Coffee and culture

 Sunday 10 May

Up early for a miniscule and over-priced hotel breakfast, then made my way to Piazza Mercantil via the metro to meet Maria, the guide for the coffee and culture tour. We met within a colonnade overlooking the old square which was the scene of humiliation for merchants in debt back in the day. They would be stripped naked and made to break their own table to show that their career was over. Nice. No debt counselling and payment plans in those days.

Maria's a Neopolitan but moved to Milan some years back, having decided to make a career focusing on coffee expertise and turning it into a guided tour. We visited a number of highlights while learning about coffee, its origins and processes, and had coffee in three different shops. The first was unsurprising Caffe Napoli, where I enjoyed an espresso made the Neopolitan way, and paid for a second "sospiso" - a coffee made later for free for someone who's on the streets and needs it. It felt like the right thing to do.

The second place was at Lavazza, where I foolishly agreed to try something I knew I'd probably hate - basically a mocha with whipped cream which was sickly sweet. I won't be doing that again. The third coffee, at Bighletta, the home of the Moka pot, was a lovely surprise with a hint of (but not overpowered by) lemon - tiramisu, coconut and almond were also available, but I'll stick with my no-mess, no-fuss Nespresso capsules rather than having to deal with watching a pot boil.

Sightseeing highlights included the exterior of the Duomo, the Palazzo Royale (started by Queen Marie Catherina, but actually completed by Napoleon in neo-Classical style, then heavily bombed during WW2 - so much of Milan was partially destroyed that way), Leonardo's statue flanked by his apprentices, and of course the heaving Vittorio Emmanuelle arcade (the template for all shopping malls that followed). Milan, Florence, Rome and Turin are all commemorated by their crests on display in the central cross of the four paths through the building representing the unification of Italy, but apparently the rivalry between Milan and Turin was so strong that Milanese women  would come and grind their heels in to the bull of Turin to show defiance and cast a spell to make them bring forth more menfolk for the glory of Milan. There were lots of young women doing it during shopping hours, most of them clearly not from Milan.

Tour over, I wandered down Via Dante, popped into Sephora (always take that opportunity) and towards the Sforza castello piazza - I'd visited it when I came in 2014, but today it was pissing down with rain, so I decided to have some lunch instead in Farinella, and very nice Cacio e Pepe it was too. 

I had a ticket to see a new exhibition of work by Anselm Kiefer, The Alchemists, featuring women throughout the ages (though not too recent)  who practised alchemy and healing - as always, incredible in terms of their scope, size and the variety of materials used to achieve 3D pictures that come towards you.

The exhibition of 35 works was held in the Sala delle Cariatidi, part of the Palazzo Royale which was heavily bombed during the war. Most of the figures around the wall are still awaiting restoration, but it's a great setting.

 Coincidentally I first came across Kiefer's work in Milan when on the advice of my Air BnB host I visited The Seven Heavenly Palaces at Pirelli Hangar Bicocca, a set of permanent  monumental installations - here's an Insta post (not mine) showing you these amazing structures: https://www.instagram.com/reels/DL7V1RboaI-/

I got to wander through some parts of the palazzo on the way out, which was worth seeing, including a very grand staircase. But it was still raining, so I decided to double up on the culture and visit the Museo Nova Cento, which features art from the beginning of the 20th century, focusing on Futurism initially but then broadening out to include Cubism and other progressive art forms. There were a few pieces by the likes of Picasso, Braque and Kandinsky, but most were Italian artists and I was particularly taken by the work of Boccioni (who died very young, and who painted the blue view of fog below) and Sironi. There was a huge range of work on display - and for 5 euros ridotto admission for being old, it's great value as there's so much to see and it's very well laid out and still in development. I enjoyed the collection of 20th century designer chairs which formed one of the final displays.
I've seen the bronze sphere with teeth by Arnaldo Pomodoro in other places, including Pesaro in Puglia and in the Vatican gardens.

I then had a ticket for the Hi-Line - a metal walkway that goes across the roof of the Galleria Vittorio Emmanuelle offering amazing views of Milan's skyline, including a final terrace at the highest point with the best possible sighting of the Duomo. (Its marble facade, by the way, will always be being cleaned as the pollution etc oxidises the beautiful streaked marble delivered all the way from the Piedmont region. I had hoped for more of a garden, like the hi-line in Paris that starts near Bastille - there are plants along the way though, and there are plenty of infographics to give you the history of the Galleria and the creation of the walkway itself, but the audio guide failed which was supposed to have given me insights as I walked along. Never mind. Very sad that the architect/builder fell to his death from scaffolding just hours before the Galleria opened...

After a search for a recommended pizza joint proved fruitless as there would have been a hour to wait til opening time (despite Google claiming that it already was busy at 5pm), my by now pretty wobbly legs settled on SignorVino near the Duomo. It's a chain, but as the name suggests they're very good at wine, so the restaurant is kind of an adjunct to its main retail business. I had a lovely pinot nero and a plate of melt in the mouth proscuitto, and a little caprese on the side. Then it was time to haul my weary arse back to the hotel for catching up on the blog from the day before (it's how I roll) and packing my bags ready for an early start to catch a train from Centrale to Vicenza next day. Just hadn't thought about the fact that Mondays are a bad day for finding Italy open....