss
by Francesco Hayez
This is a much loved work by most Italian art enthusiast depicting a reunion of a soldier (Alpini?) and a woman at the end of Italy's Second War of Independence.
My head felt exactly the way
this woman looks
We had seen so much incredible art in a short time, my head was spinning.
We rested in the courtyard for a bit
to regain our artistic composure
before moving on to find . . .
. . . Alpini celebrating this glorious
Milano day by . . .
. . . SINGING in a pub!
Another group of Alpini in front
of the La Scala Opera House
More Alpini in the Galleria
Two young kids on a lark of a life!
Alpini in the Piazza Duomo
Alpini singing and dancing
on the Duomo's steps
An Alpini Battle Wagon
Laurie just had to see Milano's
Starbuck's Riserva
We looked but did not purchase.
Once finally home, it was time to view the internet for news of the day.
Apparently, our LB Stefano Granelli
leads DII by a wide margin in tackles,
AWESOME!
The Skorpions Petrillo Family
Filippo is the U17 Flag and U16 Tackle teams' star WR.
Emma is the U13 Flag team's explosive RB.
Sofia is the Women's Flag team's outstanding QB.
Enzo is the father of these kids and coaches the Skorpions Women's and U13 Flag squads.
He also once made me an offer that I could not refuse.
There was a knock on our door. It was Giorgio inviting us next door for one of his home made dinners.
Yet another offer that we could
NOT refuse!
He made paella that would have
pleased a native of Valencia
What a chef!
What a great day to be alive and enjoying La Dolce Vita in Italia!
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