Italian Hand Gestures Rap - by the Us Consulate in Milano

Guided walking tours in December - Season's Greetings

Choose the perfect walking tour for your Christmas Holiday in Milano:

- Milano's Highlights - a tour of the places you can't miss: the imposing Duomo, the elegant Sforza Castle, La Scala Opera Theatre, and much more.

- Christmas Special - the ideal mix of pastry shops, ancient monuments, and typical groceries. The quintessential gourmand tour.

- Shopping Safari - be prepared for an exciting safari in the Milanese fashion jungle.

And the winner is... Miuccia Prada!

For the first time in its history, the British Fashion Awards have celebrated an international designer, awarding Miuccia Prada the honour of International Designer of the Year.
Prada, the quintessential Milanese lady herself, had already been named in Time magazine's list of the 100 Most Influential People of the 20th Century.

The history of Prada begins in Milano, in the elegant Galleria Vittorio Emanuele, where Mario and Martino Prada opened their first leather shop in 1913. They soon reached stardom, having among their clients the Italian royal family.
This year, one century after its birth, Prada has renovated its first store and added a menswear shop right in front of it, designed by architect Roberto Baciocchi.
In the next future a restaurant will also be opened, and spaces for public events will be added upstairs, enjoying a fantastic view on the Galleria.

King Panettone is back!

Few things are more Milanese than Panettone, the typical Christmas cake with the shape of a cupola whose birthplace is in Milan.
From November 30th to December 2nd, 40 different producers of Panettone will offer their creations to the visitors of Re Panettone (King Panettone), the one and only fair dedicated to the king of all Italian Christmas cakes.

During the fair, it will be possible to discover the legendary origin of Panettone, to taste and buy the best wines and liquors that better pair with Panettone, and a new theory about its funny "mushroom" shape will be explained.
All Panettone on sale during the fair cost 20 euros per chilograms, the same price of last year edition of the fair.

But your Christmas dinner will not be complete if Panettone is not served with crema di mascarpone, a cream made of mascarpone and eggs. Here is the recipe.
Ingredients: mascarpone 250 gr, sugar 100, 4 eggs, Marsala liquor 2 tablespoons.
Separate the whites from the yolks, then mix the egg yolks with sugar until you obtain a pale, foamy cream. Add Marsala and mascarpone, and mix carefully until all ingredients are perfectly amalgamated.
In another bowl, whip the whites until they start to foam, then add them to the cream blending gently with a spoon, making movements from the bottom to the top.
Serve the cream by spreading it generously on Panettone slices.
Enjoy!

A meteor in Piazza della Scala

What's happening in Piazza della Scala? Why are hundreds of people patiently queueing in front of Palazzo Marino, Milan's city hall?
From November 28th to January 12th, Milano is hosting a masterpiece from the Musei Vaticani: the "Madonna di Foligno" by Raphael, the artist from Urbino who, together with Michelangelo and Leonardo da Vinci, forms the traditional trinity of great masters of the Renaissance.
It was painted between 1511 and 1513 as an offering in gratitude, after the house of Sigismondo de' Conti, who commissioned the painting, survived the strike of a lightning. A lightning, or maybe a meteor: if you look carefully at the landscape on the background, you may spot a ball of fire which, according to American astronomer H. A. Newton, is in fact a bolide, or a big meteor.

At the center of the scene, the Virgin is sitting on a cloud of angels, between Saint Frances, Saint John the Baptist and Saint Jerome. Kneeling on the right is Sigismondo himself, in what is considered one of the best portraits ever made by Raphael.
A rainbow overwhelming the distant village represents the happy ending of the event.

The painting is on display in the magnificent Sala Alessi, the main hall of Palazzo Marino, decorated with beautiful frescos and stuccos. Entrance to Sala Alessi is usually not permitted to the public: so there are plenty of reasons to join the patient queue of Milanese art lovers in Piazza della Scala.

Admission is free, every day from 9.30 am to 8 pm (10 pm on Thursdays).

Merry Hanukkah in Milano!

The kindling of the lights of the nine-branched Menorah in piazza Cadorna, on the first day of Jewish holiday Hanukkah, or the Festival of Lights.

On the background, the colourful sculpure Needle, Thread and Knot, by Claes Oldenburg, a homage to the Fashion Capital Milano.

Organ music in Santa Maria della Passione

From October 2013 to June 2014, a series of organ concerts will be performed in the church of Santa Maria della Passione, next to Milano's Conservatory of Music.

The programme:

- Sunday October 13th - 4.30 pm - organist Stefano Molardi, music by Frescobaldi, Kuhnau, J. C. Bach

- Sunday November 10th   - 4.30 pm - organists Hank Verhoef and Matteo Imbruno, music by Gabrieli, Sweelinck, Boehm, Bach

- Sunday December 8th  -  4.30 pm - organist Anders Dahl, music by Bach, Brahms, Buxtehude

- Sunday January 12th  - 4.30 pm - organist Luc Paganon, music by Bruhns, Pachelbel, Boehm

- Sunday February 9th - 4.30 pm - organist Nicolò Sari, music by Scheidemann, Bach, Bruna

- Sunday March 9th - 4.30 pm - organist Maurizio Salerno, music by Buxtehude, Boehm, Bruhns

- Sunday April 13th - 4.30 pm - organist Yuzuru Hiranaka, music by Sweelinck, Hofhaimer, Bach

- Sunday May 11th - 4.30 pm - organist Maurizio Croci, music by Vivaldi, Bach, Buxtehude

- Sunday June 8th - 4.30 pm - organist Erwan Le Prado, music by Racquet, Roberday, de Grigny.

Admission to every concert is free.
Further information here.