June 25 - Take Tram 14 to the Duomo and head southeast to the Santuario di San Bernardino alle Ossa. This slightly lesser-visited church holds a lot of bones. Its history is thus: The area was a cemetery in the 1100s, becoming so crowded that by 1210 a crypt was dug to store the bones in less space than graves. In 1268 a small church was built next to it. In 1642, a nearby church belltower collapsed, partly destroying the small church. Everything was eventually rebuilt, and by 1750, a larger church was added to the small one, making it an atrium to the side. Skulls and bones of dead poor people and criminals were arranged on the walls, which is how it still looks today.
Wander by south of the Duomo and briefly walk through the extensive complex of the Palazzo Reale di Milano again.
From here take a tram southwest to the Colonne di San Lorenzo.
The above basilica, though reconstructed after many disasters (including the ‘Fire of the Stork’ in 1071), is revered as one of the only churches remaining from the age of the Roman Empire. Many others were destroyed by Emperor Barbarossa in 1154.
Here is the supposed story of the ‘Fire of the Stork’. A stork had built its nest in the tower of the church, and one day a snake came and ate its fledglings. The stork was so upset that it found a hot piece of coal somewhere nearby and returned, hitting the snake with it. The piece of coal then lit fire to the nest, then the church, almost completely destroying it. I’m not sure what moral lesson was meant by this fantastical tale.
Walk west and the weather clears a bit (mostly rain today) to see the Basilica di Sant Ambrogio. It is closed so we just look from the outside.
Probably more interesting is a nearby monument called Temple of Victory.
For a change of pace, we visit the Porta Nuova district, This area sports some of the slick, modern buildings that can be seen from the top of the Duomo across town. This district is a commercial powerhouse of the city, with Fortune 500 companies Alfa-Romeo, Pirelli, and Techint based there, along with Versace and Internazionale.
We walk along the trendy Corso Como, with eateries and stylish shops, up into the Piazza Gae Aulenti.
Past this is a large park where Odette plays for a bit, despite the rain.
This is our first day to note the inconvenience of strikes on public transport lines. Have to reorient plan to get a tram back to apartment.
