Several days ago I got a call from one of my great nephews, which doesn’t happen too often, so I immediately got that apprehensive feeling wondering what was to come.  As it turned out he had a project for his Italian class and needed information on “famous Piazza in Lombardia” and wasn’t coming up with much when he googled that phrase. 

I could appreciate his problem because even though Lombardia has some beautiful cities with tremendous histories they are not on the tourist circuit and therefore not top of mind when you think of famous squares.  That got me to thinking that perhaps a little blog on our last visit to Milano may pique some interest for those of you planning your next Italy itinerary.

One of the things we had on our bucket list was Da Vinci’s Last Supper but it always seemed like once we got to my hometown of Ivrea we never made it to Milano.  This was about to change and we contacted our friends in Ivrea to prepare for a road trip.  Luciano called his friend in Milano for some recommendations, and in true Italian hospitality Sergio and his wife Daniela decided to personally show us their lovely city.   Our first stop was to see the Last Supper or L'Ultima Cena or il Cenacolo as the Italians call it.

Il Cenacolo is located at the church of Santa Maria delle Grazie which was built by the Dominican monks in the 1400’s.  The fresco was commissioned by Duke Ludovico Sforza and covers the back wall of the dining hall.  Leonardo started to paint The Last Supper in 1495 and completed it in 1498.  Access is limited in numbers and time and you have to pass thru a climate adjustment room prior to seeing the fresco.  The work is awesome and after our allotted 15 minutes we felt we needed much longer but were content to have seen one of the worlds’ most important art works.   If you go we recommend you order tickets in advance www.cenacolovinciano.net

Next we headed off to see Lombardia’s most famous square,  Piazza del Duomo with it’s huge Duomo and the beautiful Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II referred to as Milan’s “drawing room”.  The Duomo which is one of the largest Gothic churches in the world took 500 years to complete.

We also saw the famous opera house La Scala, in Piazza della Scala, and the hotel were Giuseppe Verdi died.  Sergio told us that the Milanesi loved Verdi so much that as he lay dying in his hotel room they would bring straw to spread on the cobblestone street so the noise of the horse hoofs would not disturb him.

No trip to this fashion capital would be complete without a stroll down Via Montenapoleone part of what is referred to as the golden triangle one of the three greatest shopping areas in Italy.  Needless to say there are no bargains here.  After much window shopping we were hungry so Sergio took us over to the canal district for a drink and some appetizers which was more like a buffet dinner.  Finally back to Sergio and Daniela’s for caffe and a digestivo then it was time to head back to Ivrea.  While we only saw a small part of this beautiful city we think it’s worth a visit and can’t wait to go back.