See you at La Scala!

Getting tickets for La Scala theatre is often a frustrating quest, both for the Milanese and tourists. Yet today, Easter Friday, may be your lucky day, and this evening you may be sitting in your box seat of one of the most famous theatres in the world.
Strange as it may seem, there are some tickets still available for the charity concert of tonight: the Symphonic Orchestra Giuseppe Verdi (nicknamed "la Verdi") will perform J.S. Bach's St Matthew Passion (BWV 244) conducted by Ruben Jais.
The soloists are Makoto Sakurada (Evangelist), Karina Gauvin (soprano), Stefanie Iranyi (mezzo-soprano), Cyrill Auvity (tenor), Christian Senn (baritone), Klaus Kuttler (baritone), Daniele Caputo (baritone), Cristiano Contadin (bass-viol).
Symphonic Choir "G. Verdi" (choir master Erina Gambarini) and Children's Choir "La Verdi" (choir master Maria Teresa Tramontin).

Tickets are available at Ricordi Media Store, in Galleria Vittorio Emanuele. Prices range from 40 to 60 euros. Unsold tickets (if there will be any) will be on sale from 6.30 pm at La Scala ticket office, in via Filodrammatici.
Have a wonderful evening!

Mozart in Milano: the church of Sant'Antonio Abate

photograph by Giovanni Dall'Orto - WikiCommons

The name of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart has an unexpected yet strong link with the city of Milano. The genius of Saltzburg visited Italy three times during his life, but it is here in Milano that he wrote and performed the first of his works to be still widely performed today, the solo motet Exsultate, Jubilate (K. 165). Here it is performed by Cecilia Bartoli, one of the finest voices in the world, and Claudio Abbado, the great Milanese conductor.

Exsultate, Jubilate was written for the castrato Venanzio Rauzzini - who, according to Leopold Mozart, Wolfgang's father, "sang like an angel" - and premiered on Sunday, January 17 1773 (Mozart was just 16), in the church of Saint Anthony the Abbott.

The link with Mozart is just one of many reasons to visit this beautiful church, in via Sant'Antonio 5 (five minutes from piazza del Duomo), a hidden treasure little known both to the tourists and to Milanese themselves. 
In the XVIII century, when Mozart was in Milano, the church was still associated with the order of the Theatines, a religious congregation which worships the Virgin and the Holy Cross. The latter is the subject of an important cycle of frescoes on the vaults of Sant'Antonio, representing the Stories of the Holy Cross which - according to the legend - was found in Jerusalem by Saint Helena, emperor Constantine's mother, in the IV century.
The interior of the church is a sort of "museum" of Mannerism style, elegant and sophisticated, with some exquisite works by Giovan Battista Crespi (nicknamed "Cerano"), Procaccini and Carracci.
Next to the altar is a statue of saint Anthony the Abbott, with a little pig at his feet. Why Saint Anthony is universally recognized as the patron of hogs is actually unknown, but one reason may be his being credited in assisting in miraculous healings from shingles, also known as "St. Anthony's Fire". From the end of the XIII century to the beginning of the XVI, the friars of Saint Anthony managed a small hospital where people suffering from St. Anthony Fire were cured, mainly with soothing preparations derived from pig's fat.

Tours cancelled on Sunday 24th and 31st

The Sunday tours on March 24th and 31st are cancelled.
On March 24th, Milano will be invaded by the runners of "Stramilano", a half marathon which starts from the Sforza Castle and affects the itinerary of the "Ghosts" tour.
March 31st is Easter Sunday, and some of the sites included in the tour are closed.

We are sorry for the inconvenience, but we hope to meet you on our other tours!

Concerts in the Sforza Castle

The Sala della Balla is one of the most famous halls in the Castello Sforzesco. It houses the magnificent Trivulzio tapestries and some rare pieces of the Museum of Musical Instruments.
In March the huge hall will also host two concerts of Baroque music, on Friday 15th and Saturday 23rd, at 4 pm. Admission to the concerts is included in the ticket to the museum, which costs a mere 3 euros.
It is a perfect chance to enjoy the beauty and athmosphere of the inner rooms of the castle, and the surprising richness of the museums that transformed what once was a military citadel in a center of culture and history.
Inside the Sforza fortress you will find, among the others:
- the Pinacoteca, with works by Mantegna, Antonello da Messina, Foppa,
- the Museum of Decorative Arts and Musical Instruments, with a rich collection of ceramics, antique furniture and ivories,
- the Museum of Ancient Art, which is home to the last masterpiece of Michelangelo, the dramatic Pietà Rondanini.

And, if the wheather is fine, don't forget to have a walk in the park and look for the Ponte delle Sirenette (Mermaids' Bridge), which once crossed one of the city canals: it is Milano lovers' bridge par excellence.

And the winner is...

Risotto giallo is the quintessential dish of Milanese cuisine. It is a creamy, golden yellow risotto enriched with parmesan cheese and perfumed with saffron.
It is best enjoyed with ossobuco and gremolata, a meaty stew lightened with lemon zest and parsley, and should be matched with a nice glass of wine, possibily red.
It is the perfect meal for these cold, damp, foggy January evenings.

 

If you want to taste it at its best, you can choose between the three winners of the fifth edition of the Giallo Milano competition, which was held last December.
The champions of risotto giallo are: Il Vico della Torretta, Antica Osteria Magenes and Ristorante Ambrosiano. Only the last one is in Milano, close to piazza del Duomo, while the first and second recipients for this award are in Sesto San Giovanni and in Gaggiano, respectively: they are just a few kilometers from the centre of the city, but definitely worth the journey.
A special mention was given to the "Risotto da passeggio" ("risotto to-go") invented by Claudio Sadler in his Chic'n Quick Trattoria, on the Navigli canal.

The other side of The Last Supper

When visiting the refectory of the Convent of Santa Maria delle Grazie, few people can take their eyes off the masterpiece of Leonardo da Vinci, The Last Supper. Yet the Crucifixion displayed on the opposite wall is worth attentive observation.
Its author is Giovanni Donato da Montorfano, who worked back to back  with Leonardo in 1495. While the genius from Vinci was experimenting with colours, painting on the dry wall rather than on a wet plaster and therefore condemning his work to precocious deterioration, Montorfano diligently used the fresco technique. That is why his Crucifixion is so bright and vivid still today, while Leonardo's Last Supper started to flake only a few years after its completion.
The different resistance to time of the two techniques is dramatically evident in the portraits of Ludovico il Moro, his wife Beatrice and their sons Massimiliano and Francesco, which Leonardo painted a secco, that is working on a dry surface, on Montorfano's work. Time has reduced the four figures, who are kneeling down in the bottom corners of the Crucifixion, to ghostly witnesses to the death of Jesus.

The scene depicted by Montorfano is incredibly crowded and detailed. At the foot of the three crosses, groups of people react differently to the tragedy which is going on: dominican friars and nuns (who actually commissioned both works for the refectory of the Convent) barely daring to look; three women holding grief-stricken Maria, the only figure in the scene clad in light blue; John the Apostle watching soldiers who throw dice for Jesus' clothing.
On the background, the high walls of Jerusalem - a clear homage to Bramante, and on the foreground the crosses, tall and thin, inaccessible to human reach.
At the center of the composition, at the foot of the middle cross, Mary Magdalene is passionately clinging to the wood as if it was Jesus himself, her red hair loosely spread on her shoulders.
Her human, earthly love so evident in her desperate gesture, will strike a chord with all visitors.
A good reason to spend some of the 15 minutes allowed inside the refectory to pay homage to Montorfano's masterpiece.

Three Wise Men and a Star

The Three Wise Men, whose visit to Jesus after his birth is celebrated on the day of Epiphany, have an unexpected yet strong connection with Milano.
Saint Eustorgio, the first bishop of the city, brought their relics from the Holy Land to Milano, and ordered a church to be built to be the site of their tomb.
Such church is the Basilica of Sant'Eustorgio.
In the XII century Milano was overthrown by the Holy Roman Emperor, Frederick Barbarossa, who sacked the city and brought the relics of the Magi to Cologne, in Germany, where they have been housed until the XX century.
Only in 1903, after long negotiations, fragments of the bones and garments (two brooches, one tibia, and one vertebra) were sent back to Milano, and are now kept in a bronze urn above the altar in the Chapel of the Magi, in Sant'Eustorgio.
Milano's place in the legend of the Magi is reaffirmed by the procession of the Magi, which takes place every 6th of January from the Duomo to the Basilica.
And a lasting homage to the memory of the Three Kings is the eight-pointed star, rather than the traditional cross, that surmounts the Basilica's bell tower.