Tuesday, November 02, 2010

Herd of English-speaking moms takes over streets of Milan

The PTO of the American School of Milan hosted a tour of Milan's Brera neighborhood as a fund-raiser last Wednesday. I'm sure we were a sight: 30-something women, one baby in a stroller (Owen), one guide. We met in front of the Duomo, and I snapped this photo from the steps:That's Vittorio Emanuele II. Apparently he's very popular with pigeons.
Daniele, our guide, pointed out the Statue of Liberty on the Duomo. It is very similar, isn't it? It actually is older than the more famous version (and Italian instead of French, of course).
I really like Casa degli Omenoni, although this photo doesn't show the whole facade.
San Fedele is pretty impressive. Alessandro Manzoni, whose statue is out front, is considered by many to be the second-most-important Italian writer (after Dante).
I'd never been to Santa Maria del Carmine, but it's amazing-looking.
And we'll definitely be going back to visit the Palazzo Bagatti Valsecchi, which is a museum house among the city's fancy stores.Isn't the courtyard floor awesome?
In an interesting mix of history and the present, we visited the home of Massimo Moratti, who owns the Inter Milan soccer club. Apparently it's not unusual for him to let people see his courtyard, and we happened to be in the right place at the right time. I thought the original frescoed ceiling over the driveway was the most interesting part.
See, you really should all come visit. There's all kinds of crazy fun to be had.

1 comments:

Amanda said...

And I thought our fundraisers were cool. I didn't think it got better than buying wrapping paper or cookie dough. Hmm...