HK Independent Traveller Blog

Centuries ago Saint Christorpher was the first stop on the way to Santiago de Compostela.  Pilgrims first came here to get the credenziali ( credentials , also known as pilgrim's passport ) before embarking on the pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela . Originally, it was a simple chapel with a typical bell-shaped roof. The church was added only at the end of the 13th century.  A pilgrim's hostel was added a century later. There are two entrances. The older one on the left can be recognised by its beautiful 15th century door with a delicately worked Gothic terra-cotta rosette in the middle.  The one on the right is Cappella Ducale ( Ducal Chapel ) built at the beginning of 15th century by Gian Galeazzo Visconti . Above the entrance is the symbol of the noble family, a snake.   I can imagine that the church would have been very beautiful when it served the pilgrims in the past. Why? The reminiscence of the frescoes is beautiful.  Those at the ...

Mudec is built on the site of the old Ansaldo factory in the Tortona area  of Milan . It is a meeting place for cultures and communities.   Mudec is dedicated to interdisciplinary research on the cultures of the world.  It focuses on the relationship of these cultures with the city of Milan.  I was very impressed with the design at the entrance. The sides of the staircase were dark.  It leads to the bright. Once ascending to the top, you will see light permeating through the numerous curvy windows. The whole space is united as one but also separated by openings taking through to the different sections / exhibitions.   At time of our visit there was the exhibition of  Homo sapiens . It is about the human evolution. It started with two hundred thousand years ago when the Homo sapiens moving from a small valley (now Ethiopia) to colonize the whole planet and lived with other human species.  It led to the diversity of populatio...

The Palazzo dell'Arengario is located in the Piazza  Duomo of Milan .  'Arengario' refers to its original function as a local government seat in the Fascist period . The building was constructed during the fascist time but interrupted by the World War II and finally completed in 1956.  It is a building composed of two big square towers, standing directly opposite to the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele . The outer walls were covered in the same marble from Candoglia that was use five centuries earlier in the construction of the Duomo .  The austere, rationalist style palazzo has big Art Nouveau glasses window. Inside the palazzo are superb views of the Piazzo Duomo and the surroundings.   In the 2000s it was restored and now housed the Museo del Novecento , a museum dedicated to 20th century art .   The museum is renowned for its unique collection of futurist paintings .  The top floor is featured with Lucio Fontana 's fluorescents*, 430 feet ...

Dated back to the 9th century,  a sacellum  (a small shrine) was standing at Via Torino 17 of Milan.  It was dedicated to Saint Satyrus , an old saint and the brother of Saint Ambrose , patron saint of the city Milan. This little shrine was already an important place. Apart from this fact, a miracle occurred here in 1241: a young man attached with a dagger the fresco of a Madonna and Child, and the wound had started to bleed. At the end of the 15th century, duke of the city, Galeazzo Maria Sforza , duke of the city at time, commissioned Donato Bramante to build a church. Bramante was one of the best architects of that time. He introduced Renaissance architecture to Milan an dHigh Renaissance style to Rome. His other works include the cloister and apse at Santa Maria delle Grazie (Milan), Palazzo Caprini (Raphael's House) in Rome, Saint Peter's Basilica of Rome , Cortile del Belvedere of the Vatican . Building a church at Via Torino 17 was a big challenge, alm...

Industrial revolution started in Britain in the 18th century. The economy changed from agriculture and handicraft to industry and machine manufacturing.  It gradually spread to the other parts of the world.  In the 20th century, The Novecento ('new century), the middle class of entrepreneurs and industrial families emerged.  It marked the beginning of a new era in the country's history.  Milan rose as the capital of Italian finance.  The new class challenged the tradition by erecting imaginative, eclectic and bizarre new residences in the heart of the old city. The area of Porta Venezia , near Via Malpighi is where a handful of art Nouveau / Liberty style houses have been standing for close to/exceeding  a century.  Our eyes are easily trapped with inlaid with floral friezes, polychrome majolica tiles, wrought iron and reliefs of all kinds. In the new era, rules were cast aside. Neoclassical forms were combined with Baroque eccentricity a...

  A giant middle ' Finger ' stands in front of the Milan Stock Exchange . It is an expression of FXXX YXX to the bankers and CEOs, reflecting the grievance and annoyance from the 'people' who have been 'butchered' by the entrepreneurs dominating the Italian stock market for generations.  They win, profit from the losing public.  The government just keeps their eyes blind. The anger was expressed by Maurizio Cattelan , famous for work of controversy.  He created this 36 foot marble middle finger in 2010, with a title L.O.V.E .  It stands for Liberta, Odio, Vendetta, Eternita (Freedom, Hate, Vengeance, Eternity). The artist did not comment the 'finger' but most people assumed it referred to the economic crisis that affected Europe, and Italy in particular. The statue was supposed to stay at the square for a short time.  The inauguration sparked debate and controversy. The upper ones protested against it.  But the public thought that it re...

Locals affectionately call it Ca'dell'Oreggia (Ear House i Milanese dialect).  Can you guess what it is? It is a doorbell-intercom created in 1930.  At time the intercom served to visitors to communicate with the guardian who then to announce the visit to the families who lived there. Today it does not function anymore but has become mysterious.  It is said that anyone who comes near his ear and whispers their dreams, they will come true one day.  The intercom was created by Adolfo Wildt , a sculptor specialising in auricles.  No one know how the designer of Sola-Busca house ' designer, Aldo Andreani  got the unusual idea.  But during the interwar years, it was a fashion of mixing different cultures and epochs. Architects liked to put all sorts of design and styles together. It is a time that strange figures started appearing on the city's facades. The influence of this fashion can be seen at a number of buildings in the neighbourhood. ...